One year after his passing, the European Tour has been fondly remembering its founding father, John Jacobs OBE.
Jacobs, also a two-time Ryder Cup captain, will forever be remembered for the huge influence he has had on European golf, as a player, an innovative coach and as a driving force behind the formation of the European Tour.
Ahead of this week's EurAsia Cup in Malaysia, Team Europe Captain Thomas Bjørn recalled the profound impact the Englishman had on so many across the world golf.
“I moved aside because I wanted to get on with my own career but Ken was a natural and I knew the whole business was in safe hands,” he recalled in his 2012 interview. “If you look at where the Tour started when Ken took over and where it was when he left, it is almost unbelievable, and George followed that on by moving things even further forward. Great credit must go to both of them.”
Humility was a trait of Jacobs, but the vision he had paved the way for the modern European Tour. From a starting point of just a handful of tournaments in 1972 and a total prize fund for that season of than £500,000, the European Tour now has nearly 50 tournaments in more than 25 different countries with prize money of nearly €200million – a journey that was started by Jacobs more than half a century ago.
Jacobs’ remarkable contribution to golf was recognised in 1997 when he was made an OBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours and three years later he was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.
But his legacy will be the impact he had on golfers of all abilities across the world.
• Read John Jacobs’ full three-part 2012 interview to mark the 40th anniversary of the European Tour.
Founding of the Tour:
Background:
Teaching:
“I moved aside because I wanted to get on with my own career but Ken was a natural and I knew the whole business was in safe hands,” he recalled in his 2012 interview. “If you look at where the Tour started when Ken took over and where it was when he left, it is almost unbelievable, and George followed that on by moving things even further forward. Great credit must go to both of them.”
Humility was a trait of Jacobs, but the vision he had paved the way for the modern European Tour. From a starting point of just a handful of tournaments in 1972 and a total prize fund for that season of than £500,000, the European Tour now has nearly 50 tournaments in more than 25 different countries with prize money of nearly €200million – a journey that was started by Jacobs more than half a century ago.
Jacobs’ remarkable contribution to golf was recognised in 1997 when he was made an OBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours and three years later he was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.
But his legacy will be the impact he had on golfers of all abilities across the world.
• Read John Jacobs’ full three-part 2012 interview to mark the 40th anniversary of the European Tour.
Founding of the Tour:
Background:
Teaching:
“I moved aside because I wanted to get on with my own career but Ken was a natural and I knew the whole business was in safe hands,” he recalled in his 2012 interview. “If you look at where the Tour started when Ken took over and where it was when he left, it is almost unbelievable, and George followed that on by moving things even further forward. Great credit must go to both of them.”
Humility was a trait of Jacobs, but the vision he had paved the way for the modern European Tour. From a starting point of just a handful of tournaments in 1972 and a total prize fund for that season of than £500,000, the European Tour now has nearly 50 tournaments in more than 25 different countries with prize money of nearly €200million – a journey that was started by Jacobs more than half a century ago.
Jacobs’ remarkable contribution to golf was recognised in 1997 when he was made an OBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours and three years later he was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.
But his legacy will be the impact he had on golfers of all abilities across the world.
• Read John Jacobs’ full three-part 2012 interview to mark the 40th anniversary of the European Tour.
Founding of the Tour:
Background:
Teaching:
