Mr Masters

ASKED to name his dream fourball, Tiger Woods replied: "Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, myself and Bobby Jones."

It was no surprise that Woods, a keen student of the game's history, produced such an astute answer. Hogan ­the master teacher, Nicklaus ­the master Major winner, Woods the modern-day master and Jones ­the master of masters.

Legends of the game all, Jones remains golf's consummate icon, the measuring stick by which every aspiring champion gauges his muster. No player, not even Woods, has totally dominated in the way he did between 1920 and 1930. During that 10-year stretch he competed in 45 events, won 21 and finished second seven times. From the age of 19 to 28 he won 13 Majors and set records that have stood for more than 70 years, including his fabled Grand Slam of 1930 when he won the the Open, US Open, British Amateur and US Amateur.

Although Bobby Jones last played competitive golf 77 years ago, his achievements will always be revered. He will forever be woven into the very fabric of golf. His boyish face and rhythmic, perfectly balanced swing will never be forgotten and it is unlikely his Grand Slam will ever be repeated.

In addition, his work off the course continues to be lauded, particularly as the course he helped build and design, Augusta National, prepares to host its 77th Masters tournament.

The early days
Born in Atlanta in 1902, Robert Tyre Jones Jnr was plagued by digestive disorders throughout his childhood and doctors gave him little chance of living past the age of five. He did, of course, but not without a doting nursemaid and an overprotective mother who had lost a child shortly before Bobby's birth.

Jones hit his first golf ball with a 'cleek', a hickory shafted version of a one iron, aged five-and-a-half. It had been given to him by neighbour Fulton Colville who had spotted little Bobby staring at him while he chipped shots around his yard.
Although he started playing at such a young age, Jones never had any formal lessons. Instead, he learned his swing by mimicking East Lake Golf Club's Scottish professional Stewart Maiden.

Encouraged by his father to play competitive golf, Jones immediately displayed skill beyond his years and, as a podgy 14-year-old, he won the Georgia Amateur, defeating his good friend Perry Adair in the final. Adair's father took Jones, as well as his own son, to the 1916 US Amateur in Pennsylvania and although Jones didn't win, he still managed to stun 1906 champion Eben Byers and Pennsylvania Amateur champion Bob Gardner.

It was the public and media interest at this time in Jones, the youngest player ever to qualify for and play in a US Amateur Championship, that led him to become an inwardly driven perfectionist who placed tremendous pressure on himself, often losing up to 15lbs during a tournament as a result of the stress. He also struggled early on with a volatile temper, regularly swearing and throwing clubs after hitting wayward shots.

Seven lean years
From 1916 until 1923 Jones failed to win a Major, losing in 10 straight championships before recording his first triumph.
In the 1923 US Open at Inwood, New York, he held a three-shot lead going into the final round. However, his lead vanished when he ended bogey, bogey, double-bogey. Bobby Cruickshank made birdie at the last hole to tie and Jones found himself needing to win an 18-hole play-off to secure his first Major.

The next day, Jones and Cruickshank played the first 17 holes all square before Jones calmly executed one of the finest shots of his career down the last. From the right rough, he drilled a two iron to within eight feet of the pin and holed the putt to finally win his first Major.

That victory opened the floodgates. He was so completely dominant between 1920 and 1930 that his two primary rivals, Walter Hagen and Gene Sarazen, never won either the Open or US Open when he competed. In 1926, Jones became the only amateur to win both the Open and US Open in the same year, receiving a ticker tape parade down Broadway in New York City.

St Andrews love affair
Only two Americans have been made an Honorary Burgess of the Borough by the people of St Andrews. One is Benjamin Franklin, the other Bobby Jones. On being made a Freeman of St Andrews in 1958, Jones said: "I could take out of my life everything except my experiences at St Andrews and I'd still have a rich full life."

Jones cantered to victory at the Old Course in 1927 after carding 68 in the opening round. He went on to further rounds of 72, 73 and 72 to win by six strokes. Ecstatic crowds carried him from the 18th green after he holed his final putt, proving their affection for him as a man and their admiration of him as a golfer. That affection increased when Jones declared the Claret Jug would stay in St Andrews during his year of success.

His love affair with Auld Reekie was not immediate. Indeed it took Jones a number of rounds at the Home of Golf to fully appreciate its wonder. On his first visit there in 1921 he despised the Old Course and vowed never to return again. Playing in The Open for the first time aged 19, Jones endured an abysmal time.

He was leading amateur after two rounds, but shot 46 for the front nine in his third round, took a double-bogey six at the 10th and fired his tee shot at the 11th into Strath bunker. He eventually picked his ball out of the bunker without completing the hole, tore up his scorecard and withdrew from the tournament, describing it as his 'most inglorious failure' in golf.

Jones received heavy criticism from the press following his conduct, but that made him determined to return to St Andrews and win.
Part 2