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Steve Jones (golfer)

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Steve Jones
Personal information
Full nameSteven Glen Jones
Born (1958-12-27) December 27, 1958 (age 65)
Artesia, New Mexico, U.S.
Height6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Weight200 lb (91 kg; 14 st)
Sporting nationality United States
ResidenceTempe, Arizona, U.S.
Career
CollegeUniversity of Colorado
Turned professional1981
Current tour(s)PGA Tour Champions
Former tour(s)PGA Tour
Professional wins10
Highest ranking14 (February 23, 1997)[1]
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour8
European Tour1
Other2
Best results in major championships
(wins: 1)
Masters TournamentT20: 1990
PGA ChampionshipT9: 1988
U.S. OpenWon: 1996
The Open ChampionshipT16: 1990
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

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Jones was born in Artesia, New Mexico.[2] He was a semi-finalist at the U.S. Junior Amateur in 1976. He attended the University of Colorado and turned professional in 1981.[2]

Golf career

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Early years

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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

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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 win in the MONY Tournament of Champions. He won again the next week, in a playoff over Paul Azinger and Sandy Lyle 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

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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. Considered a rank outsider in June 1996, Jones won the U.S. Open which was the only major championship of his career, defeating Tom Lehman and Davis Love III by one stroke. He was also the first sectional qualifier to win the tournament since Jerry Pate in 1976. Afterwards, Jones was selected as the PGA Tour Comeback Player of the Year for 1996 and he played for the United States in the 1996 World Cup of Golf.

Jones won two more PGA Tour events in 1997. In January, he shot 26-under to defeat Jesper Parnevik by an impressive 11 strokes at the Phoenix Open.[3] He followed that in September with his second career win at the Canadian Open, by one stroke over Greg Norman.[4]

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

1999–2007

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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.[2]

Return to professional golf

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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.

Champions Tour

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Jones began playing on the Champions Tour (now PGA Tour Champions) in April 2011, making his debut at the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf, where he and partner Doug Tewell tied for 10th in the Raphael Division.[4] His best individual effort among his 10 official starts was a T16 at The Senior Open Championship at Walton Heath. In 2012, he played in 12 Champions Tour events, with five top-25 finishes, earnings of $164,934,[4] and a Champions Tour personal best finish of a tie for second at the 2012 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf.[6] His 11th-place finish at the National Qualifying Tournament earned him a conditional spot on the tour for the following year. In 2013, he played in 15 events with three top-25 finishes and $153,335 in earnings. In 2014, he played 11 events on the Champions Tour, making 9 cuts, and with a best finish T40 at the Pacific Links Hawaii Championship. In 2015, he played 13 events, making all the cuts and posting one top ten, T9 at the Senior PGA Championship. Jones has not played any Champions Tour events in 2016.[7]

His career on the PGA Tour Champions consists of 70 events played, making 66 cuts and two top-10 finishes. His total career earnings are over $800,000.[7]

Professional wins (10)

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PGA Tour wins (8)

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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 72-64-70-74=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 (2) 71-68-67-69=275 −5 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 National 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
Jones eliminated by par on first hole

Other wins (2)

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Major championships

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Wins (1)

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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

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Tournament 1987 1988 1989
Masters Tournament T30 T31
U.S. Open T46
The Open Championship CUT
PGA Championship T61 T9 T51
Tournament 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
Masters Tournament T20 CUT CUT T26 CUT
U.S. Open T8 CUT 1 T60 CUT CUT
The Open Championship T16 T64 CUT T48 T57
PGA Championship CUT CUT T41 CUT
Tournament 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Masters Tournament T25 T27
U.S. Open T27 T30 CUT T57 T32
The Open Championship T31 CUT T43
PGA Championship T24
  Win
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place.

Summary

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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)

Results in The Players Championship

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Tournament 1987 1988 1989
The Players Championship T15 T48 T41
Tournament 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
The Players Championship T3 T41 T33 CUT T25 CUT
Tournament 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
The Players Championship T27 T50 CUT T62 T75 CUT
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships

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Tournament 1999
Match Play R16
Championship
Invitational
  Top 10
  Did not play

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play

U.S. national team appearances

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Professional

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Week 08 1997 Ending 23 Feb 1997" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
  2. ^ a b c "Steve Jones – Profile". PGA Tour. Retrieved November 8, 2013.
  3. ^ "1997 Results for Phoenix Open". Database Golf. Retrieved August 3, 2016.
  4. ^ a b c "Steve Jones – Season". PGA Tour. Retrieved November 8, 2013.
  5. ^ Martin, Sean (January 17, 2011). "Bob Hope Classic: Steve Jones makes a surprise appearance". Golfweek. Retrieved August 1, 2011.
  6. ^ "Steve Jones profile – 73rd Senior PGAChampionship". PGA of America. Retrieved August 3, 2016.
  7. ^ a b "Steve Jones – Career". Retrieved May 9, 2019.
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