the great bobby jones

If one were to mention the greatest players in the history of golf, no list would be complete without mentioning Bobby Jones, arguably the greatest golfer to have competed nationally and internationally.

On the record, Jones remains the only player to win golf’s elusive Grand Slam, winning all four major championships in the same year. Jones represented the United States in the Walker Cup five times, winning nine of ten matches. He also won two other tournaments against professionals: the 1927 South Open and the 1930 South East Open.

Like most great players, Jones started out as a child prodigy who, at the tender age of six, won his first junior tournament. At age 14 he reached the third round of the United States Amateur Championship. He burst onto the national stage in 1923 when he won his first US Open. From 1923 to 1930, he won 13 major golf championships out of the 20 he joined. He is second only to Jack Nicklaus (20 wins) on the list of most major championships won. Jones is also the first player to win The Double, which is both the US Open and the British Open in the same year (1926).

Beyond the golf course, Jones was also an impressive figure and exemplary athlete off it, known to be a class act and a model of sportsmanship and fair play. For these reasons, the United States Golf Association named its sportsmanship award the Bob Jones Award.

During the crazy sports crazy years, Jones was among the five giant sports icons that the public practically adored at the time. The others were Babe Ruth from baseball, Jack Dempsey from boxing, Red Grange from soccer, and tennis player Bill Tilden.

Although Jones retired from golf at the relatively young age of 28, his success continued in his private life. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of English Literature from Harvard University, where he was a member of the Owl Club. After only one year in law school at Emory University, she passed the bar exam and spent the rest of her life operating a successful law practice in Atlanta.