Bobby Jones is always celebrated at Inwood Country Club in New York, where his gutsy playoff gamble 90 years ago won the 1923 U.S. Open, the first of his 13 major championships. Inwood member Jeffrey Schulman, who has served on the club’s board and as unofficial club historian, recalls Jones’ influence.
At Inwood, Bobby Jones is everywhere. We have pictures of him throughout the clubhouse, and the grill room is named in his honor.
Before the 1923 U.S. Open at Inwood, Jones had been somewhat famous as a golfing prodigy, but almost equally famous for his temper and failing to fulfill his potential. At Inwood, all of that changed.
Using his soon to be famous Calamity Jane putter for the very first time in competition, Jones came to the last two holes leading by three shots, but finished bogey-double bogey, ending in a tie with Bobby Cruickshank. “I didn’t finish like a champion today,” Jones said. “I finished like a yellow dog.” Again, it looked like he would not come through.
As they came to the final hole of the 18-hole playoff, the two were again tied. Cruickshank drove in the fairway and Jones in the right rough. A body of water, no more than 20 feet wide, guards the green, and Cruickshank elected to lay up. Jones had a very daunting shot from the right rough. To even think about attempting the shot — 195 to 200 yards — was an incredible feat of courage.
Jones hit a 2-iron from the rough to 6-to-7 feet from the hole. Cruickshank played his third to the green, but the best he could do was finish with a 5. When Jones two-putted for par, he had won his first major championship.
In 1987, Golf Magazine voted Jones’ miraculous shot the greatest shot ever hit in major championship history and presented Inwood with a monument that today sits on the very spot from which Jones hit the shot in the rough to the right of the 18th fairway.
On significant anniversaries, like this year’s 90th, everyone in the club goes out to the monument to toast Jones and remember that amazing shot. Invariably, a number of our members try to replicate it, as does just about every guest who plays Inwood. As this year’s U.S. Open approaches, we will again repair to that spot and toast him and all that he has meant to the Inwood Country Club.
It has been said that American golf began with Jones, and his winning began at Inwood. We couldn’t be more proud.
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