The weather has taken a nice turn for the better here in Lake County with temperatures pushing into the 80s. The redbuds are in full bloom and the spring sports season is definitely underway. Meanwhile in Georgia the azaleas and the dogwoods are just starting to bloom as well. Since it’s safe to say that spring is definitely in the air, this can only mean one thing in the world of golf. It’s almost time for the Masters golf tournament at Augusta National in Georgia. To be quite exact, we’re merely 12 days away from those first ceremonial tee shots hits by Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player to mark the start of the 86th Masters on April 7.
The Masters was founded by Bobby Jones. A lot of modern-era fans of the game assume Jones is that well-known golf course architect who built more than 200 courses throughout the world from the 1950s through the 1990s. No, we’re not talking about Robert Trent Jones or Robert Trent Jones Jr. Instead, we’re speaking of Robert Tyre Jones Jr.
Jones was born on St. Patrick’s Day in 1902 to an old-time established Atlanta family. His father was an attorney. Bobby struggled with his health during his childhood. Instead of playing in the traditional team sports of that time, the young Jones gravitated to golf. His family were members of the East Lake Course of the Atlanta Athletic Club and Bobby became a part of the junior program that was managed at East Lake by Stewart Maiden, one of the Carnoustie 100 group of golf pros who immigrated to America at the turn of the century.
Jones immediately took to golf and was described by the local members as a child prodigy. At the age of 14 he entered the 1916 Georgia Amateur and shocked the Southern sports world with his unexpected victory. The USGA invited him to play in its U.S. Amateur that summer and the young star advanced all the way to the quarterfinals. Bobby won the Southern Amateur in 1917 and then took the big step to compete in the prestigious Western Amateur at Midlothian outside Chicago where his participation received major press in the Chicago and New York newspapers. While Jones didn’t win the Western Am in a star-studded field that included two past champions of the U.S. Open, namely Francis Ouimet and Chick Evans, he did turn heads for his youth and his inspired play.
World War I was in full force by then and most tournaments were canceled. However, the youthful prodigy teed it up in exhibitions to raise money for the war effort, playing alongside the likes of Evans, Ouimet and professional Walter Hagen. By 1919 the war was over and competitive golf was back on the sports pages. Still a teenager, Jones finished in second place at the Canadian Open, a big-time pro tourney of the time that held “major status.” In 1920 he qualified for the U.S. Open and was paired during his first two rounds with six-time British Open champion Harry Vardon. He was only 18 years old at the time and already had a lifetime of great golf experiences.
Jones entered Georgia Tech but continued to play competitively during his summers. The 1921 season was the first time Jones crossed the pond to compete in both the British Amateur and the British Open. He qualified into the British Open at St. Andrews but got so frustrated with the nuances of links golf that he ripped up his scorecard on the 10th green and withdrew from the Open. Within two years he would learn to control his volcanic temper and start to win major tournaments against the likes of Hagen and Gene Sarazen.
In 1923 Bobby won the U.S. Open at Inwood Country Club in New York. He was tied atop the leader board after 72 holes and defeated Bobby Cruickshank in an 18-hole playoff the following day. From that point onward, Jones would enter the British Open, the British Amateur, the U.S. Open, and the U.S. Amateur a total of 21 times combined. He would win 13 of them, totaling four victories in the U.S. Open, three in the British Open, five triumphs in the U.S. Amateur, and one win in the British Amateur. In 1930 he won all four of these tournaments and received a ticker-tape parade down Fifth Avenue in New York.
The pressure of competitive golf was taking its toll on Jones’ mental health and he decided to walk away from the game after his brilliant season of 1930 that was termed the Grand Slam. Nowadays the grand slam includes the British Open, the U.S. Open, the PGA and the Masters. By 1930 Jones had earned a law degree at Emery University, was a practicing attorney, invested in Coca Cola stock, and was in the process of building his dream course. He was 28 years old.
A moment of tournament lack of success resulted in the eventual building of the Augusta National Golf Club. At the 1929 United States Amateur at Pebble Beach, the two-time defending champ was considered the odds-on favorite. Because airplane travel was a mere dream at that time, Jones booked a train trip from Atlanta to the West Coast. His return trip was booked for the day after the Amateur concluded. However, as fate would have it, he got knocked out of competition during the round of 32. With four days left on his own, Jones went to play neighboring Cypress Point and then traveled up the coast to play Pasatiempo in Santa Cruz. Jones was so impressed by both courses that he inquired about their golf course architects. It turned out that Alister Mackenzie, one of the godfathers of American golf course design, was responsible for both layouts alongside his assistant, Jack Fleming. Jones reached out to Mackenzie about his ideas for his dream course in Augusta, Georgia.
With the assistance of Jones and recent Hall of Famer Marion Hollins, Mackenzie laid out his routing plan for Augusta National and work began on the course in 1931. It was opened for play in 1933 and the inaugural Augusta National Invitational was held in 1934. In 1935 Gene Sarazen holed out a double-eagle-two on the 15th hole during final-round play and won the playoff the following day. Suddenly Jones’ tournament was a big deal and changed its name to the Masters. From those earliest days it was considered a major tournament that was a “can’t-miss” proposition to the world of professional golf. Each February the top golfers of the day would look forward to their invite into the Masters. That still holds true today.
Augusta National and the Masters was the brainchild of amateur great Bobby Jones and Wall Street investment banker Clifford Roberts. To this day it remains “a tradition like no other.”
