James Robert Herman (born November 5, 1977) is an American professional golfer who plays on 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 ...

Early life

Born and raised in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, Herman learned to play golf at the Shawnee Lookout course in Hamilton County. He graduated from Our Lady of Victory grade school, and played golf at St. Xavier High School and graduated in 1996. He played college golf at the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati, informally Cincy) is a public university, public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1819 and had an enrollment of over 53,000 students in 2024, making it the ...

, and turned professional in 2000.

Professional career

Herman played on the mini-tour, Golden Bear Tour from 2001 to 2004. He was then an assistant golf pro at several golf clubs before qualifying for the

Nationwide Tour The Korn Ferry Tour is the developmental tour for the U.S.-based PGA Tour, and features professional golfers who have either not yet reached the PGA Tour, or who have done so but then failed to win enough FedEx Cup points to stay at that level. ...

after finishing T74 at the 2007

PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament The annual PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament, also known as Qualifying School or Q-School, was historically the main method by which golfers earned PGA Tour playing privileges, commonly known as a Tour card. From 2013 to 2022, Q-School granted privil ...

. He played on the Nationwide Tour in 2008–10 and 2012, winning once at the 2010 Moonah Classic in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. Herman was a PGA Tour rookie in

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, after finishing 19th on the Nationwide Tour money list in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

. He played in the U.S. Open in

and finished 47th. In 2011, he finished 178th in the FedEx points list and dropped back to the Nationwide Tour (renamed the Web.com Tour) for 2012. In 2012, he finished 25th to earn a return to the PGA Tour for 2013. In 2013 he finished 139th on the PGA Tour, but ranked 19th (excluding Top 25) in the Web.com Finals. Similarly in 2014, he finished 182nd on Tour but then ranked 7th in the Web.com Finals. A final round of 65 at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, moved him into a tie for fourth, a career best finish at the time. He finished 2015 in 74th place in the FedEx list, thus avoiding the Web.com Tour for the first time. On April 3,

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, Herman recorded his first PGA Tour victory, in his 106th start, at the Shell Houston Open. He shot a final round of 68 for a 15-under-par total to complete a one shot win over Henrik Stenson. After Stenson missed a putt to tie Herman, he successfully two putted the final green for the win and earned an invitation to the following week's

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 ...

, an event he then played for his first time. He also earned his first invitation to the

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 ...

as a Tour winner and the Open Championship as an alternate after Billy Hurley III withdrew. Herman's career high world ranking is 68th, achieved after his win. Herman was an assistant professional at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey. former President Donald Trump, the course owner, encouraged Herman to chase his dream of playing professionally. A foot injury limited Herman to nine events in 2018. He started the next season with a Major Medical Extension, but did not meet the terms and was demoted to the Past Champions Category. In July 2019, Herman won the Barbasol Championship in Kentucky. Herman carded a two-under 70 in the closing round to finish on 26 under overall ahead of Kelly Kraft. Kraft had been leading by one with three holes left to play, but could only manage bogeys on the par-three 16th and par-four 17th. The victory secured Herman his PGA Tour card until the end of the 2020–21 season as well as granting him entry to the 2020 Players Championship,

and Sentry Tournament of Champions. Prior to the win, Herman had only made three cuts in 19 events during the 2019 season. In August 2020, Herman won the Wyndham Championship. This win put him into the

FedEx Cup The FedEx Cup is the championship trophy for the PGA Tour. Its introduction in 2007 marked the first time that men's professional golf had a playoff system. Since its inception, the competition has been sponsored by FedEx. In 2022, the PGA Tour ...

playoffs.

Professional wins (4)

PGA Tour wins (3)

Nationwide Tour wins (1)

¹Co-sanctioned by the

PGA Tour of Australasia The PGA Tour of Australasia, currently titled as the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia for sponsorship reasons, is a professional golf tour for men, owned and operated by the PGA of Australia. Official events on the tour count for World Golf ...

Nationwide Tour playoff record (1–0)

Results in major championships

''Results not in chronological order in 2020.'' CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied for place
NT = no tournament due to

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Results in The Players Championship

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
C = Canceled after the first round due to the

Results in World Golf Championships

''Results not in chronological order before 2015.'' ¹Canceled due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

pandemic
NT = No tournament
"T" = tied

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Herman, Jim American male golfers Cincinnati Bearcats men's golfers PGA Tour golfers Korn Ferry Tour graduates Golfers from Ohio Golfers from Florida St. Xavier High School (Ohio) alumni Sportspeople from Cincinnati Sportspeople from Port St. Lucie, Florida People from Palm City, Florida Sportspeople from Martin County, Florida Sportspeople from Bucks County, Pennsylvania 1977 births Living people