After three second place finishes on The European Tour, James finally achieved his long-awaited breakthrough winning the South African Airways Open at Pearl Valley in December 2007.

Arguably his claim to fame came prior to his victory from one of the more bizarre shots of his career when, in 2002, he won an Audi TT Coupe for an amazing hole in one at the 15th hole at Houghton Golf Club during the dunhill championship. Using a four iron, the ball initially veered off line but struck some branches, dropped onto the green and rolled into the cup. As well as the car, it also earned him instant global fame as the bizarre ace was beamed around the world on CNN's Play of the Day.

He has won eight times on the Sunshine Tour and a further five times on the Asian Tour, reflecting his status as a global golfer.

In 2009 James won his first European Tour event outside his native South Africa clinching the Mercedes-Benz Championship title in a sudden death play-off against Denmark's Anders Hansen. James sunk a three foot put on the last to take the title.