James Martin Barnes (April 8, 1886 – May 24, 1966) was an English 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) to win three different modern major professional championships.
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.[citation needed]
Barnes was also known as "Long Jim" for his height of 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m). He later moved west to the Oakland, California, area where he resided for many years. Barnes authored several books on golf technique. He died at age 80 in East Orange, New Jersey, and is buried in Orange's Rosedale Cemetery.[3]
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.[4]
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. In 1940, Barnes was honored as one of the 12 golfers to be inducted in the PGA's inaugural Hall of Fame. Later he was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1989.[6]
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
England
