Injury-prone Jones almost 50, poised for comeback

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Steve Jones' birthday falls on Dec. 27, 2008, and he'll be eligible for the Champions Tour in 2009.

Some of golf's favorite names and most familiar faces will be joining the Champions Tour in 2009. Over the next three weeks, PGATOUR.COM will take a look at the former PGA TOUR winners who turned 50 in late 2008 or who will hit the half-century mark in 2009 and likely make their Champions Tour debut.

You probably know the story about Ben Hogan's comeback at the U.S. Open.

In 1949, Hogan was cut from the wreckage of a horrific car accident -- he was left with a fractured pelvis, broken collarbone, broken ribs, a mangled ankle and a damaged bladder, among other deep cuts and bruises -- and newspapers across the country received his obituary from the Associated Press.

In just 16 months, the man some thought might never walk again won the 1950 U.S. Open.

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Jones, seen here at THE PLAYERS in 2005, took the early lead at TPC Sawgrass that year.

The Basics

NAME: Steven Glen Jones HT: 6-4 WT: 200 BIRTHDATE: December 27, 1958 BIRTHPLACE: Artesia, N.M. RESIDENCE: Bozeman, Mont. TURNED PRO: 1981 TOUR WINS: 8

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Click here for a look back at Jones' TOUR career.

Over 40 years later, in 1991, another man would suffer from a motorcycle accident and go on to win the U.S. Open when it seemed impossible. Though his injuries weren't on the same level as Hogan's, Steve Jones did injure the ligaments in his left ring finger so severely that he was forced to take three years off from the TOUR. During that time, Jones developed a reverse overlap grip to compensate and finally returned to the PGA TOUR in 1995.

"I didn't realize my finger was hurt that bad because I had dislocated it before, but it was quite a shock when it happened. I was playing pretty good golf at the time," Jones said of his accident.

And he had been playing good golf before that, winning his first title at Pebble Beach in 1988 and earning three wins, including the Canadian Open, in 1989. He was also eighth on the money list in 1989.

No stranger to adversity, at least Jones knew how to come back from a tough break, both literally and physically. When he turned professional in 1982 and was just beginning his TOUR career, Jones broke his wrist and was forced to sit out. But he was the medalist at the PGA TOUR National Qualifying Tournament in 1986, and continued to have success until that fateful accident.

Since he had taken so much time away from golf in 1992-94 due to that accident, Jones had to fight his way back onto the circuit in 1995. He had two top-10s that season and had three early top-10s in 1996, but few expected him to win a major. Especially since Jones had to earn a berth in the U.S. Open through sectional qualifying, and no sectional qualifier had won the Open since Jerry Pate in 1976.

The week before the 1996 Open at Oakland Hills Country Club, a friend sent him a copy of a book Hogan had written. At first Jones wasn't too keen on reading it, especially as he geared up for a major, but he started reading and soon couldn't put it down. Over three straight days, he read the book and headed to the prestigious event, where he made an impressive par on the 18th to beat Tom Lehman and Davis Love III by a stroke.

"Basically what I got out of the Hogan book was this guy, no matter what the situation, he was always trying to make birdie, always trying to focus on the next shot, and that is what I tried to do," Jones said immediately after his win. "And I honestly don't think I could have won this tournament without reading that book. Sounds crazy, but I guess -- I mean, it does. It takes a lot of guts to win, and I wasn't ever sure if I had the guts to win another tournament, let alone a major."

Jones was the TOUR's Comeback Player of the Year in 1996 and, ironically, also won the Golf Writers Association of America's Ben Hogan Award, given to a player who comes back from serious injury or illness.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the only injury Jones would face. He won three times on TOUR in 1997 and 1998, then had an injury-plagued season in 1999 with shoulder problems and an irregular heartbeat. His heart problems, known as superventricular tachycardia, continued through 2002, when he had laser surgery to correct the non-life threatening problem.

Right after he recovered from that, Jones started having elbow problems and underwent surgery on his right elbow in August 2003. Things weren't looking good for Jones, but he found inspiration in another veteran golfer -- Hale Irwin.

"(Irwin) said, 'You have to ask yourself: Do you really want to do this anymore? Because any comeback you do is hard. And the older you get, to come back is harder. The players are better. They're hitting it longer,'" Jones said. "I get older. I get injured. It's tougher."

Shortly after their talk, Jones held a three-stroke lead at THE PLAYERS Championship after the first round in 2005, and a second amazing comeback seemed to be in the works. But he wound up tied for 75th and hasn't earned a top-10 finish since.

The hardest part about the injuries, he said, was not seeing his fellow TOUR players. Many of those players said they also missed Jones, one of the nicest guys in the locker room.

"The void part, not being out (on TOUR), for me it's just the camaraderie with all the guys. There's 150, 180 guys you know out here, and you see them for years and years and years and all of a sudden you're not there for two years. I keep in contact with a few of them, but it's not the same," Jones said. "That's what I missed the most, not being around my friends out here."

Jones will turn 50 on December 27, and will get a second career on the Champions Tour and a chance to reunite with old pals.