James R. Turnesa (December 9, 1912 – August 27, 1971) was an American professional golfer and winner of the

1952 PGA Championship The 1952 PGA Championship was the 34th PGA Championship, held June 18–25 at Big Spring Country Club in Louisville, Kentucky. Jim Turnesa won the match play championship, 1 up over Chick Harbert in the Wednesday final; the winner's share was $3 ...

, beating

Chick Harbert Melvin R. "Chick" Harbert (February 20, 1915 – September 1, 1992) was an American professional golfer. Harbert won seven times on the PGA Tour, including one major championship, the 1954 PGA Championship, then a match play event. A three-tim ...

1-up in the match-play final. He was one of seven famous golfing brothers; Phil (1896–1987), Frank (1898–1949),

Joe Joe or JOE may refer to: Arts Film and television * ''Joe'' (1970 film), starring Peter Boyle * ''Joe'' (2013 film), starring Nicolas Cage * ''Joe'' (TV series), a British TV series airing from 1966 to 1971 * ''Joe'', a 2002 Canadian animated ...

(1901–1991),

Mike Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and docume ...

(1907–2000), Doug (1909–1972), Jim (1912–1971), and Willie (1914–2001). The family was referred to as a "golf dynasty" in a 2000 ''New York Times'' article.

Career

Turnesa was born in

Elmsford, New York Elmsford is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. Roughly one mile square, the village is fully contained within the borders of the town of Greenburgh. As of the 2010 census, the ...

, one of seven brothers who became prominent in the golfing world: Phil (1896–1987), Frank (1898–1949),

(1901–1991),

(1907–2000), Doug (1909–1972), Jim (1912–1971), and

Willie Willy or Willie is a masculine, male given name, often a diminutive form of William or Wilhelm, and occasionally a nickname. It may refer to: People Given name or nickname * Willie Aames (born 1960), American actor, television director, and scree ...

(1914–2001). All but Willie turned professional and Jim was the only one to win a major championship. The Turnesa brothers were well known for their prowess on the links and they started out as caddies before competing in tournaments. Jim's father Vitale was a head greenskeeper at Fairview Country Club. It was at Fairview that Jim and his brothers would apprentice under the head pro John R. Inglis. So famous did they become as a dynasty of the sport that RKO Pictures filmed a newsreel about them in 1938 labeling the clip "The Golfing Brothers." Turnesa faced and lost to

Sam Snead Samuel Jackson Snead (pronounced English_phonology">sni:d.html" ;"title="English_phonology.html" ;"title="nowiki/>English phonology">sni:d">English_phonology.html" ;"title="nowiki/>English phonology">sni:d May 27, 1912 – May 23, 2002) was an ...

in the 1942 PGA Championship final. In 1948, he held the record for low score (280) in the U.S. Open for about an hour.

Ben Hogan William Ben Hogan (August 13, 1912 – July 25, 1997) was an American professional golfer who is generally considered to be one of the greatest players in the history of the game. He is notable for his profound influence on golf swing theory and ...

(276) and

Jimmy Demaret James Newton Demaret (May 24, 1910 – December 28, 1983) was an American professional golfer. He won 31 PGA Tour events in a long career between 1935 and 1957, and was the first three-time winner of the Masters, with titles in 1940, 1947, and ...

(278) finished later, erasing his record, and he finished third. He won one other

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...

event, the 1951 Reading Open. He was a frequent participant in Westchester member-pro events beating out a duo that included Gene Sarazen in 1947 at a Knollwood Country Club best ball tournament. Turnesa played on the 1953

Ryder Cup The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States. The competition is contested every two years with the venue alternating between courses in the United States and Europe. The Ryder Cup is named af ...

team. After serving as pro at Briar Hall and Empire State course, he was named the head pro at Ryewood Country Club in 1959 and continued there in the early 1960s.

Personal life

He died in his home town of

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...

Professional wins (11)

PGA Tour wins (2)

*1951

Reading Open The Reading Open was a golf tournament on the PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the ev ...

*1952

PGA Championship The PGA Championship (often referred to as the US PGA Championship or USPGA outside the United States) is an annual golf tournament conducted by the Professional Golfers' Association of America. It is one of the four men's major championships ...

Major championship is shown in bold.

Other wins (9)

:''Note: This list may be incomplete.'' *1937

Rhode Island Open The Rhode Island Open is the Rhode Island state open golf tournament, open to both amateur and professional golfers. It is organized by the Rhode Island Golf Association. It has been played annually since 1929 at a variety of courses around the stat ...

*1946 Westchester PGA Championship *1947

North and South Open The North and South Open was one of the most prestigious professional golf tournaments in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century. It was played at Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina, long the largest golf resort in the world, ...

*1950

Havana Invitational The Havana Invitational was a pro-am golf tournament held from 1948 to 1958. It was played at Havana Country Club in Havana, Cuba. In 1958 a second unrelated event was held two weeks before the pro-am, the Havana International. This was held at ...

*1956 Westchester PGA Championship *1959

Metropolitan Open The Metropolitan Open is a golf tournament organized by the Metropolitan Golf Association. In the early 20th century it was one of the top events in the country and was retroactively given PGA Tour-level status. History The tournament has been ...

*1960 Haig & Haig Scotch Foursome (with

Gloria Armstrong Gloria may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Christian liturgy and music * Gloria in excelsis Deo, the Greater Doxology, a hymn of praise * Gloria Patri, the Lesser Doxology, a short hymn of praise ** Gloria (Handel) ** Gloria (Jenkins) ...

) *1964 Westchester PGA Championship *1968

Long Island PGA Championship The Long Island PGA Championship is a professional golf tournament played on Long Island, New York. It is sponsored by the Metropolitan section of the PGA of America. The current title of the event is the MasterCard Long Island PGA Championship. ...

Major championships

Wins (1)

''Note: The PGA Championship was match play until 1958''

Results timeline

NT = no tournament
CUT = missed the half-way cut
R128, R64, R32, R16, QF, SF = round in which player lost in PGA Championship match play
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 27 (1941 U.S. Open – 1956 PGA) *Longest streak of top-10s – 3 (1949 Masters – 1949 PGA)

U.S. national team appearances

Professional *

: 1953 (winners) *

Canada Cup The Canada Cup (french: Coupe Canada) was an invitational international ice hockey tournament held on five occasions between 1976 and 1991. The brainchild of Toronto lawyer Alan Eagleson, the tournament was created to meet demand for a true world ...

: 1953 *

Lakes International Cup The Lakes International Cup was a men's team golf competition between teams of professional golfers from Australia and the United States. It was played four times between 1934 and 1954. The United States won the first three matches with Australia w ...

: 1952 (winners) *

Hopkins Trophy The Hopkins Trophy was an annual men's professional team golf competition between teams representing the United States and Canada. It was played from 1952 to 1956. The Americans won all five contests that were played. The matches were sponsored by ...

: 1953 (winners)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Turnesa, Jim American male golfers PGA Tour golfers Ryder Cup competitors for the United States Winners of men's major golf championships Golfers from New York (state) Sportspeople from New York City Deaths from lung cancer in New York (state) 1912 births 1971 deaths