Jim Barnes (golfer)


James Martin Barnes was an English professional golfer who was a leading figure in the early years of professional golf in the United States. He was the first Briton to win three different modern professional major championships.

Early life

Barnes was born on April 8, 1886, in Lelant, Cornwall. Barnes was like many golfers of his era, and worked as a caddie and a club-maker's apprentice while growing up.

Professional career

As a young adult, Barnes moved to the United States. However, he never became an American citizen. In 1906, he turned professional. He arrived in San Francisco, and later worked in Vancouver, British Columbia, Spokane, Washington, and Tacoma, Washington, and then at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs.
From 1923 to 1926, he was resident professional at the Temple Terrace Golf and Country Club in Temple Terrace, Florida, which hosted the 1925 Florida Open, as well as the 1926 Florida Open with over one hundred contestants and a $5,000 cash prize. In 1925–26 his good friend and fellow golfer Fred McLeod wintered with him, and they worked with James Kelly Thomson from North Berwick.
He won nine majors, with four of them the modern professional majors. Many golfers and media covering the sport at the time, according to golf journalist Dan Jenkins, the Western Open and North and South Open titles he won at the time were declared majors.
Barnes' two PGA titles were the first in the event; there was no tournament in 1917 or 1918 because of World War I. His winning margin in the 1921 U.S. Open was nine strokes, a record which was not broken until Tiger Woods won by 15 strokes in 2000.
Barnes was one of the most prolific tournament winners of the first few seasons of the PGA Tour, which was also founded in 1916. He won 22 times on the tour in total. He led the tournament winners list in four seasons: 1916 with three, 1917 with two, 1919 with five and 1921 with four. His win in the 1937 Long Island Open marked the first PGA Tour win by a player past his 50th birthday.
Barnes also authored several books on golf technique.

Personal life

Barnes was also known as "Long Jim" for his height of.
Late in life, Barnes moved west to the San Francisco Bay Area where he resided for many years. He died at his home in East Orange, New Jersey. He is buried in Orange's Rosedale Cemetery.

Awards and honors

  • In 1940, Barnes was honored as one of the 12 golfers to be inducted in the PGA's inaugural Hall of Fame.
  • In 1989, he was posthumously inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Professional wins (29)

PGA Tour wins (22)

Modern major championships are shown in bold.
Source:

Other wins

Note: This list may be incomplete

Major championships

Wins (4)

''Note: The PGA Championship was match play until 1958''

Results timeline

Tournament1920192119221923192419251926192719281929
U.S. OpenT61T24T12T29CUTT24T36T21
The Open Championship6T6T2T91T18T17T67
PGA ChampionshipR162R32QF2R32R16

Note: Barnes never played in the Masters Tournament.
NYF = Tournament not yet founded
NT = No tournament
CUT = missed the half-way cut
DNQ = Did not qualify for match play portion

R32, R16, QF, SF = Round in which player lost in PGA Championship match play
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Summary

  • Most consecutive cuts made – 27
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 8