Getty Image / Harry How
J.B. Holmes has won 5 times on the PGA Tour since turning pro in 2006 after playing collegiate golf at the University of Kentucky.
His last win came at the 2019 Genesis Open where he beat Justin Thomas by 1 stroke and took home $1,332,000 for first. At his best, J.B. Holmes was ranked 14th in the world according to the OWGR rankings and a household name on the PGA Tour.
Jonathan Bradley Holmes is not a name golf fans would easily recognize but it’s what J.B. stands for. And in a recent high-stakes scramble, he almost flew under the radar after entering in a 6-man team under the name Jonathan Bradley until someone recognized his golf swing and his team was disqualified from winning money.
Ryan French of Monday Q shared the wild saga of the 2023 Gangsome. It is a 6-man team scramble (Calcutta) with large entry fees where 4 of the 6 team members have to be Franklin Bridge Golf Course members. And only 2 players on each team can have plus handicaps.
According to the story on Monday Q, after Day 1, J.B. Holmes’ team was leading the Calcutta and in line to win $21,000 on Day 2 ($21K to 1st, $9K to 2nd). But the report says the owner of the club recognized J.B. Holmes’ golf swing on the 3rd hole of the second round. He has a short backswing that’s quite recognizable:
As a pro, it was then determined his team was ineligible for the prize money but could continue to compete for the trophies. That wasn’t enough to placate the other teams after word got around:
“Word had spread around the course about the true identity of Jonathan Bradley, and when everyone came in for the post-tournament dinner, they found the names of Holmes and his teammates had been crossed out on the leaderboard. The flight winners were announced, with the top flight revealed last. According to one member, when Holmes’s team was announced, the crowd “went crazy, boos started, then some random vulgarities started.” That was followed by chants of B——-!”
One club member told Ryan French “the thing is they didn’t break any rules for having a pro on their team, What they did do is lie and cheat their fellow members by signing up Holmes under a different name.”
J.B. Holmes appeared to address it on Twitter by sharing a picture of the Gangsome 2023 trophy:
I did play scrabble under my real name…..John Bradley. It was bring your best team….. and we had the best team. pic.twitter.com/RsaYrV9cV5
— J.B. Holmes (@JBHolmesgolf) May 30, 2023
Some people in his replies were angry, others thought it was funny. One person wrote “Others getting paid millions to play on liv tour & this is you. What a joke.”
Another person replied “My new favorite golfer.”
Where this all gets a bit murky is what Jonathan Bradley’s handicap is/was. Some unverified screenshots were floating around claiming that J.B. Holmes’ index is a 9.6.
If that’s the case then that obviously wasn’t fair because as a professional his index should be much closer to 0 if not a + but it’s also possible his game has fallen off tremendously.