James Martin Barnes (April 8, 1886 â May 24, 1966) 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.
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.
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 (dubbed "The Greatest Field of Golfers Ever to Play in Florida"), as well as the 1926 Florida Open with over one hundred contestants and a $5,000 cash prize. In 1925âÂÂ26 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 (shared with Mike Brady), 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.
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.
Modern major championships are shown in bold.
Source:
Note: This list may be incomplete
Note: The PGA Championship was match play until 1958
Note: Barnes never played in the Masters Tournament.
NYF = Tournament not yet founded<br> NT = No tournament<br> CUT = missed the half-way cut<br> DNQ = Did not qualify for match play portion<br> R32, R16, QF, SF = Round in which player lost in PGA Championship match play <br> "T" indicates a tie for a place