James Martin Barnes (April 8, 1886 – May 24, 1966) was an English professional golfer and a leading figure in the early years of professional golf in the United States. He is one of three native Britons (with Tommy Armour and

Rory McIlroy Rory Daniel McIlroy (born 4 May 1989) is a Northern Irish professional golfer who plays on the European Tour and the PGA Tour. He is a former world number one in the Official World Golf Ranking and has spent over 100 weeks in that position du ...

) to win three different modern major professional championships.

Early life

Barnes was born on April 8, 1886, in

Lelant Lelant () or Uny Lelant is a village in the civil parish of St Ives in, west Cornwall, England, UK. It is on the west side of the Hayle Estuary, about southeast of St Ives and one mile (1.6 km) west of Hayle.Ordnance Survey: Landranger ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

. Barnes was like many golfers of his era, and worked as a

caddie In golf, a caddie (or caddy) is a companion to the player, providing both practical support and strategic guidance on the course. Caddies are responsible for carrying the player’s bag, managing clubs, and assisting with basic course maintena ...

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 San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, and later worked in

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south o ...

, and

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, southwest of Bellevue, Washington, Bellevue, northeast of the state capital, Olympia ...

, and then at The Broadmoor in

Colorado Springs Colorado Springs is the most populous city in El Paso County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 478,961 at the 2020 census, a 15.02% increase since 2010. Colorado Springs is the second-most populous c ...

. 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 1925–26 his good friend and fellow golfer Fred McLeod wintered with him, and they worked with James Kelly Thomson from

North Berwick North Berwick (; ) is a seaside resort, seaside town and former royal burgh in East Lothian, Scotland. It is situated on the south shore of the Firth of Forth, approximately east-northeast of Edinburgh. North Berwick became a fashionable holi ...

. 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 The Western Open was a professional golf tournament in the United States, for most of its history an event on the PGA Tour. The tournament's founding in 1899 actually pre-dated the start of the Tour, which is generally dated from 1916, the ye ...

and North and South Open titles he won at the time were declared majors. *

PGA Championship The PGA Championship (often referred to as the US PGA Championship or USPGA outside the United States) is an annual golf tournament conducted by the Professional Golfers' Association of America. The PGA is one of the four men's major golf champi ...

: 1916,

1919 Events January * January 1 ** The Czechoslovak Legions occupy much of the self-proclaimed "free city" of Pressburg (later Bratislava), enforcing its incorporation into the new republic of Czechoslovakia. ** HMY ''Iolaire'' sinks off th ...

* U.S. Open:

1921 Events January * January 2 ** The Association football club Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, from Belo Horizonte, is founded as the multi-sports club Palestra Italia by Italian expatriates in First Brazilian Republic, Brazil. ** The Spanish lin ...

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 ...

1925 Events January * January 1 – The Syrian Federation is officially dissolved, the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus having been replaced by the State of Syria (1925–1930), State of Syria. * January 3 – Benito Mussolini m ...

: 1914, 1917, 1919 * North and South Open: 1916, 1919 Barnes' two PGA titles were the first in the event; there was no tournament in 1917 or 1918 because of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. His winning margin in the 1921 U.S. Open was nine strokes, a record which was not broken until

Tiger Woods Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in List of golfers with most PGA Tour wins, PGA Tour wins, ranks second in List of men's major championships winning golfers, men's m ...

won by 15 strokes in

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

. Barnes was one of the most prolific tournament winners of the first few seasons of the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also known as the PGA Tour, the PGA Tour Champion ...

, 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.

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 The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

where he resided for many years. He died at age 80 in

East Orange, New Jersey East Orange is a City (New Jersey), city in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 69,612, an increase of 5,342 (+8.3%) from the 2010 United States ...

. 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)

*1914 (1)

*1916 (3) North and South Open, Connecticut Open,

*1917 (2) Western Open, Philadelphia Open Championship *1919 (5) North and South Open, Shawnee Open, Western Open, PGA Championship, Southern Open *1920 (1) Shawnee Open *1921 (4) Deland Open, Florida Open, U.S. Open, Main Line Open *1922 (1) California Open Championship *1923 (1) Corpus Christi Open *1925 (1)

*1926 (1) Mid-Winter Tournament *1930 (1) Cape Cod Open *1937 (1) Long Island Open Modern major championships are shown in bold. Source:

Other wins

''Note: This list may be incomplete'' *1909 Northwest Open *1911 Northwest Open *1912 Northwest Open *1913 Northwest Open *1915 Connecticut Open *1921

California State Open The California State Open is the California state open golf tournament, open to both amateur and professional golfers. It is organized by the Southern California section of the PGA of America. It was first played in 1900 and has been played at a ...

*1939 New Jersey State Open

Major championships

Wins (4)

''Note: The PGA Championship was

match play Match play is a scoring system for golf in which a player, or team, earns a point for each hole in which they have bested their opponents; as opposed to stroke play, in which the total number of strokes is counted over one or more rounds of 18 h ...

until 1958''

Results timeline

''Note: Barnes never 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 ...

.'' 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 (1912 U.S. Open – 1926 Open) *Longest streak of top-10s – 8 (1919 PGA – 1922 Open)

References

External links

*
PGA Museum of Golf: Hall of Fame
– member profiles
Temple Terrace Golf and Country Club
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barnes, Jim English male golfers American male golfers PGA Tour golfers Winners of men's major golf championships World Golf Hall of Fame inductees Golf writers English expatriate golfers in the United States Golfers from New Jersey People from Lelant Sportspeople from Cornwall American people of Cornish descent English emigrants to the United States 1886 births 1966 deaths