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Bobby Jones's $310,000 'green jacket' triples estimate at golf auction
The famed green jackets of the Augusta National are rarely seen outside the club
Golfing great Bobby Jones's green jacket from the Augusta National Golf Club has tripled its estimate at a sports memorabilia auction in the US.
Featuring Jones's initials on the inside, it sold for $310,000 at the Heritage Auctions sale, against a $100,000 valuation.
It was a rare opportunity for collectors to purchase one of the coveted green jackets, awarded to winners of the Masters golf tournament, which takes place each year at Augusta.
Only the reigning champion may take a jacket off the club grounds, although the club's co-founder apparently flouted his own rules.
 Bobby Jones never won his own tournament |
The garment dates back to 1937 when Augusta National members began to wear jackets to make them more identifiable and approachable to guests.
Regarded as the game's finest ever amateur golfer, Jones established the Masters tournament in 1934, and winners began receiving the jacket in 1949.
Jones, who retired from the game in 1930 except to play the Masters, never won his own tournament, hanging up his clubs for good in 1948.
Jones gifted the jacket to the artist who painted his portrait, which now hangs in the Augusta National clubhouse.
The auction marks the continuation of golf memorabilia as a lucrative collecting niche.
A Bobby Jones signed photograph made $13,145 in 2010, while a gold putter once owned by Seve Ballesteros was recently bought for $90,000 by British golfer, snazzy dresser and keen collector Ian Poulter.
The Heritage auction also featured some astonishing prices in the baseball sector, with a Cy Young Boston Red Sox uniform from 1908 top selling at $657,250, alongside a host of Lou Gehrig items.
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Image: Heritage Auctions
