John Ball (golfer)
| John Ball | |
|---|---|
| — Golfer — | |
| File:John Ball Vanity Fair 1892-03-05.jpg
Ball as caricatured in Vanity Fair, March 1892
|
|
| Personal information | |
| Full name | John Ball, Jr. |
| Born | 24 December 1861 Hoylake, England |
| Died | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. Holywell, Wales |
| Nationality |  England |
| Career | |
| Status | Amateur |
| Best results in major championships (wins: 9) |
|
| The Open Championship | Won: 1890 |
| British Amateur | Won: 1888, 1890, 1892, 1894, 1899, 1907, 1910, 1912 |
| Achievements and awards | |
| World Golf Hall of Fame | 1977 (member page) |
John Ball, Jr. (24 December 1861 – 2 December 1940) was an English amateur golfer of the late 19th and early 20th century.[1]
Contents
Early life
Ball was born in Hoylake, Cheshire (now Merseyside). His father was the prosperous owner of the Royal Hotel, located near the Royal Liverpool Golf Club, in Hoylake. Ball grew up playing golf as a youth on the Royal Liverpool course, which was established in his early boyhood.[2]
In 1878, at the age of 17, Ball finished fifth in The Open at Prestwick. His run of Amateur titles began in 1888 and stretched until 1912, when he was 51 years old. His best year was 1890, when he won both the Amateur and Open Championships. Bobby Jones, who won the Grand Slam in 1930, is the only other golfer in history to win those two tournaments in the same year.
Golf career
After winning The Amateur Championship in 1888, Ball became the first English-born player to win The Open Championship in 1890,[3] and in the same year won his second Amateur, the first to win both titles in the same year. Ball subsequently won the 1892, 1894, 1899, 1907, 1910, and 1912 Amateurs, a record eight titles in all, in addition to two runner-up finishes. Ball retired with a 99–22 record (81.8%) at The Amateur Championship. Ball was also runner-up in the 1892 Open Championship, finishing three strokes behind Harold Hilton.
Ball dominated amateur golf in Great Britain. He won all the important golf championships as well as the hearts and respect of his country. In the words of British golf historian Donald Steele, "No golfer ever came to be more of a legend in his own lifetime." He was the first amateur golfer in England to be named by the Royal Empire as an Immortal.
Although he gripped the club tightly in the palms of both hands, Ball’s swing was the most graceful and stylish of his era. Bernard Darwin wrote, "I have derived greater aesthetic and emotional pleasure from watching John Ball than from any other spectacle in the game." Ball learned the game competing against Harold Hilton on the links at Hoylake. In 1876, at the age of 15, he competed in his first Open Championship and finished sixth at St. Andrews.
Ball was famous for refusing to carry a niblick, which had the loft of a modern-day 8- or 9-iron. He scorned the use of that club, describing it as "another bloody spade," and admonished the Rules of Golf Committee of the Royal and Ancient for permitting such horrid-looking contraptions to be allowed in competition. In a bunker, Ball would simply lay open the blade of a mid-iron and float the ball toward the hole with a smooth swing.
It was this stubbornness and dogged determination that made Ball such a lion in match play. Darwin once noted that Ball had "a strong vein of hostility and if he wanted a particular player's blood, he would fight his way through a tournament with the sole object of getting at him." Darwin added, "That was not a personal hostility, but rather a desire to measure himself against a foe really worthy of him."
Words from Ball are hard to find. He was a shy man who went about his business without wasted motion. In his book, Sixty Years of Golf, Robert Harris wrote that "John's soft, whispering voice, his stoicism, his pawky jibs at easy rules and innovations, his relentless criticism of moderns with their fuss, and his total outlook on the game, were the very essence of golf."
Death and legacy
Ball died in Holywell, Wales on 2 December 1940.[4] He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1977.
