Who Are The 50 Best Golfers in History?
42. Jim Barnes
Barnes won the very first PGA Championship in 1916. With the interruption of WWI, there was no PGA played in 1917 and 1918. When Barnes won the same event in 1919, he, technically, became the winner of the first two PGAs.
His first professional victory was the North and South in 1916, the same year that he won the inaugural PGA. His most prolific season was 1919 when he won five tournaments including the PGA and the Western Open.
Barnes also won the U.S. Open and the British Open for a total of four majors. He had 28 worldwide professional wins, 21 of them in the U.S. Though he lived much of his adult life in the U.S., he never became a citizen. His last victory was when he was 52.
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