If one had been to say the best gamers in golf historical past, no listing can be full with out mentioning Bobby Jones, arguably the best golfer to compete on a nationwide and worldwide degree.
On report, Jones continues to be the one participant ever to win golf’s elusive Grand Slam, which is profitable all 4 main championships in the identical yr. Jones represented the USA within the Walker Cup 5 occasions and gained 9 of ten matches. He additionally gained two different tournaments towards professionals: the 1927 Southern Open and the 1930 Southeastern Open.
Like most different nice gamers, Jones began out as a toddler prodigy who, on the tender age of six, gained his first youngsters’s match. At age 14, he reached the third spherical of the U.S. Newbie Championship. He burst unto the nationwide stage in 1923 when he gained his first U.S. Open. From 1923 to 1930, he gained 13 main golf championships out of the 20 that he joined. He’s second solely to Jack Nicklaus (20 wins) on the listing of most main championships gained. Jones can also be the primary participant ever to win The Double, which is each the US Open and the British Open in the identical yr (1926).
Past the golf course, Jones was additionally a formidable determine and an exemplary athlete off it, identified for being a category act and a paragon of sportsmanship and truthful play. For these causes, the USA Golf Affiliation named its sportsmanship award because the Bob Jones Award.
In the course of the sports-crazy Roaring Twenties, Jones was among the many 5 large sports activities icons that the general public virtually worshipped on the time. The others had been baseball’s Babe Ruth, boxing’s Jack Dempsey, soccer’s Purple Grange, and tennis participant Invoice Tilden.
Though Jones retired from golf on the comparatively younger age of 28, his success continued in his non-public life. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Expertise and a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Harvard College the place he was a member of the Owl Membership. After just one yr in legislation faculty at Emory College, he handed the bar examination and spent the remainder of his life working a profitable Atlanta legislation apply.