Tournament wins (59)
- this list may be incomplete
- 1881 Royal Liverpool Autumn Dowie Silver Cup Medal,[5] Royal Liverpool Autumn Kennard Gold Medal,[5] Royal Liverpool St. Andrews Day Gold Cross[5]
- 1882 Royal Liverpool Club Spring Gold Medal,[5] Royal Liverpool Spring Connaught Challenge Star Medal,[5] Royal Liverpool Autumn Dowie Silver Cup Medal,[5] Royal Liverpool Autumn Kennard Gold Medal[5]
- 1883 Royal Liverpool Club Spring Gold Medal,[5] Royal Liverpool Summer Lubbock Gold Medal,[5] Royal Liverpool Autumn Kennard Gold Medal,[5] Royal Liverpool St. Andrews Day Gold Cross[5]
- 1884 Royal Liverpool Spring Connaught Challenge Star Medal,[5] Royal Liverpool Summer Lubbock Gold Medal,[5] Royal Liverpool Autumn Dowie Silver Cup Medal[5]
- 1885 Royal Liverpool Club Spring Gold Medal,[5] Royal Liverpool Summer Lubbock Gold Medal,[5] Royal Liverpool Autumn Dowie Silver Cup Medal,[5] Royal Liverpool Autumn Kennard Gold Medal[5]
- 1886 Royal Liverpool Summer Lubbock Gold Medal,[5] Royal Liverpool Autumn Dowie Silver Cup Medal,[5] Royal Liverpool Autumn Kennard Gold Medal,[5] Royal Liverpool St. Andrews Day Gold Cross[5]
- 1887 Royal Liverpool Club Spring Gold Medal,[5] Royal Liverpool Spring Connaught Challenge Star Medal,[5] Royal Liverpool Summer Lubbock Gold Medal,[5] Royal Liverpool Autumn Dowie Silver Cup Medal,[5] Royal Liverpool Autumn Kennard Gold Medal,[5] Royal Liverpool St. Andrews Day Gold Cross,[5] Royal Liverpool Spring Challenge Vase,[5] Royal Liverpool Spring Muir Jug[5]
- 1888 The Amateur Championship, St. George's Challenge Cup
- 1889 St. George's Challenge Cup,[6] Royal Liverpool Club Spring Gold Medal,[6] Royal Liverpool Spring Connaught Challenge Star Medal,[6] Royal Liverpool Autumn Dowie Silver Cup Medal[6]
- 1890 The Amateur Championship, St. George's Challenge Cup, The Open Championship
- 1891 St. George's Challenge Cup
- 1892 The Amateur Championship, Royal Liverpool Club Spring Gold Medal,[7] Royal Liverpool Spring Connaught Challenge Star Medal,[7] Royal Liverpool Autumn Dowie Silver Cup Medal,[7] Royal Liverpool Autumn Kennard Gold Medal,[7] Royal Liverpool St. Andrews Day Gold Cross[7]
- 1893 Irish Amateur Open Championship,[8] Royal Liverpool Summer Lubbock Gold Medal,[8] Royal Liverpool St. Andrews Day Gold Cross,[8] Royal Liverpool Silver Bowl[8]
- 1894 The Amateur Championship, Irish Amateur Open Championship
- 1899 The Amateur Championship, Irish Amateur Open Championship,[9] Leasowe Golf Club Harvie Prize,[9] Leasowe Golf Club Captain's Prize[9]
- 1907 The Amateur Championship
- 1910 The Amateur Championship
- 1912 The Amateur Championship
Major championships
Professional wins (1)
| Year | Championship | 18 holes | Winning score | Margin | Runners-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1890 | The Open Championship | 1 shot deficit | 82-82=164 | 3 strokes |  Willie Fernie, Archie Simpson |
Amateur wins (8)
| Year | Championship | Winning Score | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1888 | The Amateur Championship | 5 & 4 | Johnny Laidlay |
| 1890 | The Amateur Championship | 4 & 3 | Johnny Laidlay |
| 1892 | The Amateur Championship | 3 & 1 | Harold Hilton |
| 1894 | The Amateur Championship | 1 up | Samuel Mure Fergusson |
| 1899 | The Amateur Championship | 37 holes | Frederick Guthrie Tait |
| 1907 | The Amateur Championship | 6 & 4 | C. A. Palmer |
| 1910 | The Amateur Championship | 10 & 9 | C. C. Aylmer |
| 1912 | The Amateur Championship | 38 holes | Abe Mitchell |
Results timeline
Note: Ball played in only The Open Championship and The Amateur Championship.
