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Mark James (golfer)

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Mark James
James in 2011
Personal information
Full nameMark Hugh James
NicknameJesse
Born (1953-10-28) 28 October 1953 (age 71)
Manchester, England
Height6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight178 lb (81 kg; 12.7 st)
Sporting nationality England
ResidenceBurley in Wharfedale, West Yorkshire, England
Career
Turned professional1976
Current tour(s)European Senior Tour
Former tour(s)European Tour
Champions Tour
Professional wins32
Highest ranking25 (5 May 1991)[1]
Number of wins by tour
European Tour18
Sunshine Tour1
PGA Tour Champions3
European Senior Tour2
Other8
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentCUT: 1980
PGA ChampionshipT31: 1999
U.S. OpenCUT: 1990, 1996
The Open ChampionshipT3: 1981
Achievements and awards
Sir Henry Cotton
Rookie of the Year		1976

Mark Hugh James (born 28 October 1953) is an English professional golfer who had a long career on the European Tour and captained Europe in the 1999 Ryder Cup. He has also played senior golf on the European Senior Tour and the U.S.-based Champions Tour.

Early life and amateur career

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James was born in Manchester, England and educated at Stamford School. He won the English Amateur championship at Woodhall Spa in 1974 [2] and was a member of the Great Britain & Ireland 1975 Walker Cup team.

Professional career

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European Tour

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His first professional win was the 1977 Lusaka Open and the following year he picked up the first of his eighteen wins on the European Tour at the Sun Alliance Match Play Championship. He also holds the record for the highest European Tour event 18-hole-round of 111 strokes at the 1978 Italian Open in Sardinia, when refusing to with-draw despite an injury. Four years later he won the same tournament.

James never won a major championship, but he had four top-five finishes at The Open Championship. He was consistently competitive on the European Tour winning 12 times with 20 top-30 finishes on the Order of Merit, including seven top-10 finishes, the best of them third place in 1979. He was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2000, but after treatment began playing golf again in 2001.[3]

Ryder Cup

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James represented Great Britain & Ireland or Europe in the Ryder Cup seven times including 1989 when Europe tied the match and retained the cup they had won in 1987, and 1995 when they won it outright. He was the European captain in the controversial "Battle of Brookline" in 1999, when the behaviour of the American galleries and team created a great deal of resentment in Europe, and also James' own actions during the matches drew fire from both sides of the Atlantic.

Prior to the event, James controversially chose Andrew Coltart as his second captain's pick on the team, thus leaving out Nick Faldo and Bernhard Langer (veterans who were the two most successful players for the European team in Ryder Cup history). In one of the most discussed moves in the Ryder Cup, James then kept Jean van de Velde, Jarmo Sandelin and Coltart on the bench during all sixteen matches during the first two days of play, relegating them to singles matches on Sunday only. His refusal to play those three first-time players helped lead to Europe's defeat, as none of the three won their one match. On the other hand, United States captain Ben Crenshaw played all twelve players at least once during the first two days, even though Mark O'Meara only played once.

James published a best selling book about the event called Into the Bear Pit in 2000. In addition to criticising the behaviour of the Americans at Brookline, it also detailed James' clashes with some of his fellow Europeans including Faldo, the fading superstar whose merits as a potential captain's pick for the Ryder Cup had been much debated in the UK. James revealed in his book that just before the Ryder Cup began he had thrown a letter of encouragement from Faldo into the bin rather than share it with team. The controversy that this revelation aroused led to James resigning as one of Europe's Ryder Cup vice-captains for 2001.

A follow-up book, called After the Bear Pit, covering James' cancer and his experiences as a European Tour player, as well as further thoughts on the Ryder Cup, appeared in 2002.

Senior Tour and other commitments

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James qualified to play senior golf when he turned fifty in late 2003. He chose to play mainly in the U.S. and was second in the Champions Tour Qualifying Tournament Finals that November. In 2004 he became the first European player to win one of the Champions Tour's senior majors with victory at the Ford Senior Players Championship.[4] In 2005, he won on the Champions Tour for a second time at the ACE Group Classic and finished in the top 20 on the money list for a second consecutive season. His last full season on the Champions Tour was 2010 and he has played mainly on the European Senior Tour since then.

