Rosie Jones (golfer)

Rosie Jones
Personal information
Born (1959-11-13) November 13, 1959 (age 64)
Santa Ana, California, U.S.
Height5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Sporting nationality United States
ResidenceHilton Head, South Carolina, U.S.
SpouseDeb Edgemon (2024)
Career
CollegeOhio State University
Turned professional1982
Current tour(s)Legends Tour (joined 2006)
Former tour(s)LPGA Tour (joined 1982)
Professional wins25
Number of wins by tour
LPGA Tour13
Ladies European Tour2
Other10
Best results in LPGA major championships
Chevron Championship2nd: 2005
Women's PGA C'ship2nd: 1990
U.S. Women's Open2nd: 1984
du Maurier Classic2nd: 2000
Women's British OpenT12: 2001
Achievements and awards
AIAW All-American1981

Rosie Jones (born November 13, 1959) is an American professional golfer, with 13 LPGA Tour career victories and nearly $8.4 million in tournament earnings.[1]

Amateur career

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Jones was born in Santa Ana, California. In her amateur career, she was a three time New Mexico Junior Champion (1974–76) and won the New Mexico State Championship in 1979.

Jones attended Ohio State University where in 1981 she was an AIAW All-American.

Professional career

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Jones qualified for the LPGA Tour by tying for seventh at the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament in July 1982.

Jones's best position on the LPGA money list was third in 1988, when she was tied as the winning-most player with three victories, including the LPGA World Championship; she won that championship with a one-shot victory over Liselotte Neumann, that year's U.S. Open champion.[2] She completed her career with thirteen LPGA Tour titles. She also played for the United States in the Solheim Cup seven times. She placed second in a major tournament four times (1984 U.S. Open; 1991 LPGA Championship; 2000 du Maurier Classic; 2005 Kraft Nabisco Championship), but never won a major tournament.

Jones achieved back-to-back wins in 1996-97 at the LPGA Corning Classic, earning her the nickname "Queen of Corning";[3] she is also that tournament's all-time money leader "by a wide margin."[4]

I'm proud of my career. I wouldn't trade it for the world. I wish I'd won a major, but I gave it my whole heart on every shot. And I've gotten more from the game than I could ever give back.

— Jones, upon her retirement from the LPGA tour[1]

At the conclusion of the 2006 U.S. Women's Open, in which she finished tied for 57th, she retired from competitive golf;[4] as a symbol of her departure she removed her golf shoes, visor, and glove and placed them on the side of the 18th green.[1]

Since retiring from full-time play, Jones has competed on the Legends Tour, winning two of the five non-team tournaments in 2007. She has also worked as a commentator for the Golf Channel.[5] She came out of retirement in 2008[4] to play the Corning Classic on a sponsor's exemption. She missed the cut by four strokes.[3]

In 2009, she qualified for the U.S. Women's Open; she missed the cut at the tournament by three strokes.

In February 2010, Jones was named the captain of the U.S. team for the 2011 Solheim Cup.[6]

Personal life

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In 2004, Jones came out publicly as lesbian, an announcement timed with her acceptance of a sponsorship from Olivia, a travel agency that targets lesbians.[7] Among people who knew her, she had been out since the late 1970s.[8]

Professional wins (25)

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LPGA Tour wins (13)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory 		Runner(s)-up
1 Sep 7, 1987 Rail Charity Golf Classic −8 (69-74-67-69=279) 1 stroke United States Nancy Lopez
2 Apr 24, 1988 USX Golf Classic −13 (67-69-69-70=275) Playoff United States Kathy Postlewait
3 Aug 28, 1988 Nestle World Championship −9 (70-69-66-74=279) 1 stroke Sweden Liselotte Neumann
4 Sep 25, 1988 Santa Barbara Open −4 (70-70-72=212) 3 strokes United States Missie McGeorge
5 Jun 2, 1991 Rochester International −12 (69-69-72-66=276) 2 strokes United States Danielle Ammaccapane
United States Brandie Burton
6 Aug 30, 1995 Pinewild Women's Championship −5 (72-70-69=211) Playoff United States Dottie Mochrie
7 May 26, 1996 LPGA Corning Classic −12 (67-69-71-69=276) 2 strokes United States Val Skinner
8 Jun 25, 1997 LPGA Corning Classic −11 (72-69-71-65=277) Playoff United States Tammie Green
9 Jun 1, 1998 Wegmans Rochester International −9 (74-69-64-72=279) 2 strokes United States Juli Inkster
10 Aug 22, 1999 Firstar LPGA Classic −9 (72-67-68=207) Playoff United States Becky Iverson
Australia Jan Stephenson
11 Apr 29, 2001 Kathy Ireland Championship −12 (66-67-68-67=268) Playoff South Korea Mi-Hyun Kim
12 Jul 22, 2001 Sybase Big Apple Classic −12 (70-66-66-70=272) 1 stroke United States Laura Diaz
13 May 11, 2003 Asahi Ryokuken International Championship −15 (66-68-69-70=273) 3 strokes United States Wendy Ward

LPGA Tour playoff record (5–4)

No. Year Tournament Opponent(s) Result
1 1984 Rochester International United States Kathy Whitworth Lost to par on first extra hole
2 1988 USX Golf Classic United States Kathy Postlewait Won with birdie on first extra hole
3 1992 Crestar Classic United States Juli Inkster
United States Betsy King
United States Nancy Lopez 		Inkster won with eagle on first extra hole
4 1991 Safeco Classic United States Pat Bradley Lost to birdie on second extra hole
5 1995 Pinewild Women's Championship United States Dottie Mochrie Won with birdie on fifth extra hole
6 1997 LPGA Corning Classic United States Tammie Green Won with birdie on first extra hole
7 1998 Standard Register PING Sweden Liselotte Neumann Lost to birdie on third extra hole
8 1999 Firstar LPGA Classic United States Becky Iverson
Australia Jan Stephenson 		Won with par on fourth extra hole
Stephenson eliminated by par on first hole
9 2001 Kathy Ireland Championship South Korea Mi-Hyun Kim Won with birdie on first extra hole

Ladies European Tour (2)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory 		Runner-up
1 May 14, 1982 United Friendly Worthing Open −2 (73-73-71=217) 6 strokes England Mickey Walker
2 Jul 23, 1982 Ladies Spanish Open +8 (76-74-74=224) 5 strokes England Jenny Lee Smith

Other wins (1)

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Legends Tour wins (9)

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  • 2007 Wendy's Charity Challenge, Legends Tour Open Championship
  • 2009 Kinoshita Pearl Classic
  • 2010 Legends Tour Open Championship
  • 2012 Walgreens Charity Classic
  • 2013 Harris Golf Charity Classic
  • 2014 Wendy's Charity Challenge
  • 2017 Wendy's Charity Classic
  • 2019 BJ's Charity Championship (with Michele Redman)

Results in LPGA majors

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Tournament 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
Kraft Nabisco Championship T52 T19 T24 4 3 CUT
LPGA Championship T44 T46 T19 T15 T3 T35 T61
U.S. Women's Open T43 T11 2 T28 T35 7 T9 8
du Maurier Classic 4 T28 T29 7 T9 8 T46
Tournament 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
Kraft Nabisco Championship T6 T23 T32 T62 T52 T10 CUT T18 T13 T8
LPGA Championship 2 T11 T35 T17 CUT T33 T69 CUT CUT T5 T28
U.S. Women's Open T16 T62 T25 CUT CUT T5 T29 T33 T19 T25 T4
du Maurier Classic T61 T6 T50 T25 T16 T16 T10 T7 T22 T9 2
Tournament 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Kraft Nabisco Championship T28 T3 T11 T8 2 CUT
LPGA Championship T12 CUT T3 T31 T49
U.S. Women's Open T39 T22 9 T20 T19 T57 CUT
Women's British Open T12 CUT CUT CUT
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied

Summary

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Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
ANA Inspiration 0 1 2 4 8 14 22 19
U.S. Women's Open 0 1 0 3 7 15 26 23
Women's PGA Championship 0 1 2 4 4 9 23 19
Women's British Open 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 1
du Maurier Classic 0 1 0 2 9 13 18 18
Totals 0 4 4 13 28 52 93 80
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 23 (1981 U.S. Women's Open - 1988 du Maurier Classic)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 6 (1986 du Maurier Classic - 1988 Kraft Nabisco)

LPGA Tour career summary

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Year LPGA wins Earnings ($) Money list rank Average
1982 0 2,869 127 74.5
1983 64,955 27 73.57
1984 81,793 19 73.27
1985 66,665 30 72.87
1986 71,399 33 72.72
1987 1 188,000 10 71.91
1988 3 323,392 3 71.57
1989 0 110,671 32 72.45
1990 0 353,832 6 71.48
1991 1 281,089 12 71.87
1992 0 204,096 25 71.64
1993 0 320,964 11 71.85
1994 0 123,683 42 72.22
1995 1 426,957 10 71.64
1996 1 275,592 18 71.76
1997 1 381,236 15 71.77
1998 1 395,241 18 71.51
1999 1 583,796 9 70.99
2000 0 643,054 9 71.21
2001 2 785,010 6 70.51
2002 0 722,412 10 70.76
2003 1 808,785 10 70.29
2004 0 473,616 25 71.22
2005 0 615,499 20 71.58

Team appearances

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Professional

  • Solheim Cup (representing the United States): 1990 (winners), 1996 (winners), 1998 (winners), 2000, 2002 (winners), 2003, 2005 (winners)
  • Handa Cup (representing the United States): 2006 (winners), 2007 (winners), 2008 (winners), 2009 (winners), 2010 (winners), 2011 (winners), 2012 (tie, Cup retained), 2013, 2014 (winners), 2015 (winners)

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Shedloski, Dave (July 5, 2006). "Golf World: After Women's Open, Jones calls it a career". ESPN.
  2. ^ "Golf; Jones Loses Lead, Then Wins". The New York Times. Associated Press. August 29, 1988.
  3. ^ a b http://www.pressconnects.com/article/20090420/NEWS01/90420077 [dead link]
  4. ^ a b c "Rosie Jones comes out of retirement to play Corning". ESPN. Associated Press. May 21, 2008.
  5. ^ "The Golf Channel Adds Rosie Jones to LPGA Coverage". LPGA. Archived from the original on October 27, 2006.
  6. ^ "Jones named 2011 U.S. Solheim Cup team captain". LPGA. Archived from the original on November 25, 2010.
  7. ^ "Rosie Jones is gay, so what?". Golf Digest. April 9, 2004. Archived from the original on April 9, 2004. Retrieved September 10, 2017.
  8. ^ Flynn, Kaki (April 9, 2007). "Interview With Rosie Jones". After Ellen. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007.
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