In response to a recent piece here about the great Bobby Jones - and next Tuesday happens to be the 30th anniversary of his death - Limerick's Ivan Morris has written a most informative letter. Among other things, he finds it entirely understandable that the Royal and Ancient should have looked to Francis Ouimet rather than Jones when choosing their first American captain in 1951.
Morris writes: "Jones is rightly considered to be 'untouchable' as one of the game's all-time greats. But he was no saint. He could cuss, smoke and drink liquour as good as anyone. No great harm in that, except that it doesn't qualify you for sainthood.
"After reading Golf is my Game by Jones himself, I found it hard to understand how anybody who loved the game as much as he did, and with his success, could give up competitive golf as suddenly and as irrevocably as Bobby did, as a 28-year-old in 1930. The man's own explanation certainly did not convince me.
"In my view Jones knew that a group of players led by Chick Evans and the USGA were 'gunning' for him. It is hard to blame them. They became jealous and somewhat irked, not only of the tournaments Jones was winning, but of the considerable money he was making out of golf.
"Throughout his career, Jones had a group of backers who arranged big-money matches between him and the top professionals of the day - Walter Hagen and Gene Sarazen, in particular. In 1928, he was given a house worth an estimated $50,000 (a fortune) as a 'present' by his backers, presumably for the wagers they had won on his account.
"Bobby suggested to his Irish wife Mary Malone, that maybe this was too much and that the house should be declined, but she revolted. Subsequently, a 'friendly' arrangement was made in which the Joneses purchased the house at very agreeable, easy terms." Morris concluded: "I had the pleasure of meeting Mr Jones for a brief moment in the Augusta National clubhouse in 1966, thanks to a fortunate encounter with Henry Longhurst. And I attribute my later addiction to golf and its history, to that chance meeting with two of game's greatest personalities."
