Full Article in Golf Georgia by Stan Awtrey

It was 100 years ago that Bobby Jones won his first championship. Had he failed, the greatest amateur of all time may have walked away from the game. Now friends and family are taking steps to ensure his legacy never wanes.

The Year 1923 included some remarkable feats in the world of sports.

Zev won the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes, falling one race shy of horse racing's Triple Crown.

"Big Bill" Tilden won the U.S. National Championship to claim his fourth national tennis championship. He continued to dominate the sport into the early '30s.

The New York Yankees won the world Series, beating the New York Giants in six games. Hall of Famer Herb Pennock won tow games, including the one that clinched the title.

And on Long Island, N.Y., Bobby Jones won the U.S. Open at Inwood Country Club. Jones, 21, earned his first major championship the hard way. He defeated Bobby Cruickshank by two shots in an 18-hole playoff, setting the path for the seven remarkable years that were to follow.

One hundred years later, only the most devout horse race enthusiast will remember Zev. True baseball fans will remember Pennock, but they default to the names Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig when discussing those old Yankees. Tilden was a great player, but the memory of his booming serve has been dulled by the passing of time.

Yet when asked to name the top three golfers of all time, even today's generation will put- in some sort of order - Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Bobby Jones. There is no question that Jones belongs with the greatest golfers and at the pinnacle of sportsmen.

And that's exactly what Bob Jones IV and the other members of the Jones family are trying to ensure. They are determined to have the memory of Jones and his legacy continue in perpetuity. And the effort will begin this summer as a commemoration of the 2023 U.S. Open championship and continue through 2030 when the golfing world will celebrate the centennial of the Grand Slam.

"My grandfather had such a positive impact on golf and our culture," Jones said. "We don't want to see that go away. He made so many contributions that we don't want to see those forgotten.

Jones and Marty Elgison, the attorney for Jonesheirs, Inc., began to conceive the strategy for the run-up to the Grand Slam centennial a couple years ago. They have worked with the USGA, the clubs at which Jones on his national championships and the Atlanta Athletic Club, which will host the U.S. Amateur Championship in 2030 as culmination of the Jones Jubilee.

"It's going to be huge," Elgison said. "And the unique thing about Jones is that he won a major championship every year leading up to the Grand Slam, so you've got this series of anniversaries."

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