Who is John Ball?
John Ball is a golfer who was the first non-Scot to win the Open Championship. He did so in 1890. He also won eight British Amateur Championships.
Golf Digest described him like this:
“Coming home from that eighth British Amateur victory, Ball dodged the brass-band welcome and adulation from the Hoylake crowds by hopping off the train one stop early and walking home along the beach. He gave away all his medals.”
The Hoylake Club secretary and historian Guy Farrar put it this way: “No one has ever inspired greater hero worship. And no one ever courted it less.”
Something to aspire to.