This is the 100th anniversary of Jim Barnes from England winning the first two PGA Championships in 1916 and again in 1919. The PGA was not contested in the interceding years, due to WWI.
Barnes also won the 1921 U.S. Open and the 1925 Open Championship, which at the time gave him every major championship trophy for professionals. During his long and distinguished career, he won 28 events, 21 of which were categorized as PGA Tour victories.
Those four major championship titles put Barnes on the list of 17 golfers, who have won at least three of golf’s four professional majors in their careers. Plus, it’s fair to say that Barnes, who was an inaugural inductee into the PGA of America Hall of Fame and the World Golf Hall of Fame, is probably the least known player on that list, but is certainly a worthy member of that special club.
It can also be argued that Barnes deserves to be a member of an even greater club of great champions, the Career Grand Slam winners, which includes only, Sarazen, Hogan, Nicklaus, Player, and Woods. In addition to his four official major wins, he also won three Western Opens (1914, 1917, and 1919) and two North and South Opens (1916 and 1919), both of which were considered ‘majors’ before the creation and rise in popularity of the Masters.
Barnes never played in the Masters, but it wasn’t because he was excluded. Bobby Jones invited Barnes to play in the inaugural 1934 Masters, but he declined the invitation. In 1934, Barnes was just a few weeks shy of his 48th birthday. The last major, in which he competed, was the 1932 U.S. Open, where he finished 55th. Barnes did play in the 1930 (British) Open, at age 44, where he recorded a sixth-place finish and he won the New Jersey State Open in 1939, when he was 53.
Barnes missed his opportunity to win a Masters and become the world’s first professional golfer to win the career Grand Slam.
Barnes success in Ohio was mixed. He finished tied for 6th in the 1920 U.S. Open at Inverness Club in Toledo but missed the cut at the 1926 U.S. Open at Scioto Country Club in Columbus.
Barnes was friends with and competed against the great Walter Hagen. The two played a prank at the 1924 PGA Championship, held at French Lick, Indiana and won by Hagen. During the official photograph, the photographer had to span the camera from left to right to capture the entire field.
Hagen and Barnes can be seen on the extreme left side of the picture and also at the extreme right side. As the photographer turned the camera, the duo ran behind the players and re-positioned themselves for a double take.
Gentleman Jim Barnes does not receive the acclaim due a golfer of his stature, but his victories speak volumes and he should be included in any 19th-hole discussion of the Greatest Golfers of All Time.
