Perhaps no other sport is quite as popular with amateurs as it is with professionals as golf. Weekend duffers and country club players often have days out on the lynx that have them fantasizing about competing with the pros, and no other professional sport also offers as many Pro/Am tournaments as golf where this actually happens. Perhaps the greatest amateur golfer of them all, Bobby Jones, born on St. Patrick’s Day 1902, was a professional lawyer by trade and passionate amateur golfer who became a much better player than many among the game’s professional ranks in the 1920s and early 1930s. After retiring from competition at the age of 28, Jones became a successful golf instructor and designer of equipment but his greatest claim to fame might as designer of the Augusta National Golf Course that originally bore his name and as the co-founder of the Masters Golf Tournament.

Offered here is a typed letter signed by Bobby Jones. This letter, dated April 20, 1964, was sent to the longtime Sports Editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer Hal Lebovitz. The letter offers great content as apparently there was some question by Lebovitz regarding the final pairing of Dave Marr and Arnold Palmer in the 1964 Masters that was won by Palmer. Jones, in his letter, responds “Dear Hal: I acknowledge yours of April 17th, but I am sorry that I can be of little help to you. So far as I know, Dave Marr was actually away on the 18th hole and so did not putt out of turn. I am reasonably certain that there was no concern about the crowd breaking in the event that Palmer had holed out first. I am happy to say that our galleries in Augusta usually restrain themselves to this extent. With all good wishes, Most sincerely” (signed Bob Jones in blue pen). This letter has “Robert Tyre Jones, Jr. 75 Poplar Street, N.W. Atlanta 3, Georgia” stamped on the top. A great letter, with great insight, from one of the most revered golfers and this comes with a LOA from JSA (X99004).

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