IT IS almost 50 years since Bobby Jones became only the second American to be honoured with the Freedom of St Andrews. The first was Benjamin Franklin in 1759, and those who say that a mere golfer should not rank with a philosopher-statesman didn't know Robert Tyre Jones Jnr.
The only man ever to complete the then Grand Slam of golf, in 1930, and later the founder of the Masters tournament, Bobby Jones entered just 52 tournaments, all as an amateur. He won 23 of them, including three Opens and four US Opens. But it was th
e style of his wins which made him a star. Personifying sportsmanship, he was the Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer of his day, only bigger. Yet he retired at the height of his powers at the age of 28. He had nothing left to prove.
He first came to St Andrews in 1921 at the age of 19 to play in the Open and was so baffled by the Old Course that he quit midway through his third round. It was an inauspicious beginning to what became a great love affair between him and the home of golf. When he came back and won the Open of 1926, he apologised so graciously for his previous behaviour that the townspeople took him to their hearts.
Crippled by a degenerative disease, Jones came to the 1958 ceremony in an electric golf buggy. Provost Robert Leonard presented Jones with his scroll and casket, and the great man replied: "I could take out of my life everything except my experiences at St Andrews and I would still have a rich, full life." No wonder they loved him.
The full article contains 296 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
