Wow: Rory's Ball At $5558 And Climbing

So much for the collectibles market drying up.

Yesterday when I read Luke Kerr-Dineen's item on Rory's final Nike ball from Hoylake going up for sale at Green Jacket Auctions it was at $2852.

Now? $5558 and going up with the bidding ending August 9th.

If you were thinking of bidding and sending me the ball for Christmas, I'd prefer some more nostalgic stuff from the auction.

This painting would look nice in my office. Or this set of Tom Stewart irons would look mighty spiffy in my bag. Just thinking out loud.

Q&A With Dan Jenkins, Vol. 7 "His Ownself: A Semi-Memoir"

Dan Jenkins has published his 21st book, His Ownself: A Semi-Memoir (Also available in Kindle edition here).

There have been some super write-ups and reviews, including this one from Golf World's Bill Fields, this one from Grantland, this one from the New York Times and this one from Texas Monthly. Each is worthwhile if you're a Jenkins fan or wanting to learn more about the craft of writing.

Dan has participated in with six previous Q&As. In order: here, here, here, here, here and here.

So here goes, eight semi-questions for the masterful Jenkins, including an all important Downton Abbey season 4 inquiry.

GS: The most shocking revelation from the semi-memoir is that in your youth, you were a semi-Californian. And yet you became a smoker. On a serious note, do you think your love of cinema and exposure to it made you a better writer?

DJ: I only spent four summers in California as a kid, but I treasure every memory. For a prairie dog Texan, it was all so damn glamorous. I'd never even seen a double-dip ice cream cone before. And as S. J. Perelman said, "Hollywood is the place that gave us the shirt worn outside the pants." Movies had everything to do with me wanting to be a newspaperman. During those summers when my aunt was working in wardrobe at Paramount I'm quite sure I saw more stars than I mention in the book. There used to be a diner just outside the Paramount gates, and there were days when I would sit in there with my grandmother waiting for my aunt to get off work. She would have a coffee and I would have a piece of pie. One day a guy sat next to me on a stool and ordered a bowl of chili. It was Jack Oakie. I was stunned. All he said was, "How ya doin', kid?" File under Big Moments in Small Lives.


GS: You open the book lamenting the demise of writer apparel and the bar. Do you sympathize with today's media having to feed the 24/7 media machine and not having the luxury of hanging out?

DJ: The top writers and columnists don't have to feed the 24/7 machine today. They do what we always did. And the others are just doing what "the others" always did on newspapers, stay late to get the agate in and the notes and the fishing reports. You have to somehow make your own way in this business, strive to be better, don't turn down assignments, don't complain about days off, have typing machine, will travel, carve out a niche. Read. Read everything. Keep up with the world. And if you don't love the business, get out and do something else. End of lecture.


GS: You write on a computer now. How does it affect the end product compared to a typewriter? Anything you miss about the old manuals?

DJ: I was late to computers, but I certainly like them now. So much easier to correct and change stuff. I don't miss the typewriters so much as I miss the friendships and humor and cigarette smoke and clatter of the old city rooms. It was exciting. Every damn day.


GS: Could you get Semi-Tough or You Gotta Play Hurt published today? Or would political correctness have doomed you to self-publishing?

DJ: I think you could get Semi Tough published today. I haven't picked up a novel today that doesn't drop more f-bombs than I ever thought about. The charm or uniqueness of Semi was taking the reader backstage and into the locker rooms and hotel suites and bar rooms that I'd known---and then had sport with. Making friendships with athletes and keeping their secrets was most helpful. I wound up using it in fiction.


GS: You explain in the book some of your favorite media sources and writers. How much more are you getting news from the Internet vs. print?

DJ: I read as much as I can to keep up with the world. Newspapers, books, the net, all kinds of columns---sports, politics, show biz, all that. Too many sportswriters and "golf" writers don't seem to care about anything else. They're missing something, and possibly something helpful in their work.


GS: Is there any tool or trick in today's media world you wish you had when you were starting out?

DJ: Not that I can think of. I couldn't have had better teachers. They came on the printed page---John Lardner, Red Smith, Henry McLemore, Damon Runyon, Grantland Rice, Wolcott Gibbs, James Thurber, Dorothy Parker. As Red once said, "You start out lifting from your heroes and eventually you find your own voice." If I tried to imitate anyone, it was John Lardner and Red Smith, their smoothness, their tongue in cheek look at things. I always had an attitude about things, so I like to think I took what I could from Lardner and Red---the two greatest who ever lived ---and perhaps gave it an edge, or occasionally drew blood, but unintentionally at times. Couldn't help myself. I'll say this, and hope I can stand behind it: I hope I never sacrificed truth or fact for a joke, and I don't think I ever wrote a line I didn't believe.

GS: So is Bates a murderer?

DJ: I'm tired of Bates. I'm deeply concerned about who Lady Mary is going to wind up with.


GS: Ike's Tree is gone, everything else is about the same at Augusta. What excites you most about going back to Augusta besides getting to hear an update on Tiger's back?

DJ: What I love most about the Masters is the nostalgia. It's always a great event, sure, but I've never known a nicer sporting arena to live in the past. The Rose Bowl would be in that list. I don't know any other way to say this, but I have always been an old-fashioned, traditionalist kind of guy---even as a kid. What happens today wouldn't mean as much to me if all that other stuff hadn't happened in earlier years. We're all part of history---from Jones's hickory, to Hogan's white cap, to Tiger's back spasms. I hope a lot of this comes across in "His Ownself."

Old Tom Morris Images Bring In Over $118K

Alex Miceli reports that Green Jacket Auction's recent Old Tom Morris collection sale totaled $118,084 dollars.

The top image was the iconic shot of Old and Young Tom at the St. Mary's Studio, which went for $19,850.

You can see the final sale prices here. Note that the of the non-Old Tom items, the program from the first Masters went for over $16,000.

Green Jacket Auction Of Old Tom's Photo Collection

With pretty lousy weather around the country, you might yourself with a few minutes of extra web browsing time and I highly recommend the latest Green Jacket Auctions auction.

There are many neat objects, but the Old Tom Morris photos up for sale are the real prize. Many are believed to have decorated his walls and were found after Eric Auchterlonie passed and these were discovered in an old horse stable.

From the auction description:

On the property grounds, inside an old horse stable and hidden behind two large hessian coal stacks, was one of the most historically significant golf collections in the world. Word of this so-called “Stable Find” quickly spread throughout collecting circles.

The collection – consisting of more than 40 original photographs from the 1800’s – was personally owned by the legendary Old Tom Morris, and then passed down in the Auchterlonie family for almost 90 years.

Maybe because I sought out the golfing ghosts at Leith Links this year, this one from there with Old and Young Tom Morris really looked special. From the description:

1867 Leith Links Gravure w/ Old & Young Tom Morris

At the 1867 Grand Golf Tournament, a photographer was present to take 3 group photographs of the early professional golfers. This was simply unheard of at the time, though the exact reason for the photographer's presence has been lost over time. That group included both Old Tom Morris and his then-16 year old son Young Tom Morris. This is Old Tom Morris' personal copy of one of those rare images.

This original gravure (Version 1 - Young Tom on Steps) depicts the greatest golfers of 1867. The entire piece measures 15 1/4” x 12”, with the image (including names) measuring 9 7/8 x 7 3/4.

The auction ends January 18th.

And the image: