Brian William Barnes (3 June 1945 – 9 September 2019) was a Scottish

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

. He won nine times on the

European Tour The European Tour, currently titled as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons, and legally the PGA European Tour or the European Tour Group, is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European ...

between 1972 and 1981, and twice won the

Senior British Open The Senior Open Championship, or simply The Senior Open (and originally known as the Senior British Open), is a professional golf tournament for players aged 50 and over. It is jointly owned and run by The R&A, the same body that organises The O ...

. Barnes played in six consecutive

Ryder Cup The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States, with hosting duties alternating between venues in Europe and the United States for each edition. The cup is named after the English businessman S ...

matches from 1969 to 1979. He was noted for having beaten

Jack Nicklaus Jack William Nicklaus (; born January 21, 1940), nicknamed "the Golden Bear", is an American retired professional golfer and List of golf courses designed by Jack Nicklaus, golf course designer. He is widely considered to be one of the greate ...

twice in one day in singles match play, during the 1975 Ryder Cup on 21 September, winning 4&2 in the morning round and 2&1 in the afternoon session.

Early life and amateur career

Barnes was born in Addington, Surrey, England, to Scottish parents, and represented England at international level. He was educated at St. Dunstan's School, Burnham-on-Sea, and Millfield School in Somerset. Barnes was taught golf by his father, who was Secretary at Burnham and Berrow Golf Club. He won the

British Youths Open Amateur Championship The British Youths Open Championship was a youths golf tournament that was played from 1954 to 1994. It was 72-hole stroke-play event for golfers under 22. From 1954 to 1962, it was organised by a committee led by Sam Bunton, a Glasgow architect, ...

in 1964, having represented England in the youth international against Scotland that preceded the championship. He turned professional soon afterwards.

Professional career

Barnes became one of the "Butten boys", a group of young British professional golfers who were part of a training programme, funded by Ernest Butten, an entrepreneur and joint founder of

PA Consulting Group PA Consulting Group (formerly Personnel Administration) is a professional services firm that works with public, private and third-sector organisations. It was founded in 1943 by Ernest E. Butten, Tom H. Kirkham and Dr David Seymour, who used a ...

. Starting in 1963, Butten had funded a residential golf school at Sundridge Park in

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is southeast of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 88,000 as of 2023. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, charte ...

, Kent.

Max Faulkner Herbert Gustavus Max Faulkner, OBE (29 July 1916 – 26 February 2005) was an English professional golfer who won the Open Championship in 1951. Early life Faulkner was born on 29 July 1916 in Bexhill-on-Sea, the son of Gus (1893–1976), ...

was employed as the teaching professional. After turning professional Barnes continued to be considered an English golfer, representing England in the 1967 R.T.V. International Trophy. In 1971 he joined the Scottish PGA and subsequently played for Scotland in international competitions. Barnes won the Flame Lily Open in Rhodesia in March 1967 and won two British tournaments, the

Agfa-Gevaert Tournament The Agfa-Gevaert Tournament was a golf tournament in England from 1963 to 1971. It was played at Stoke Poges Golf Club in Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire. It was sponsored by Agfa-Gevaert Agfa-Gevaert N.V. (Agfa) is a Belgian-German multination ...

and the

Coca-Cola Young Professionals' Championship The Coca-Cola Young Professionals' Championship was a golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. G ...

, in 1969. In 1970 he won the

Wills Masters The Wills Masters was a golf tournament held in Australia and played annually from 1963 to 1975. The Wills Classic had been held in Australia from 1960 and 1962. Total prize money from 1963 to 1965 was A£4,000. In 1966 and 1967 it was A$8,000 ...

in Australia. Barnes was one of the leading

golfers in the early years after the tour was founded in 1972. He placed between 4th and 8th on the Order of Merit every year from 1972 to 1980. He won nine events on the Tour between 1972 and 1981. He also played regularly on the African

Safari Circuit The Safari Circuit, or Safari Tour, was a small professional golf tour based in West and East Africa that ran from the 1970s through into the 1990s. From 1977, the tour was organised by the PGA European Tour and from 1991 the tournaments were incl ...

