Jay Z is undoubtedly one of the biggest and most famous music stars in the world today.
The 56-year-old from Brooklyn has amassed a wealth of around $2.6 billion during his time in the music industry.
He is married to another legendary music figure, Beyonce, who is worth around $800 million in her own right.
Talk about a power couple!
It’s not often that the worlds of music and golf cross over. However, that was the case back in 2003.
Jay Z invited a PGA Tour pro to one of his opening parties but the incredible thing is he really wasn’t a big-name player whatsoever…
Why world number 4,915 golfer was invited to Jay Z’s party
It was 22 years ago when Jay Z made a phone call to Ricky Barnes. That’s right, Ricky Barnes – the man who has never won on the PGA Tour.
Nevertheless, he was kind of a big deal on the golfing scene in 2003.
Barnes was featured on ESPN’s ‘Next’ issue alongside LeBron James and he seemingly had the world at his feet.
However, it still seemed like Barnes and Jay Z were worlds apart at the time.
Rory McIlroy once named Jay Z as part of his dream foursome back in 2024 but interestingly, the American isn’t a keen golfer.
In spite of that, he still found time to invite unheralded PGA Tour pro Ricky Barnes to his exclusive opening party for the 40/40 club in New York way back in 2003.
So how on earth did that come about?
One unnamed brand who were keen to sign Barnes up also had a relationship with Jay-Z.
Jay Z made contact with Barnes and said, “I opened up the 40/40 club; do you wanna come?”
Unsurprisingly, it didn’t take long for Barnes to respond! He was there in a flash.
According to Golf.com, ‘He hung out with NBA stars — LeBron, Tracy McGrady and more — and musicians like Lil’ Kim. Barnes said Jay-Z’s “Black Album” dropped that night, and they played it twice through before he left’.
Ricky Barnes never fulfilled his potential after rubbing shoulders with Jay Z
At the time, Barnes had real star potential. He was a hugely talented golfer, and won the prestigious US Amateur Championship in 2002.
He is currently sitting in 4,915th place in the Official World Golf Rankings and he has never won a PGA Tour event.
Barnes did record a T-2 finish at the US Open in 2009 but aside from that, his career on the golf course has been fairly nondescript.
However, away from golf, he has experienced things that many people can only dream of.
After all, invites to Jay Z’s parties aren’t exactly given out cheaply, are they?
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