[ANTHONYPIOPPI]

The first three-time winner is never mentioned. Why?

Anthony

[John Kavanaugh]

The same reason they never mention Jimmy Durnate on American Idol.  I can't think of one without the other.

[Sam Morrow]

Good question but I wonder what percentage of the golfing public knows who Jimmy Demaret is.

[K. Krahenbuhl]

Interesting that of the two 'founding fathers' of my club it was Jack Burke that got most of the mentions with his 289 score in 1956.  I don't know that I heard Demaret mentioned at all.

[ANTHONYPIOPPI]

Demaret pissed off Jones along the line and his name is not allowed to be mentioned but I don't know what he did.

Anthony

[rjsimper]

Good question but I wonder what percentage of the golfing public knows who Jimmy Demaret is.

For years the only reason I knew who Jimmy Demaret was was thanks to his guest appearance on "I Love Lucy"

I will now go to the penalty box and feel shame.

[wsmorrison]

I thought I saw a brief bio sketch on Demaret on Sunday's telecast.  Maybe it was during the Jim Nantz special that preceded the telecast.

[Rich Goodale]

Jimmy Demaret had a sense of humor.

Neither Bobby Jones nor Clifford Roberts, nor any of the ciphers who have run the tunamint since have been so blessed.

[BCrosby]

By all accounts Jones had a great sense of humor.

For better or worse, it didn't include lavender golf outfits.

Bob

[Rich Goodale]

Bob

Please just give me one account or bon mot and I might start to believe you.  From the little that I know, he was too full of himself to have any real sense of humor.

Rich

[ANTHONYPIOPPI]

I received an email from John Companiotte who wrote the Demaret biography, "The Swing's The Thing."

Here is what he had to say: "It was an innocuous remark by Demaret following a Masters in the late 50s -he said he didn't think that the crowds had been as large as in years past. For some reason Jones took this as a big insult. Regardless of that incident, I'm not sure that Jimmy's lifestyle sat well with Augusta National's membership."

I figured it had to be something that small.

[KBanks]

Rich, have you read Jones' acceptance speech when accorded the Freedom of the City of St. Andrews?

In addition to its other qualities, it contains a fair amount of self-deprecating humor.

Ken

[BCrosby]

Rich -

You and I will never know if Jones was full of himself.

HWW, Charles Price, G. Rice, O.B. Keeler, Darwin, Frances Ouimet and virtually everyone else that knew him thought the opposite. I knew (they are dead now) a number of his social friends. They were quite devoted to him. Jones seemed to have been a person people liked to hang around with.

As for his sense of humor, he is famous for his dirty jokes, and gets credit for the limerick that begins:

"I once knew a girl from Nantucket...."  

Bob
 

[KBanks]

Bob,

I understand that Jones' locker room badinage was fueled, from time to time, with some corn liquor!

Ken

[Bill_McBride]

Rich -

You and I will never know if Jones was full of himself.

HWW, Charles Price, G. Rice, O.B. Keeler, Darwin, Frances Ouimet and virtually everyone else that knew him thought the opposite. I knew (they are dead now) a number of his social friends. They were quite devoted to him. Jones seemed to have been a person people liked to hang around with.

As for his sense of humor, he is famous for his dirty jokes, and gets credit for the limerick that begins:

"I once knew a girl from Nantucket...."  

Drunk in Chicago, I once sang that limerick -- except I think it dealt with a 'man from Nantucket' -- in a piano bar off Rush Street.  They lit a candle on the piano and sang "Silent Night" a capella.  It was a charming ceremony..........

[David_Tepper]

Anthony P. -

Despite the semi-thread jacking, this is an interesting topic. I was not really aware that Demaret had won the Masters 3 times. He is likely the only 3-time winner (pre-1970) who has never been an honorary starter or had a bridge/plaque named in his honor.

It is interesting to wonder why.

DT  

[BCrosby]

Jones enjoyed a drink. His father, Colonel Jones, accompanied him at many tournaments. The Colonel's primary job was to keep stocks of whiskey at hand.

Bob

[Peter Pallotta]

From the little I've gotten to read about him, Demaret sounds like a great guy: the life of any party, generous with money and guidance to just about everyone, he could sing and crack jokes with the best of them, and of course he played great golf (with some of the tour pros back then suggesting that if he didn't drink so much, and if he took the game a little more seriously, he'd have won EVERYTHING).

Also, he managed to be a good and lifelong friend to Ben Hogan (who was also his occasional playing partner in team matches, with much success).  He was also one of the very few men who could get away with ribbing the Hawk: I read the story somewhere of how, relatively late in their lives, when Demaret was still playing seniors/legend golf but Hogan was about to stop playing altogether, Jimmy tried to get him to be his partner in an upcoming match. Hogan didn't want to (he thought his game had deteriorated too much) but Jimmy kept pressing. Finally, Hogan said:

"No, Jimmy, I couldn't help you much".  To which Demaret replied: "So what, Ben? You never did".

I wish I'd gotten to see him hit the first tee shot at the Masters, bright yellow shirt and pink pants and all....but it IS hard to imagine

Peter

[ANTHONYPIOPPI]

David,

Augusta is very, very good and rewriting its own history. That Jimmy Demaret is forgotten by Augusta and, as a direct result, by modern golf fans is a shame. This is a man who had the utmost respect of Ben Hogan, yet he is shunned. I'll bet Jim Nantz would pee in his pants if you snuck up behind him and whispered "Jimmy Demaret" in his ear during Masters week.

This is from Randy Smith's column in Monday's Manchester (Conn.) Journal Inquirer

"The broadcast of the 71st Masters was not unlike those which preceded it. Demaret's name was never mentioned. He was the first three-time winner of the Masters, but had a falling-out with Jones along the way and has been sentenced to oblivion. Byron Nelson is remembered lovingly every year and even has a bridge named after him. He won the Masters twice."

Augusta and the Masters make up their own rules. Why? Because they can. Augusta is a great place to visit every spring ... and a good place to forget quickly thereafter."

[Jason Topp]

The best thing about Demaret is that he did not write an autobiography (as far as I know) but instead wrote a biography of "My Partner, Ben Hogan."

I wonder if anyone else so accomplished in any field has done the same thing about a contemporary.

[BCrosby]

Boswell's biography of Johnson, though neither played much golf.

[Peter Pallotta]

Jason
A terrific and simple way to put it.

Bob C
I was thinking maybe Plato; a fine four-ball player by the way, with the older Socrates, who could go long but was not much with the flat stick...

Peter

[BCrosby]

After his rounds Socrates kept trying to corrupt young boys. So that's an issue you want to keep out of a good golf biography.

Or how about Brahm's Variations on a Theme by Haydn? I take that to mean Brahm's was trying to play using Haydn's notoriously flat, St. Andrews swing but with some modern modifications, like the Vardon grip.

Bob

[John_Cullum]

Augusta is very, very good and rewriting its own history.

Yes, David Owen proved that quite well

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