Steve Jones (golfer)
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Personal Information | |
---|---|
Birth | December 27, 1958 Artesia, New Mexico, U.S. |
Height | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) |
Weight | 200 lb (91 kg) |
Nationality | United States |
College | University of Colorado |
Career | |
Turned Pro | 1981 |
Current tour | PGA Tour |
Professional wins | 9 (PGA Tour: 8, Other: 1) |
Best Results in Major Championships Wins: 1 |
|
Masters | T20: 1990 |
U.S. Open | Won 1996 |
British Open | T16: 1990 |
PGA Championship | T9: 1998 |
Steven Glen Jones (born December 27, 1958) is an American professional golfer who is best known for winning the U.S. Open in 1996. 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. In the early years of his professional career he did not have much success. He played the PGA Tour in 1982, but only made three cuts. His first top 10 finish on the PGA Tour came at the Texas Open in September 1985, and in 1986 he won the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament to retain his card for the following year. This marked the beginning of a more successful period. Jones won on the PGA Tour for the first time at the 1988 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. 1989 was the winningmost year of his career with three PGA Tour wins, and he finished 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. After playing two events in 1994, he began his comeback in earnest in 1995, when he picked up two top 10 finishes. In 1996 he achieved three top ten places 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 stoke, and was the first sectional qualifier to win the tournament since Jerry Pate in 1976.
Jones picked up two more PGA Tour wins in 1997 and his last to date in 1998. Since then he has slipped steadily down the money list, though he remained exempt on the PGA Tour through 2006 as the majors carried a 10-year exemption back in 1996. He missed part of 2003 and all of 2004 after undergoing surgery for tennis elbow, but starting playing again in 2005.
Jones played for the United States in the 1996 World Cup of Golf and was captain's assistant for the United States team at the 2004 Ryder Cup.
Contents |
[edit] PGA Tour wins (8)
- 1988 (1) AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am
- 1989 (3) MONY Tournament of Champions, Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, Canadian Open
- 1996 (1) U.S. Open
- 1997 (2) Phoenix Open, Bell Canadian Open
- 1998 (1) Quad City Classic
Major championship is shown in bold.
[edit] Other wins
- 1988 Colorado Open
[edit] Major championships
[edit] Wins (1)
Year | Championship | Winning Score | Margin | Runners Up |
1996 | U.S. Open | -2 (74-66-69-69=278) | 1 stroke | Davis Love III, Tom Lehman |
[edit] Results timeline
Tournament | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 |
---|---|---|---|
The Masters | 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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Masters | 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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Masters | 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