Estate Living September 2016 Digital Issue | Page 21

In an extraordinary career, spanning just over 11 actively
competitive years, Jones won seven tournaments that are now
regarded as professional golf majors − as an amateur!
For the rest of the players who would like to play – yes, indeed,
it is an invitational event. However, it is one in which everyone
knows exactly what qualifying criteria are required to make the
field each April. Apart from the invitations to past champions,
these criteria, according to which any player will receive an invite,
are all performance-related.

No one gets to tee up in a pro tournament unless they have
earned the right to be there. So when you next watch a pro golf
tournament, please remember that the players you are following
are on the course purely through merit.
If only we could just get some of our politicians, the IOC and FIFA
to watch more golf and see a real meritocracy at work!
John Cockayne
Estate Living Golf Editor

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WHAT’S PUTTING

In brief, an amateur will have to have won a current major amateur
event such as the US or British Amateur Championship, and a
pro will have to have qualified, by the time the cut-off date for
invitations has been reached, by, for example, winning another
major or a tournament on the PGA Tour, or finishing top of their
tour’s order of merit, or being in the top 50 on the world rankings.