In one of golf’s wonderful moments of serendipity, Jay Sigel, arguably the best male amateur since Bobby Jones, decided near the end of his life that he wanted to tell his story.
The late Sigel’s autobiography, through his own words along with John Riley’s diligent interviews, research and collaboration, is called “The Last Amateur.”
The book release date is April 29, with a kickoff event and book signing at Sigel’s club Aronimink, featuring Fred Ridley, chairman of Augusta National Golf Club and Walker Cup captain in 1987 and 1989.
Sigel, a five-time USGA champion, two-time Walker Cup playing captain and nine-time competitor in the international match, chose Riley to pen the story because he’d read both of the author’s previous golf books, one on amateur standout Bill Hyndman and the other on old-time pro Porky Oliver.
Riley, a retired public relations professional from Wilmington, Delaware, met Sigel while both were twentysomething competitive amateurs in the greater Philadelphia area. Riley also interviewed him extensively for the Hyndman book.
During that series of interviews, Sigel asked Riley to help write his golf story. At first Riley, a former golf team captain at the University of Delaware, suggested that Sigel find a more prominent writer.
Sigel, known for his modesty despite his victory-laden track record, stood firm on his first choice.
“One of the great challenges with the book was that Jay wanted to do it as an autobiography all in the first person,” Riley said of the project, which started when Sigel was undergoing chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer in 2024. “He was such a modest guy who would reduce a momentous event such as a national championship victory into a short sentence. I would often remind him that he had to give me more if he wanted anyone to read the book.”
Through a protracted series of Zoom and phone interviews from late 2024 to early 2025, Riley “covered most of the ground,” he said. “We jumped back and forth.”
Sigel’s wish was to live until the annual Jay Sigel Invitational, his charity golf event, in September 2025.
“He said his goal was to live until then and he said my goal was to have the book ready by then,” Riley said.
A hard bargain for Riley but he pushed on. Sadly, Sigel died in April 2025 at age 81 with the book project well underway but not complete.
“In my heart I feel that Jay would really love all this. I feel that in my heart and that’s what I really care about.”
John Riley
Admitting that Sigel’s death brought a period of regrouping, Riley steadfastly made his way through a series of interviews with 100 individuals and countless hours of research in contemporary news sources.
“The rest of the book was far more tedious since I didn’t have Jay to check my writing,” Riley said. “It was doable. It just took longer.”
A close friend of Sigel suggested turning the book into a third-person biography, but Riley stayed the course of an autobiography. With approval from Sigel’s wife, Betty, and many who had read drafts of chapters in the development of the book, Riley believes that he fulfilled the mission.
“In my heart I feel that Jay would really love all this,” Riley said. “I feel that in my heart and that’s what I really care about.”
A history major in college, Riley wanted to apply an educated perspective with the requisite accuracy and attention to detail. He reads “a ton of history,” and noted historian David McCullough is his favorite writer.
“McCullough takes America’s history and turns it into a story,” Riley said. “That’s what I strive to do.”
Riley believes that Sigel’s Walker Cup match history and his recovery from a serious injury in his college career at Wake Forest are two of the main themes of the book.
His playing record finds few equals.
Sigel, with two U.S. Amateur and three U.S. Mid-Amateur titles, also captured the R&A’s Amateur Championship and was the low amateur at the Masters (three times), the Open Championship and the U.S. Open.
He dominated amateur golf in the Philadelphia area and Pennsylvania for decades with troves of victories in high-caliber events. An Atlantic Coast Conference champion and All-American at Wake Forest, Sigel eventually turned pro in 1994 and won eight times on the PGA Tour Champions.
The USGA saluted Sigel’s impact on the game, not just on the course, when he was the recipient of the Bob Jones Award in 1984.
Close to his heart was his participation in the Walker Cup Match.
Despite Sigel’s stellar playing record in the Walker Cup, which includes most appearances (nine), most victories (18), most points won (20½) and most matches played (33, with an 18-10-5 record), his performance in the eighth and final singles match on the last day of the 1989 match at Peachtree Golf Club near Atlanta remained one of his most regrettable days on the course and a true measure of the competitive fire that made him a winner.
Playing against Jim Milligan, the 1988 Scottish Amateur champion, the then 45-year-old Sigel, who was the oldest player on an American team that included Phil Mickelson, had a 2-up lead on the 15th tee. Great Britain and Ireland led the overall match, 12-11, at that point, and the United States needed a victory from Sigel to retain the cup. A tie or a loss would give Great Britain and Ireland the cup for the first time on foreign soil.
Some remarkable short-game play by Milligan and some less than Sigel-like play from the Philadelphia-area native on the final four holes resulted in a tied match with a half point awarded to both teams, resulting in a GB&I victory.
In his first interview with Riley, Sigel emphatically stated “that I didn’t really live up to what I wanted to be and I want this in the book.”
Ridley, the American captain that year, never doubted his choice of Sigel for the anchor match. He told Riley, “Give me the same conditions, the same situation and I want that club in that guy’s hands without exception.”
“As well as I knew Jay growing up in the area and having played him before and tracking his entire career, I never realized how great he really was.”
Another major moment in Sigel’s life happened in July 1963. In a quirky accident at his fraternity house at Wake Forest, Sigel suffered a serious cut on his left hand and arm that required immediate surgery but left him with ulnar nerve damage and little or no feeling in two fingers. A prominent college player who was the recipient of the first Arnold Palmer Scholarship at the university, Sigel’s professional playing career looked to be in doubt.
The long but successful recovery and his physical limitations focused him on his business career after college and propelled him into the world of competitive amateur golf where his stamp was large and widespread.
Historians and golf aficionados are subtly campaigning for his enshrinement in the World Golf Hall of Fame.
“As well as I knew Jay growing up in the area and having played him before and tracking his entire career, I never realized how great he really was,” Riley said.
Now, through “The Last Amateur,” many others will know as well.
“The Last Amateur” can be ordered here.
Top: U.S. captain Jay Sigel accepts the winner’s trophy at the 1985 Walker Cup.
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