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Claire Forlani as Mary Jones, Bobby's wife

At Georgia Tech, Bobby meets Mary (Claire Forlani), who falls in love with Bobby's winsome personality—clueless that he's one of the world's best golfers. Even after they marry, Mary never fully embraces Bobby's "hobby," and her desire to keep him home with her and the kids just adds to Bobby's stress. Bobby, meanwhile, is torn: He is a family man—"I never wanted to be famous," he says—but he knows he has an amazing gift. Still, his hyper-competitiveness often has him on the verge of a breakdown, and Mary calls him on it: "I know what you're going through. Even when you win, you lose. I can't watch you go through that." Bobby replies, "I know I've been selfish. But I can win all four majors. I have to do it. Then I'll give it up." When he wins the Slam at the age of 28, he's true to his word, and retires.

Jones only fully grasps his full potential with the encouragement of others—mainly his father and O.B. Keeler … with a little help from a Scottish caddie named Angus and six-time British Open champ Harry Vardon. Playing miserably at St. Andrew's in 1921, Jones angrily picks up his ball mid-round and stalks off the course. Angus is stunned: "Laddie, you did wrong. You can be forgiven for losing, but not for quitting." Later, Vardon consoles Jones: "I've never seen anyone play the game with more grace. Whatever you do, don't stop hitting the ball."

Lessons learned, Jones moves on—but not without a few more challenges. When another club-tossing incident injures a woman in the gallery, the USGA warns Jones that if he can't control his temper, he won't be allowed to play. Jones promptly cleans up his act, and ends up a perfect gentleman on the course—even giving up a stroke in the 1923 U.S. Open playoff after calling a penalty on himself for inadvertently moving his ball. No one else saw the ball move, but Jones insisted it did. He went on to win the tournament—and the hearts of his opponents, the gallery, and the world for his sportsmanship and integrity, traits by which he's still known today.

There's no need to rattle off the film's depictions of Jones' other victories, but suffice it to say that it wonderfully captures that 1930 Slam—winning the British Amateur, British Open, U.S. Amateur and U.S. Open all in the same year. To this day, no other golfer has ever won the Grand Slam in the same calendar year. (Tiger Woods won all four of today's majors consecutively in 2000-2001 in sort of a "backdoor" Slam.)

Malcolm McDowell as O.B. Keeler

The film concludes with Jones and Keeler walking through a Georgia field. Keeler says, "Well, you've won for your dad and for me. You got two college degrees for your mom. You got a law degree for your grandfather. And you retired for your wife. Now what are you going to do for yourself?" Replies Bobby, looking out over the lush fields, "I'm going to build the Augusta National Golf Club, my homage to St. Andrews."

And so he does. And with that, The Masters—now one of the legs of the modern Grand Slam—is born.

Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius isn't just a good sports movie; it's a good movie, period. It has its sappy, predictable moments, but the gorgeous cinematography, apt direction and fine acting more than compensate. Think of it as like Chariots of Fire on the golf course—or, as Caviezel describes it, "This film transcends golf. It's about a human being with an extraordinary amount of integrity. Nowadays, sports stars say, 'I'm not your kid's role model.' But Bobby said, 'Yes, I am a role model.' His pureness drew me to him. That's exactly the kind of character I like to follow. I couldn't think of a finer man to play."

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