, winning the

Zambia Open The Zambia Open is a men's professional golf tournament played in Zambia, that has been part of the Sunshine Tour since 1996, and was co-sanctioned by the European-based Challenge Tour from 2001 to 2004. It was also an event on the Challenge Tou ...

in 1979 and the

Kenya Open The Kenya Open, currently titled as the Magical Kenya Open for sponsorship reasons, is a professional golf tournament in Kenya founded in 1967. History The Kenya Open was an associate event on the Far East Circuit in 1967 and 1968, after which ...

and Zambia Open in 1981. Barnes completed all four rounds of the Open Championship 16 times in succession from 1967 to 1982 and had three top ten finishes, the best of them a tie for fifth in

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

. He played in the

Masters Tournament The Masters Tournament (usually referred to as simply the Masters, or as the U.S. Masters outside North America) is one of the four men's major championships in professional golf. Scheduled for the first full week in April, the Masters is the ...

in 1972 and 1973 but missed the cut on both occasions. Barnes played for Great Britain & Ireland and finally Europe in six consecutive

matches from 1969 to 1979. He has a 10–14–1 win–loss–tie record including a 5–5–0 record in singles matches (there were two sets of singles matches in some of the Ryder Cups in which he participated). He had a successful partnership with Bernard Gallacher in foursomes and four-ball matches, the pair having 5 wins and a half in their 10 matches playing together. He is, however, best remembered for beating

twice in one day in 1975. After the

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

season, when Barnes fell to 79th on the Order of Merit ranking, he only played a few tournaments the following year and retired to run a golf course in Sussex, England together with

; West Chillington. He made a semi-comeback in

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

and played a full schedule of 25 tournaments, 46 years old, in

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

, reaching a 4th place finish at the

Portuguese Open The Open de Portugal, previously the Portuguese Open, is an annual professional golf tournament, currently played on the Challenge Tour. History It was first played in 1953, and was part of the European Tour's schedule from 1973 to 2010. After a ...

and finished 12th at the British Masters. In 1995, Barnes became eligible to play in senior tournaments, and was very successful. He won the Senior British Open Championship in 1995, and became, the following year, the first man to successfully defend the title. He topped the European Seniors Tour Order of Merit in 1995, and went on the play the Champions Tour in the late 1990s with moderate success.

Arthritis Arthritis is a general medical term used to describe a disorder that affects joints. Symptoms generally include joint pain and stiffness. Other symptoms may include redness, warmth, Joint effusion, swelling, and decreased range of motion of ...

hampered this recovery and forced him to leave tournament golf in 2000. Barnes was responsible for one of the worst putting performances ever seen in a professional tournament. During the 1968 French Open, he missed a short putt on the par-3 8th hole. Angry with the miss, he then tried to rake the ball into the cup, but missed. He then hit the ball back and forth while it was still moving. After all of the missed putts and penalty strokes were counted, Barnes had scored a 15 for the hole.

Personal life

Barnes married Hilary Faulkner, the daughter of

, in 1968; they had two children, Didi and Guy. Hilary died in 2014. After having heavy alcohol drinking habits during his life and golf career, in early 1993, Barnes checked himself in for a successful drying-out period, remained sober and continued his golf career, two years later with great success in senior tournaments. Barnes died on 9 September 2019 of cancer, at the age of 74; he was with his son and daughter at home.

Amateur wins

*1964

Professional wins (26)

European Tour wins (9)

''*Note: The 1974 Dutch Open was shortened to 54 holes due to rain.'' European Tour playoff record (3–2)

Safari Circuit wins (3)

Australasian wins (1)

* 1970

Other wins (11)

*1967 Flame Lily Open (Rhodesia) *1969

*1977 Skol Tournament *1978 Northern Open, Skol Tournament *1980 Skol Tournament *1981 Scottish Professional Championship *1982 Scottish Professional Championship *1985 Northern Open *1989 Wilson Club Professionals' Championship

Senior PGA Tour wins (3)

Senior PGA Tour playoff record (1–0)

European Seniors Tour wins (2)

European Seniors Tour playoff record (1–0)

Results in major championships

''Note: Barnes only played in the

and

The Open Championship The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...

.''
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Senior major championships

Wins (2)

¹Defeated Murphy with an eagle on the third hole of a sudden-death playoff.

Results timeline

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Team appearances

(representing Great Britain and Ireland/Europe):

1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...

(tie),

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

(representing Scotland):

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

* R.T.V. International Trophy (representing England): 1967 (winners) * Double Diamond International (representing Scotland): 1972, 1973 (winners), 1974 (captain), 1975 (captain), 1976 (captain), 1977 (captain) * Marlboro Nations' Cup/Philip Morris International (representing Scotland): 1972, 1973 (winners), 1976 *Sotogrande Match/ Hennessy Cognac Cup (representing Great Britain and Ireland): 1974 (winners), 1976 (winners), 1978 (winners), 1980 (winners, captain) *Datsun International (representing Great Britain and Ireland): 1976 * PGA Cup (representing Europe): 1990

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Barnes, Brian Scottish male golfers European Tour golfers PGA Tour Champions golfers European Senior Tour golfers Winners of senior major golf championships Ryder Cup competitors for Europe People educated at Millfield Sportspeople from the London Borough of Croydon Sportspeople from Storrington English people of Scottish descent 1945 births 2019 deaths 20th-century Scottish sportsmen