Bobby Jones

BOBBY JONES JR d1971. American amateur golfer who was one of the most influential figures in the history of the sport. He founded and helped design the Augusta National Golf Club and co-founded the Masters Tournament. The innovations that he introduced at the Masters have been copied by virtually every professional golf tournament in the world. He was the most successful amateur golfer ever to compete at a national and international level. During his peak from 1923 to 1930, he dominated top-level amateur competition and competed very successfully against the world's best professional golfers. He earned his living mainly as a lawyer and competed in golf (only as an amateur) primarily on a part-time basis and chose to retire from competition at age 28, though he earned significant money from golf after that, as an instructor and equipment designer. Explaining his decision to retire, he said, "It (championship golf) is something like a cage. First you are expected to get into it and then you are expected to stay there. But of course, nobody can stay there". He is most famous for his unique "Grand Slam" consisting of his victory in all four major golf tournaments of his era (the open and amateur championships in both the US & the UK) in a single calendar year (1930). In all he played in 31 majors (winning 13) and placing among the Top 10 finishers 27 times. After retiring from competitive golf in 1930, he founded and helped design the Augusta National Golf Club soon afterwards in 1933. He also co-founded the Masters Tournament. The Masters evolved into one of golf's four major championships. He came out of retirement in 1934 to play in the Masters on an exhibition basis through 1948. He played his last round of golf at East Lake Golf Club (his home course in Atlanta) on August 18th 1948. He died in Georgia aged 69 on December 18th 1971