Courtesy of Maurice Holmes That's third-grader J.B. Holmes -- the little blond-haired kid in sneakers and holding a club -- posing with his high school team.

January 26, 2009

Craig Dolch, Special from Partners Magazine

J.B. Holmes doesn't waste time.

Four months after turning professional, he won the PGA TOUR National Qualifying Tournament in 2005. He had a top-10 finish in his first start as a card-carrying TOUR member and needed just three more tries before he won the 2006 FBR Open by seven shots. That was the largest margin of victory for a first-time winner on the TOUR in more than 15 years.

But as amazing as that quick start was, it pales to what he did much earlier in life -- he made his high school golf team as a third grader, growing up in Campbellsville, Ky.

That's right, he played high school golf as a third grader.

"There weren't a lot of junior tournaments for John to play in when he was young," said Maurice Holmes, his father. "So I called the high school coach -- who was good friends with my older brother -- and asked, 'What does it take to make the team?' "

David Parsons, the golf coach at Taylor County High School, told the elder Holmes a player needed to break 60 for nine holes to make the team.

"John can do that now," Maurice Holmes said.

"Well, bring him on," Parsons responded.

And thus began the legend of John Holmes, who had his name legally changed to "J.B." after his q-school victory three years ago.

But being an 8-year-old playing against high school juniors and seniors didn't always have the same feel-good moments as, say, a young Tiger Woods appearing on the "Mike Douglas Show."

"The seniors and juniors on other teams gave John a hard time," Parsons said. "They ridiculed him and made fun of him. But John wasn't going to be intimidated. I remember when he was in fourth grade, he called a penalty shot on a much older kid for marking his ball wrong, which is a pretty risky thing to do. But John wasn't going to back down."

Holmes said he realized the older players were trying to take advantage of him, but he used that to motivate him to play better. It wasn't long before the situation changed.

Holmes would open a schoolbook and feel as if he were trapped in a maze. An assignment that might take his friends 30 minutes to complete would take him hours as he inevitably became distracted.

"I used to say, 'Son, you're just not paying attention,' " Maurice Holmes said. "We didn't know what to do."

His parents sent him to several tutors. It didn't help. His third-grade teacher wondered if Holmes might have dyslexia, a learning disorder, but his parents could not find anyone in the state to test him for it.

This story is reproduced courtesy of Partners Magazine, the Official Magazine of the PGA TOUR Partners Club, and appears in the February-March 2009 issue. For more information on the Partners Club, go to partnersclubonline.com.

"I made good grades, but just being able to read real slow kind of makes you not feel real good," he said.

The more he struggled in school, the more he looked forward to playing golf afterward. After all, when he was on the golf course, the only thing he had to read was the greens. So he would play every day, sometimes 36 or 54 holes.

"I think the golf course was the only place he felt like he was in control," said his mother, Lisa. "He always hated school."

Despite the academic difficulties, Holmes earned a golf scholarship to the University of Kentucky. But his grades quickly became an issue when he was on the verge of losing his academic standing his freshman season.

"It was too much reading," Holmes said. "I thought I was going to flunk out."

But Holmes' academic counselor at Kentucky, Amy Craiglow, suggested a psychologist test him after learning of his background. Dyslexia was diagnosed, and Holmes' teachers allowed him extra time to complete his tests and assignments.

"It was nice to know I wasn't dumb," Holmes said. "It was a relief."

Someone with dyslexia will picture one word for another, such as "house" for "horse" and may skip over smaller words such as "it" or "the," which makes reading comprehension difficult. Or they may have a hard time reading the words in the correct order, so Craiglow had to find other ways for Holmes to read and remember his lessons.

"One strength he has, and it ties into his ability in golf, is very strong spatial skills," Craiglow said. "A lot of times, we could put certain things in certain spots on a wall and study them, like a visualization. It's also a very good skill to have as far as understanding distance and being able to see the golf course."

By his senior year, Holmes had a 3.25 cumulative gpa and made the dean's list and Southeastern Conference academic honor roll. He turned professional about a semester shy of earning a degree.

"I was surprised when John was diagnosed with a learning disorder," said Holmes' caddie, Brandon Parsons, a childhood friend whose father was their high school coach. "It wasn't like he was stupid or anything."

Holmes doesn't think dyslexia ever hurt his golf. For one thing, he never has to write a series of letters -- just a number for his score on each hole. His caddie said he will usually repeat the yardage on a hole to make sure Holmes processes the number correctly.