James has also worked as a golf commentator for the BBC.

Professional wins (32)

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European Tour wins (18)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory 		Runner(s)-up
1 1 Jul 1978 Sun Alliance Match Play Championship 3 and 2 England Neil Coles
2 17 Jun 1979 Welsh Golf Classic −6 (72-68-68-70=278) Playoff Scotland Mike Miller, Northern Ireland Eddie Polland
3 26 Aug 1979 Carroll's Irish Open −6 (73-75-69-65=282) 1 stroke United States Ed Sneed
4 17 Aug 1980 Carroll's Irish Open (2) −4 (71-66-74-73=284) 1 stroke Scotland Brian Barnes
5 2 May 1982 Italian Open −8 (70-67-71-72=280) 3 strokes United States Bobby Clampett, Wales Ian Woosnam
6 17 Apr 1983 Tunisian Open −4 (74-69-69-72=284) 2 strokes England Gordon J. Brand, Scotland Gordon Brand Jnr,
United States Tom Sieckmann
7 19 May 1985 GSI L'Equipe Open −16 (68-67-71-66=272) 3 strokes England Carl Mason
8 17 Aug 1986 Benson & Hedges International Open −14 (65-70-69-70=274) Playoff South Africa Hugh Baiocchi, United States Lee Trevino
9 15 May 1988 Peugeot Spanish Open −18 (63-68-63-68=262) 3 strokes England Nick Faldo
10 5 Mar 1989 Karl Litten Desert Classic −11 (69-68-72-68=277) Playoff Australia Peter O'Malley
11 27 Mar 1989 AGF Open −11 (69-67-69-72=277) 3 strokes Wales Mark Mouland
12 18 Jun 1989 NM English Open −9 (72-70-69-68=279) 1 stroke Republic of Ireland Eamonn Darcy, Australia Craig Parry,
Scotland Sam Torrance
13 3 Jun 1990 Dunhill British Masters −18 (70-67-66-67=270) 2 strokes Northern Ireland David Feherty
14 19 Aug 1990 NM English Open (2) −4 (76-68-65-75=284) Playoff Scotland Sam Torrance
15 17 Jan 1993 Madeira Island Open −7 (71-69-70-71=281) 3 strokes England Gordon J. Brand, England Paul Broadhurst
16 14 Feb 1993 Turespaña Iberia Open de Canarias −13 (71-69-69-66=275) 6 strokes South Africa De Wet Basson
17 12 Mar 1995 Moroccan Open −13 (70-70-70-65=275) 1 stroke England David Gilford
18 27 Apr 1997 Peugeot Open de España (2) −11 (67-68-73-69=277) Playoff Australia Greg Norman

European Tour playoff record (5–4)

No. Year Tournament Opponent(s) Result
1 1979 Welsh Golf Classic Scotland Mike Miller, Northern Ireland Eddie Polland Won with par on third extra hole
Polland eliminated by birdie on second hole
2 1984 St. Mellion Timeshare TPC Brazil Jaime Gonzalez Lost to par on second extra hole
3 1985 Trophée Lancôme Zimbabwe Nick Price Lost to par on third extra hole
4 1986 Benson & Hedges International Open South Africa Hugh Baiocchi, United States Lee Trevino Won with birdie on first extra hole
5 1989 Karl Litten Desert Classic Australia Peter O'Malley Won with birdie on first extra hole
6 1989 German Open Australia Craig Parry Lost to par on second extra hole
7 1990 NM English Open Scotland Sam Torrance Won with birdie on first extra hole
8 1992 BMW International Open United States Paul Azinger, United States Glen Day,
Sweden Anders Forsbrand, Germany Bernhard Langer 		Azinger won with birdie on first extra hole
9 1997 Peugeot Open de España Australia Greg Norman Won with par on third extra hole

Southern Africa Tour wins (1)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory 		Runner-up
1 20 Feb 1988 Danglo Tournament Players Championship −14 (66-70-69-69=274) 2 strokes South Africa Hugh Baiocchi

Southern Africa Tour playoff record (0–1)

No. Year Tournament Opponents Result
1 1991 Lexington PGA Championship United States Hugh Royer III, South Africa Roger Wessels Wessels won par with on second extra hole
Royer eliminated by par on first hole

Safari Circuit wins (1)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory 		Runner-up
1 20 Mar 1977 Lusaka Open −13 (70-74-68-67=279) 1 stroke England Gary Cullen

Other wins (5)

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  • 1980 Euro Masters Invitational (Italy – not a European Tour event)
  • 1981 Heublein Open (Brazil)
  • 1982 Hennessy Cognac Cup Individual[5]
  • 1983 Euro Masters Invitational (Italy – not a European Tour event)
  • 2011 Gary Player Invitational (with George Coetzee)

Champions Tour wins (3)

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Legend
Champions Tour major championships (1)
Other Champions Tour (2)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory 		Runner(s)-up
1 11 Jul 2004 Ford Senior Players Championship −13 (68-67-67-73=275) 1 stroke Spain José María Cañizares
2 20 Feb 2005 ACE Group Classic −13 (69-68-66=203) 2 strokes United States Hale Irwin, United States Tom Wargo
3 11 Feb 2007 Allianz Championship −15 (64-69-68=201) 2 strokes United States Jay Haas

European Senior Tour wins (2)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory 		Runner-up
1 4 Sep 2005 Bovis Lend Lease European Senior Masters −9 (70-71-66=207) Playoff Scotland Sam Torrance
2 10 May 2009 Son Gual Mallorca Senior Open −10 (70-70-66=206) Playoff Republic of Ireland Eamonn Darcy

European Senior Tour playoff record (2–0)

No. Year Tournament Opponent Result
1 2005 Bovis Lend Lease European Senior Masters Scotland Sam Torrance Won with birdie on first extra hole
2 2009 Son Gual Mallorca Senior Open Republic of Ireland Eamonn Darcy Won with birdie on third extra hole

Other senior wins (2)

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Results in major championships

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Tournament 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
Masters Tournament
U.S. Open
The Open Championship CUT CUT T5 CUT CUT 4
PGA Championship
Tournament 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
Masters Tournament CUT
U.S. Open
The Open Championship T45 T3 T51 T29 T44 T20 T35 CUT T62 T13
PGA Championship
Tournament 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
Masters Tournament
U.S. Open CUT CUT
The Open Championship T31 T26 CUT T27 T4 T8 T22 T20 T19 T43 CUT
PGA Championship CUT T40 CUT CUT CUT T31
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut (3rd round cut in 1974, 1977 and 1978 Open Championships)
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Summary

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Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
Masters Tournament 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
U.S. Open 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
The Open Championship 0 0 1 4 5 10 26 20
PGA Championship 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 2
Totals 0 0 1 4 5 10 35 22
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 7 (1980 Open Championship – 1986 Open Championship)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (five times)

Results in World Golf Championships

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Tournament 1999
Match Play
Championship T25
Invitational
  Did not play

"T" = Tied

Senior major championships

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Wins (1)

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Year Championship Winning score Margin Runner-up
2004 Ford Senior Players Championship −13 (68-67-67-73=275) 1 stroke Spain José María Cañizares

Results timeline

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Results not in chronological order before 2021.

Tournament 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
The Tradition T19 4 T4 T41 T50 NT
Senior PGA Championship T4 T10 CUT T33 T62 T9 T56 CUT T56 CUT NT
Senior Players Championship 1 T49 T11 T22 T11
U.S. Senior Open T15 T54 T14 T47 T29 NT
Senior British Open Championship 4 T12 T15 T61 T16 T43 T20 T72 T53 47 CUT CUT CUT CUT NT CUT
  Win
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
NT = No tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic

Team appearances

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Amateur

Professional

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Week 18 1991 Ending 5 May 1991" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  2. ^ Youth takes over English Amateur, The Birmingham Post, 29 July 1974, p. 10
  3. ^ James returns to golf after cancer
  4. ^ James captures Seniors Players Championship
  5. ^ "James proves too hot for Faldo". The Glasgow Herald. 13 September 1982. p. 16.
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