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“BOBBY JONES – STROKE OF GENIUS”
Visceral, emotional, intelligent, “Bobbie Jones - Stroke of Genius” is to golf what “Chariots of Fire” was to track and field.
“For when the one Great Scorer comes
To write against your name,
He writes not that you won or lost
But how you played the game.”
Grantland Rice (1880 – 1931) U.S. sportswriter
Being a pro athlete in our world is synonymous with super stardom with all of its accompanying glitz and glamour, riches and rewards, endorsements and exultation. For golf legend Bobby Jones that was the antithesis of everything he loved about the game.
“To be an amateur,” he said, “is to love the game. Once you play for money, you can’t call it love anymore.”
Bobby Jones Film in association with Life(n) Productions and Dean River Productions brings the life of this remarkable man to the screen in, “Bobby Jones – Stroke of Genius,” starring Jim Caviezel (The Passion of the Christ, The Count of Monte Christo), Claire Forlani (Meet Joe Black, The Rock) and Jeremy Northam (An Ideal Husband, Gosford Park).
Robert Tyre Jones overcame a sickly early childhood to earn sports recognition by winning the 1916 Georgia Amateur at age 14. From 1923-1930, he won 13 major tournaments while earning a mechanical engineering degree from Georgia Tech, a English literature degree from Harvard and passing the Georgia Bar after studying law for a year at Emory Law School. The height of his sporting achievements came in 1930 when he became the only golfer ever to win the Grand Slam (the British Amateur, British Open, U.S. Amateur, and U.S. Open). The next year, at 28 years old, Jones retired from competitive golf.
This movie is not a golf documentary for ESPN; far from it. This is a story about integrity and honor, about enduring pain and stress, about overcoming personal character flaws and self-imposed perfectionism. This is a story about a man who passionately loved his wife and family.
This is not the story of a perfect man. As a lad, Bobby Jones observed – and imitated - adult golfers throwing tantrums and golf clubs whenever they missed a shot. Coarse language was par for the course. Jones would struggle to overcome what newspaper journalist O.B. Keeler would call, “a temper of a timber wolf.”
Beautifully crafted, "Bobby Jones" was written and directed by Rowdy Herrington, and features an all-star cast includes Connie Ray (Stuart Little, Hope Floats), Brett Rice (The Punisher, Remember the Titans) and the incomparable Malcolm McDowell (The Company, A Clockwork Orange) as O. B. Keeler. Making their screen film debut are Devon Gearhart as 6-8 year old Bobby Jones and Thomas Lewis as 14-year-old Bobby.
If you love golf, you will love this movie. And if you don’t like golf, you’ll still love this movie.
"Bobby Jones - Stroke of Genius" is rated PG-13 for strong language. There are also several references to his mother's belief in astrology.
Claire Forlani and Jim Caviezel in "Bobby Jones- Stroke of Genius"
Photo - © 2004 - Bobby Jones Film LLC - All Rights Reserved
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