The dyslexia actually helped Holmes' golf because he used it as a retreat from his classroom problems.

"It was the one place I could go and not think about that stuff for four or five hours," he said.

The strong spatial skills Craiglow mentioned also help him in other ways as a golfer, such as visualizing or remembering a shot.

"Once I get on a golf course, I can usually remember all the holes, where they placed the pins before and where my shots went," Holmes said.

That's a skill that certainly will serve him well as he spends more years on the PGA TOUR. But the dyslexia also assures that Holmes will never play in a lot of tournaments every year. He says it's just not possible.

"Some guys can play 35 events," he says. "I can't focus that much; 26 is about max for me."

After his breakout rookie season, Holmes struggled in 2007, with his best finish a fourth-place tie at the limited-field Mercedes-Benz Championship. He finished 118th on the money list and admitted the course was no longer his refuge.

"Golf had always been my escape; now it's turned into my job," Holmes said. "It's tough out here being on your own. I was always used to traveling with a team and hanging out with the guys."

The one constant with Holmes is his prodigious length -- he has ranked in the top three in driving distance all three seasons he has been on the PGA TOUR. He's capable of carrying the ball 350 yards in the air, a skill he started learning as that third-grader on the high school team.

"Because John was much smaller than the guys he played against, he always swung the club hard to try and stay up with them," Maurice Holmes said. "He swings it the same way now as he did as a kid."

Holmes returned to his rookie season form in 2008, beating Phil Mickelson in a playoff to win the FBR Open again. Holmes also opened eyes when he almost beat Woods in the first round of the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship. Then he did beat Woods -- and everyone else -- to earn the $500,000 first prize in the Tavistock Cup after he and wife Sara bought a house in the trendy Isleworth development in Orlando.

It was no coincidence that Holmes' resurgence came when his close friend, Brandon Parsons, started caddying for him full time at the start of the 2008 season, as they had once promised when they were kids.

"Having Brandon on my bag now, it's kind of a sense of being home when he's around," Holmes said.

Holmes finished 10th at THE PLAYERS Championship and had the lead going into the final round of the PGA Championship before fading to 29th with an 81. He finished a career-best 32nd on the money list with more than $2.1 million in '08 earnings.

His strong play and ability to dismantle courses with his length prompted U.S. Ryder Cup Captain Paul Azinger to use one of his four wild-card selections on Holmes for last fall's matches in -- of all places -- Kentucky.

Imagine the pressure Holmes and fellow Kentucky resident Kenny Perry felt playing for the U.S. in front of so many of their family and friends. But for Holmes, how intimidated can you be after playing on a high school team as a third-grader?

Holmes played as fearlessly as Azinger hoped he would. He was one of three Americans to go undefeated [2-0-1] and would have scored the winning point in singles had Jim Furyk Jim Furyk not closed out his match against Miguel Angel Jimenez.

"You can't find any bigger pressure than the Ryder Cup," Holmes said. "If I can succeed in that, it should make golf a little easier. Being on that winning team was my greatest accomplishment in golf."

It won't be his last. There are not many players who can reach par 5s with driver and pitching wedge. His stroke average on par 5s in 2008 was 4.6.

"Anytime you have the talent that J.B. has, to simply shred a golf course with his length, the sky's the limit," said U.S. Ryder Cup Assistant Captain Olin Browne, who was assigned Holmes by Azinger as one of his four players to look after. "And he can do a lot more on a golf course than just hit the ball a long way."

The fact is Holmes is turning into a thinking man's John Daly. Holmes, 26, does more than grip it and rip it.

"John hits driver a lot less than people think," caddie Parsons said. "We may not hit driver on half the holes. John shows he's ready to make whatever adjustments he has to make to become a better player."

That includes leaving his beloved Kentucky. This past off-season, Holmes and Sara finally moved into their new home in Isleworth, where Woods and so many other famous athletes reside. Holmes has been thinking about this move for years.

"I played there once in college and remember thinking that if I ever got on TOUR, that's where I want to live," Holmes said. "It's a great golf course, you've got your privacy, and the weather is a little nicer in the winter than Kentucky."

J.B. Holmes hitting balls next to Woods and baseball's Ken Griffey Jr.? Yes, he has come a long way -- in a short time.

Craig Dolch is a freelance columnist for PGATOUR.COM. His views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR.