Master Mind

Tiger Woods might believe he will have the Grand Slam if he wins the Masters, but there was only one man who completed a golf Grand Slam in the same year. Bobby Jones did the trick in 1930, winning the U.S. Open, the U.S. Amateur, the British Open and the British Amateur.

Then he retired, but he still had a mark to leave on golf, designing Augusta National with Alister Mackenzie and giving birth to the Masters in 1934.

Jones, who died in 1971, gave a description of the course to Sports Illustrated in 1959, and although there have been some changes at Augusta over the last four decades, most of what he said still applies.

“We are quite willing to have low scores made during the tournament,” Jones wrote. “On the other hand, we do not believe that birdies should be made too easy. We think that to play two good shots to a par-four hole on a dead-level green is not enough.”

Also: “The finishes of the Masters tournament have almost always been dramatic and exciting. It is my conviction that this has been the case because of the make-or-break quality of the second nine of the golf course. This nine, with its abundant water hazards, each creating a perilous situation, can provide excruciating torture for the front-runner trying to hang on.”

And that was written when Greg Norman was 4 years old.

“When weather conditions are such that the golf course is wet and the wind quiet, it is much easier to play,” Jones wrote in conclusion. “We always hope that it will not be that way during the first week in April.”

Here is a hole-by-hole look at Augusta with Bobby Jones:

Augusta National / The Front Nine