Jim Turnesa
Turnesa in 1936
Personal information
Full name	James R. Turnesa
Born	(1912-12-09)December 9, 1912 New York, New York, U.S.
Died	August 27, 1971(1971-08-27) (aged 58) Elmsford, New York, U.S.
Sporting nationality	United States
Career
Turned professional	1931
Former tour	PGA Tour
Professional wins	11
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour	2
Other	9
Best results in major championships (wins: 1)
Masters Tournament	T4:1949
PGA Championship	Won:1952
U.S. Open	3rd:1948
The Open Championship	T5:1954

James R. Turnesa (December 9, 1912 – August 27, 1971) was an Americanprofessional golfer and winner of the1952 PGA Championship, beatingChick Harbert 1-up in the match-play final.^[1]

Turnesa was born inElmsford, New York, one of seven brothers who became prominent in the golfing world: Phil (1896–1987), Frank (1898–1949),Joe (1901–1991),Mike (1907–2000), Doug (1909–1972), Jim (1912–1971), andWillie (1914–2001). The family was referred to as a "golf dynasty" in a 2000New York Times article.^[2] All but Willie turned professional^[3] and Jim was the only one to win amajor championship.

The Turnesa brothers were well known for their prowess on the links and they started out as caddies before competing in tournaments.^[4] 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.^[5][6] 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."^[7]

Turnesa faced and lost toSam Snead in the1942 PGA Championship final. In 1948, he held the record for low score (280) in theU.S. Open for about an hour.Ben Hogan (276) andJimmy Demaret (278) finished later, erasing his record, and he finished third. He won one otherPGA Tour event, the 1951 Reading Open.^[8]

He was a frequent participant in Westchester member-pro events beating out a duo that includedGene Sarazen in 1947 at a Knollwood Country Club best ball tournament.^[9]

Turnesa played on the 1953Ryder Cup team.

After serving as pro atBriar Hall and Empire State course, he was named the head pro atRyewood Country Club in 1959 and continued there in the early 1960s.^[10]

He died in his home town oflung cancer.^[11]

• 1951Reading Open
• 1952PGA Championship

Major championship is shown inbold.

Source:^[12]

Note: This list may be incomplete.

• 1937Rhode Island Open
• 1946 Westchester PGA Championship
• 1947North and South Open
• 1950Havana Invitational
• 1956 Westchester PGA Championship
• 1959Metropolitan Open
• 1960Haig & Haig Scotch Foursome (withGloria Armstrong)
• 1964 Westchester PGA Championship
• 1968Long Island PGA Championship

Year	Championship	Winning score	Runner-up
1952	PGA Championship	1 up	Chick Harbert

Note: The PGA Championship was match play until 1958

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

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

Professional

• Ryder Cup:1953 (winners)
• Canada Cup:1953
• Lakes International Cup: 1952 (winners)
• Hopkins Trophy: 1953 (winners)

• List of men's major championships winning golfers

• 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)
• Golfers from New York City
• Deaths from lung cancer in New York (state)
• 1912 births
• 1971 deaths
• 20th-century American sportsmen

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from December 2021