Sept. 18, 2008
J.B. Holmes Photo Gallery | Ryder Cup Coverage
In the fall of 2001 when J.B. Holmes walked onto the campus at the University of Kentucky the men’s golf team was coming off a season in which the Wildcats finished 117th in the nation. The program was looking at a lot of new faces, a new head coach and a freshman class that comprised almost half of the team. The two biggest new faces were head coach Brian Craig and a high-school kid from Campbellsville, Ky. that had already proven himself by playing in the U.S. Open sectionals, J.B. (John) Holmes.
Within two years the transformation took hold. Kentucky finished 26th in the nation in 2003 and it was only the beginning for the program. The following year, under the tutelage of Craig and strong play from the team, led by Holmes, the Wildcats finished eighth in the nation and were on the verge of doing something that had never been done at the University of Kentucky, win a Southeastern Conference championship.
In 2005, Holmes’ senior year, the Wildcats came out firing on all cylinders. The numbers from that year were magical including…13 tournaments with 12 top-ten finishes, six first-place finishes, a first-ever SEC championship, tied for fourth in the NCAA Central Region and the highest finish ever by Kentucky in the NCAA, a seventh-place finish.
“John was always a team-first kind of guy,” Coach Brian Craig said. “He played in every team qualifier we had while he was here even though he was always exempt from having to. He wanted to compete and he is one of the greatest competitors I have ever met, but he was just as interested in helping his teammates make the team better.”
At one particular tournament Holmes had a shot of winning the prestigious title outright as an individual, but the team was on the cusp of winning the tournament also and needed a little help. On the last day of the tournament Coach Craig went to talk to Holmes about what he needed to do to win the tournament and the Campbellsville native’s response was, “Coach, I just want to do what I have to do to help the team get another win.”
As well as being a banner year for the Wildcats, it was a breakout year for Holmes. He was an Academic All-American for the second time in his college career. The SEC took notice of what he was doing when he was announced the SEC Golfer of the Year and placed him on the All-SEC first team for his third straight year. The awards kept coming for Holmes after he was selected on the second-team PING All-American team as well as being named the Most Valuable Player on the team for the fourth time of his college career.
Later on in summer of 2005 Holmes was selected to represent the United States in the Walker Cup. In typical fashion he continued his championship ways helping lead the U.S.A. to the first Walker Cup championship since 1997.
One of Holmes’ greatest strength has been his ability to hit the long ball. He was an instant hit the first time he ever played at Valhalla, site if the 2008 Ryder Cup, with a group of boosters when he was a student at UK. The caddies went nuts when they saw him play the first time. They still talk about how he is the only person they have ever seen who could come in and play the long par-five holes with a driver, wedge and putter.
“The first or second tournament that John was here I was standing with him on a par-five and he was about 220 yards out,” Craig said. He walked over to his bag and pulled out a five-iron. I was little taken back and reminded him that he was over 200 yards out and asked him how far he thought he could hit his five-iron. With no emotion or joking in his voice and he looked and said, ‘as far as I want to coach,’ and sure enough he ripped his shot within feet of the pin and birdied the hole.”
Former UK teammates Cale Barr and Ben Fuqua talk about how Holmes is, “just a good guy from Campbellsville,” with no false pretenses about him.
“You get what you get with John,” Barr said. “He is a good guy willing to help anyone with anything, but when it comes time to play you better watch out. He shows no mercy and wants to beat anyone who is around him, and he has the ability to beat them all when he is locked in.”
Holmes turned professional in 2006 and in only his fourth start he won the FBR Open. He went on to post three more top-10 finishes his rookie year. He went back and won the FBR Open again in January of this year then followed that up with 25th place finish at the 2008 Masters tournament in the spring.
Throughout his career he has represented the United States in almost every way possible. In college he participated in the Japan versus U.S.A event. He went on to represent the U.S.A. in the Palmer Cup, followed up with a trip to the Walker Cup where he participated as an amateur. Starting Friday morning, at Valhalla in Louisville, he will be playing for the red, white and blue in the Ryder Cup.
No doubt about it Holmes will be the hometown favorite this weekend when he steps onto the course with some of the biggest names in golf from America and Europe. He won’t be alone though. In addition to his teammates and the millions of Kentucky fans from Paducah to Pikeville following his every stroke, Holmes will be joined by his childhood best friend and caddie, Brandon Parsons, who will proudly be carrying his bag. Holmes represents just how far golf has come at the University of Kentucky since the fall of 2001.