| Tournament | 1878 | 1879 |
|---|---|---|
| The Open Championship | T4 LA | DNP |
| The Amateur Championship | NYF | NYF |
| Tournament | 1880 | 1881 | 1882 | 1883 | 1884 | 1885 | 1886 | 1887 | 1888 | 1889 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Open Championship | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | WD | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP |
| The Amateur Championship | NYF | NYF | NYF | NYF | NYF | SF | SF | 2 | 1 | SF |
| Tournament | 1890 | 1891 | 1892 | 1893 | 1894 | 1895 | 1896 | 1897 | 1898 | 1899 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Open Championship | 1 LA | T11 | T2 | T8 | T13 | T18 | DNP | 17 | DNP | T25 |
| The Amateur Championship | 1 | R32 | 1 | R16 | 1 | 2 | QF | R64 | QF | 1 |
| Tournament | 1900 | 1901 | 1902 | 1903 | 1904 | 1905 | 1906 | 1907 | 1908 | 1909 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Open Championship | DNP | DNP | T15 | DNP | 18 | DNP | T35 | T15 | T13 LA | DNP |
| The Amateur Championship | DNP | DNP | R64 | QF | R16 | R128 | R64 | 1 | R128 | R128 |
| Tournament | 1910 | 1911 | 1912 | 1913 | 1914 | 1915 | 1916 | 1917 | 1918 | 1919 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Open Championship | T19 LA | CUT | DNP | DNP | DNP | NT | NT | NT | NT | NT |
| The Amateur Championship | 1 | R32 | 1 | R256 | R64 | NT | NT | NT | NT | NT |
| Tournament | 1920 | 1921 | 1922 | 1923 | 1924 | 1925 | 1926 | 1927 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Open Championship | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP |
| The Amateur Championship | DNP | R16 | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | R128 |
LA = Low Amateur
NYF = Tournament not yet founded
NT = No tournament
DNP = Did not play
WD = Withdrew
"T" indicates a tie for a place
DNQ = Did not qualify for match play portion
R256, R128, R64, R32, R16, QF, SF = Round in which player lost in match play
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10
Source for Open Championship: www.opengolf.com
Source for 1885 Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, 24 April 1885, pg. 8.
Source for 1886 Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, 24 September 1886, pg. 5.
Source for 1889 Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, 10 May 1889, pg. 10.
Source for 1891 Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, 8 May 1891, pg. 10.
Source for 1893 Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, 11 May 1893, pg. 12.
Source for 1896 Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, 22 May 1896, pg. 10.
Source for 1897 Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, 28 April 1897, pg. 10.
Source for 1898 Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, 27 May 1898, pg. 11.
Source for 1902 Amateur: Golf, June 1902, pg. 397.
Source for 1903 Amateur: Golf, July 1903, pg. 10.
Source for 1904 Amateur: Golf, July 1904, pg. 8.
Source for 1905 Amateur: Golf, June 1905, pg. 340.
Source for 1906 Amateur: Golf, July 1906, pg. 29.
Source for 1908 Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, 27 May 1908, pg. 14.
Source for 1909 Amateur: The American Golfer, Jul, 1909, pg. 11.
Source for 1911 Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, 1 June 1911, pg. 10.
Source for 1913 Amateur: The American Golfer, July 1913, pg. 222.
Source for 1914 Amateur: Golf Illustrated, July 1914, pg. 27.
Source for 1921 Amateur: The American Golfer, 4 June 1921, pg. 24.
Source for 1927 Amateur: The American Golfer, July 1927, pg. 66.
References
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