Former USPGA chief executive Joe Steranka was among a who’s who of golfing administrators who attended the funeral of his one-time PGA counterpart Sandy Jones, who died last month at the age of 75, writes Adrian Milledge.
Steranka made the journey from his Florida home to be at the service at St Peter’s Church, Little Aston, Sutton Coldfield, and the subsequent celebration of Jones’s life at nearby Little Aston Golf Club.
More than 170 mourners packed the church to pay tribute to Jones, a proud Scotsman who served the PGA for more than 37 years and became one of golf’s most respected and influential administrators.
The congregation also included former European Tour chief executives Ken Schofield and George O’Grady, Ryder Cup director Richard Hills and three-time Ryder Cup captain Bernard Gallacher.
In addition to his love of golf, Jones was a lifelong supporter of Glasgow Rangers and friend of Alex McLeish who led the club to two league championships and represented Scotland 77 times.
McLeish attended the service while another legend of Scottish football, Sir Alex Ferguson, wrote a letter of condolence to Jones’s wife, Christine.
The service featured Iain Burns, the manager at Little Aston Golf Club, reading the lyrics of The Parting Glass, a Scottish song, a family tribute from stepdaughter Polly Willis, and Schofield delivering the eulogy.
Schofield, a fellow Scot and friend of Jones for more than 40 years, spoke without notes for close on 20 minutes. He concluded: “In thanking Sandy for all that he did, all of the achievements, all of his accomplishments, we again say, it was much more the way Sandy did things than all of the things he achieved and accomplished.”