Steve Jones (golfer)

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Steve Jones
— Golfer —
Personal information
Full name Steven Glen Jones
Born (1958-12-27) December 27, 1958 (age 65)
Artesia, New Mexico
Height 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Weight 200 lb (91 kg; 14 st)
Nationality  United States
Residence Tempe, Arizona
Career
College University of Colorado
Turned professional 1981
Current tour(s) Champions Tour
Former tour(s) PGA Tour
Professional wins 10
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour 8
Other 2
Best results in major championships
(wins: 1)
Masters Tournament T20: 1990
U.S. Open Won: 1996
The Open Championship T16: 1990
PGA Championship T9: 1988
Achievements and awards
PGA Tour Comeback
Player of the Year
1996

Steven Glen Jones (born December 27, 1958) is an American professional golfer, best known for winning the U.S. Open in 1996.

Early life and education

Jones was born in Artesia, New Mexico. He was a semi-finalist at the U.S. Junior Amateur in 1976. He attended the University of Colorado and turned professional in 1981.

Golf career

Early years

In the early years of his professional career, Jones did not have much success. He played the PGA Tour in 1982, but only made three cuts. His first top-10 finish came at the Texas Open in September 1985, and in 1986 he was medalist at the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament, allowing him to retain his card for the following year.

1987–1994

Jones won on the PGA Tour for the first time at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am in 1988. The following year, 1989, was the winningest of his career with three PGA Tour wins. In January, he opened the season with a playoff win over Bob Tway in the MONY Tournament of Champions. He won again the next week, by three strokes over Jay Haas and David Frost in the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. In June he captured the Canadian Open with a two-stroke win over Mark Calcavecchia, Mike Hulbert and Clark Burroughs. He finished the season a career-best eighth on the money list.

In November 1991, Jones suffered ligament and joint damage to his left ring finger in a dirtbike accident, and he missed almost three years of play as a professional. He played in only two events in 1994.

Comeback and U.S. Open win

Jones began his comeback in earnest in 1995, when he had two top-10 finishes. In 1996 he achieved three top-10 finishes by May, but he was still a rank outsider when he picked up the U.S. Open title that June, which was the only major championship of his career. He defeated Tom Lehman and Davis Love III by one stroke, and was the first sectional qualifier to win the tournament since Jerry Pate in 1976.

Jones played for the United States in the 1996 World Cup of Golf. He won two more PGA Tour events in 1997. In January, he shot an incredible 26-under to defeat Jesper Parnevik by 11 strokes at the Phoenix Open.[1][2] He followed that in September with his second career win at the Canadian Open, by one stroke over Greg Norman.[3]

In 1998, he won the Quad City Classic, his last PGA Tour victory to date.

1999–2007

Since 1999, Jones has slipped steadily down the money list. He remained exempt on the PGA Tour through 2006 because a major tournament win carried a 10-year exemption when he won in 1996. He missed part of 2003 and all of 2004 after undergoing surgery for tennis elbow, but starting playing again in 2005.

Jones was a captain's assistant for the United States team at the Ryder Cup in 2004.

In 2007, he played in nine PGA tour events and four Nationwide tour events, making the cut six times, but with no top-25 finishes.[4]

Second comeback

In 2008 and 2009, Jones had surgeries for tennis elbow. He made his first full golf swings in January 2011.[5] In 2011, Jones returned to playing professional golf. In January, Jones played the Bob Hope Classic on the PGA Tour. He then began playing on the Champions Tour in April 2011.[6]

In 2012, he played in 12 Champions Tour events, with five top-25 finishes, earnings of $164,934,[7] and a Champions Tour personal best finish of a tie for second at the 2012 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf.[8] In 2013, he played in 15 events with three top-25 finishes and $153,335 in earnings. As of April 13, 2014, he has 10 career top-25 finishes on the Champions Tour with total winnings of $441,463.[9]

Professional wins

PGA Tour wins (8)

Legend
Major championships (1)
Other PGA Tour (7)
No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin
of victory
Runner(s)-up
1 Feb 7, 1988 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am 74-64-70-74=280 −8 Playoff United States Bob Tway
2 Jan 8, 1989 MONY Tournament of Champions 69-69-72-69=279 −9 3 strokes South Africa David Frost, United States Jay Haas
3 Jan 15, 1989 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic 76-68-67-63-69=343 −17 Playoff United States Paul Azinger, Scotland Sandy Lyle
4 Jun 25, 1989 Canadian Open 67-64-70-70=271 −17 2 strokes United States Clark Burroughs, United States Mark Calcavecchia,
United States Mike Hulbert
5 Jun 16, 1996 U.S. Open 74-66-69-69=278 −2 1 stroke United States Tom Lehman, United States Davis Love III
6 Jan 26, 1997 Phoenix Open 62-64-65-67=258 −26 11 strokes Sweden Jesper Parnevik
7 Sep 7, 1997 Bell Canadian Open 71-68-67-69=275 −13 1 stroke Australia Greg Norman
8 Jul 12, 1998 Quad City Classic 64-65-68-66=263 −17 1 stroke United States Scott Gump

PGA Tour playoff record (2–1)

No. Year Tournament Opponent(s) Result
1 1988 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am United States Bob Tway Won with birdie on second extra hole
2 1989 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic United States Paul Azinger, Scotland Sandy Lyle Won with birdie on first extra hole
3 1990 MCI Heritage Golf Classic United States Larry Mize, United States Payne Stewart Stewart won with birdie on second extra hole

Other wins

Major championships

Wins (1)

Year Championship 54 holes Winning score Margin Runners-up
1996 U.S. Open 1 shot deficit −2 (74-66-69-69=278) 1 stroke United States Tom Lehman, United States Davis Love III

Results timeline

Tournament 1987 1988 1989
Masters Tournament DNP T30 T31
U.S. Open DNP DNP T46
The Open Championship DNP DNP CUT
PGA Championship T61 T9 T51
Tournament 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
Masters Tournament T20 CUT DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP CUT T26 CUT
U.S. Open T8 CUT DNP DNP DNP DNP 1 T60 CUT CUT
The Open Championship T16 T64 DNP DNP DNP DNP CUT T48 T57 DNP
PGA Championship CUT DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP CUT T41 DNP CUT
Tournament 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Masters Tournament T25 T27 DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
U.S. Open T27 T30 CUT DNP DNP T57 T32
The Open Championship T31 CUT T43 DNP DNP DNP DNP
PGA Championship T24 DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP

DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10

Summary

Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
Masters Tournament 0 0 0 0 0 2 9 6
U.S. Open 1 0 0 1 2 2 12 8
The Open Championship 0 0 0 0 0 1 9 6
PGA Championship 0 0 0 0 1 2 8 5
Totals 1 0 0 1 3 7 38 25
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 6 (2000 Masters – 2001 U.S. Open)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (three times)

U.S. national team appearances

Professional

See also

References

External links