Mark James (golfer)
Mark James (b.28 October 1953 in Manchester) is an English golfer who had a long career on the PGA European Tour and captained Europe in the 1999 Ryder Cup. He now plays senior golf on the Champions Tour.
Career outline
James won the English Amateur Championship in 1974 and was a member of the Great Britain & Ireland Walker Cup team in 1975. His first professional win was the 1977 Lusaka Open and the following year he picked up the first of his eighteen wins on the PGA European Tour at the Sun Alliance Match Play Championship. 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 with twenty top thirty finishes on the order of merit, including seven top ten finishes, the best of them third place in 1979. He was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2000, but after treatment he made a comeback in 2001.
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.
In one of the most discussed moves in the Ryder Cup, James kept Jean Van de Velde, Jarmo Sandelin and Andrew Coltart on the bench during all sixteen matches during the first two days of matches, 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 (2000). In addition to criticising the behaviour of the Americans it detailed James' clashes with some of his fellow Europeans including Nick Faldo, the fading superstar whose merits as a potential captain's pick for the Ryder Cup had been much debated in the UK. A follow up called After the Bear Pit, covering James' battle with cancer and his experiences as a European Tour player, as well as further thoughts on the Ryder Cup, appeared in 2002.
James qualified to play senior golf when he turned fifty in late 2003. He chose to play 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. His second win on the tour came at the 2005 ACE Group Classic. James has also worked as a golf commentator for the BBC.
European Tour wins
- 1978 Sun Alliance Match Play Championship
- 1979 Welsh Golf Classic, Carroll's Irish Open
- 1980 Carroll's Irish Open
- 1982 Italian Open
- 1983 Tunisian Open
- 1985 GSI L'Equipe Open
- 1986 Benson & Hedges International Open
- 1988 Peugeot Open de Espana
- 1989 Karl Litten Desert Classic, AGF Open, NM English Open
- 1990 Dunhill British Masters, NM English Open
- 1993 Madeira Island Open, Turespana Iberia Open de Canarias
- 1995 Moroccan Open
- 1997 Peugeot Open de Espana
Other professional wins
- 1977 Lusaka Open (Africa)
- 1981 Sao Paulo Open (South America)
- 1980 Euro Masters Invitational (Italy - not a European Tour event)
- 1983 Euro Masters Invitational (Italy - not a European Tour event)
- 1988 South African TPC
- 2004 Ford Senior Players Championship (Champions Tour)
- 2005 ACE Group Classic (Champions Tour)
Team appearances
- Ryder Cup: 1977 (representing Great Britain and Ireland, thereafter representing Europe), 1979, 1981, 1989 (tied and retained cup), 1991, 1993, 1995 (winners), 1999 (non-playing captain)
- Alfred Dunhill Cup (representing England): 1988, 1989, 1990, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999
- World Cup (representing England): 1978, 1979, 1982, 1984, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1993, 1997, 1999
- Hennessy Cognac Cup: 1976 (winners), 1978 (winners), 1980 (winners), 1982 (winners & individual winner), 1984 (winners)
- Four Tours World Championship: 1988, 1989, 1990