MOVIES For 'Bobby Jones' writer Pryor, forgotten script finally pays off

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- The newspaper columnist who wrote a screenplay about golf legend Bobby Jones 13 years ago thought it had no chance of becoming a film.
Now, Bill Pryor is credited as co-writer of "Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius," which opened Friday starring Jim Caviezel, who also played Jesus in Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ."
"I got a phone call [saying] 'We used a lot of your script. We need you to sign these papers releasing us to use it, and here's a whole lot of money,"' Pryor said.
Pryor's screenplay focused on 1930, the year Jones became the only man ever to win a Grand Slam -- the U.S. Amateur, British Amateur, British Open and the U.S. Open in the space of four months.
But Director Rowdy Herrington took Pryor's work and reshaped it, introducing Jones as a sickly child and following him to age 28. That was the year Jones retired from golf to concentrate on being a lawyer and designing the Augusta National Golf Club.
Jones' family approved the final script with changes from Herrington.
Pryor said he regrets only minor changes, such as having a woman wear red instead of blue as she did in real life, and the scrapping of a scene late in Jones' life when he used a wheelchair.
But Pryor said he thinks the final version portrays the true story of Jones' life.
"He was just an incredible man of integrity and honesty," Pryor said.
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