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  • 21 Aug, 2019

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1929 U.S. Open (golf)

The 1929 U.S. Open was the 33rd U.S. Open, held June 27–30 at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, New York, a suburb northeast of New York City. Bobby Jones won his third U.S. Open title in a 36-hole playoff, besting Al Espinosa by 23 strokes on the West Course.

Jones opened with a 69 in the first round to grab the lead, then followed with a 75.

After a third round 71, he had a three-stroke lead over Gene Sarazen and was four clear of Espinosa after 54 holes. Sarazen fell out of contention in the final round with a 78 and fell to a tie for third place. Espinosa shot a 75 and a 294 total, but it appeared like it would not be enough to overtake Jones. Beginning with the 15th, Jones needed only three bogeys and a par to win the championship. However, he triple-bogeyed the 15th and then made another bogey on 16 and his lead was gone. He made par at the 17th, but his approach on the 18th found a greenside bunker. Needing to get up-and-down to save par and force a playoff, Jones rolled in a 12-foot (3.7 m) putt for the tie.

Jones dominated the 36-hole playoff on Sunday, with a 72 in the morning round to grab a 12-shot lead. Espinosa struggled again on the second 18, shooting an 80 to Jones' 69, and Jones won the playoff by 23 shots. He won his fourth U.S. Open in 1930 and the grand slam. The 23-stroke win is the largest margin of victory in a major golf tournament playoff.

Originally scheduled to be played over the East Course at Winged Foot, storm damaged caused the championship to be relocated to the West Course. It was the first of six U.S. Opens to be held on Winged Foot's West Course; it later hosted in 1959, 1974, 1984, 2006, and 2020; it also hosted the PGA Championship in 1997.

Course layout

West Course

Hole Name Yards Par Hole Name Yards Par
1 Genesis 445 4 10 Pulpit 190 3
2 Elm 376 4 11 Billows 378 4
3 Pinnacle 217 3 12 Cape 497 5
4 Sound View 406 4 13 White Mule 213 3
5 Long Lane 517 5 14 Shamrock 376 4
6 El 323 4 15 Pyramid 397 4
7 Babe-in-the-Woods 170 3 16 Hells Bells 456 5
8 Arena 439 4 17 Well-Well 450 4
9 Meadow 517 5 18 Revelations 419 4
Out 3,410 36 In 3,376 36
Source: Total 6,786 72

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, June 27, 1929

Place Player Score To par
1 United States Bobby Jones (a) 69 −3
2 United States Al Espinosa 70 −2
3 United States Gene Sarazen 71 −1
T4 United States Chris Hilgendorf 72 E
Scotland Jack White
T6 United States Leonard Schnutte 73 +1
United States Denny Shute
T8 United States Tommy Armour 74 +2
United States Wiffy Cox
United States Jack Cummins (a)
United States Leo Diegel
United States Ted Longworth
United States Larry Nabholtz

Source:

Second round

Friday, June 28, 1929

Place Player Score To par
T1 United States Gene Sarazen 71-71=142 −2
United States Al Espinosa 70-72=142
T3 United States Bobby Jones (a) 69-75=144 E
United States Denny Shute 73-71=144
5 United States Tommy Armour 74-71=145 +1
T6 United States Leo Diegel 74-74=148 +4
United States Leonard Schnutte 73-75=148
T8 United States George Von Elm (a) 79-70=149 +5
T9 United States Wiffy Cox 74-76=150 +6
United States Peter O'Hara 74-76=150
United States Craig Wood 79-71=150

Source:

Third round

Saturday, June 29, 1929 (morning)

Place Player Score To par
1 United States Bobby Jones (a) 69-75-71=215 −1
2 United States Gene Sarazen 71-71-76=218 +2
3 United States Al Espinosa 70-72-77=219 +3
4 United States Denny Shute 73-71-76=220 +4
5 United States Tommy Armour 74-71-76=221 +5
T6 United States George Von Elm (a) 79-70-74=223 +7
United States Peter O'Hara 74-76-73=223
T8 United States Henry Ciuci 78-74-72=224 +8
United States Leo Diegel 74-74-76=224
10 United States Horton Smith 76-77-74=227 +11

Source:

Final round

Saturday, June 29, 1929 (afternoon)

Place Player Score To par Money ($)
T1 United States Bobby Jones (a) 69-75-71-79=294 +6 Playoff
United States Al Espinosa 70-72-77-75=294
T3 United States Gene Sarazen 71-71-76-78=296 +8 700
United States Denny Shute 73-71-76-76=296
T5 United States Tommy Armour 74-71-76-76=297 +9 550
United States George Von Elm (a) 79-70-74-74=297 0
7 United States Henry Ciuci 78-74-72-75=299 +11 450
T8 United States Leo Diegel 74-74-76-77=301 +13 300
United States Peter O'Hara 74-76-73-78=301
10 United States Horton Smith 76-77-74-75=302 +14 150

Source:

(a) denotes amateur

Scorecard

Final round

Hole   1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9    10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18 
Par 4 4 3 4 5 4 3 4 5 3 4 5 3 4 4 5 4 4
United States Jones −1 E −1 −1 −1 −1 −1 +2 +1 +2 +2 +2 +3 +3 +6 +6 +6 +6
United States Espinosa +4 +4 +3 +4 +3 +3 +4 +4 +3 +4 +5 +8 +8 +8 +8 +7 +6 +6
United States Sarazen +3 +3 +3 +3 +4 +5 +5 +7 +7 +7 +7 +7 +7 +7 +8 +7 +8 +8
United States Shute +6 +7 +7 +7 +8 +7 +7 +7 +6 +7 +6 +6 +6 +6 +7 +7 +7 +8

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
Source:

Playoff

Sunday, June 30, 1929

Place Player Score To par Money ($)
1 United States Bobby Jones (a) 72-69=141 −3 0
2 United States Al Espinosa 84-80=164 +20 1,000

Source:

Scorecards

Morning round

Hole   1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9    10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18 
Par 4 4 3 4 5 4 3 4 5 3 4 5 3 4 4 5 4 4
United States Jones +2 +2 +3 +3 +2 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 E −1 E −1 +1 E E E
United States Espinosa E +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +2 +3 +3 +5 +5 +8 +8 +8 +8 +9 +11 +12

Afternoon round

Hole  1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Par 4 4 3 4 5 4 3 4 5 3 4 5 3 4 4 5 4 4
United States Jones E +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 E E E E E −1 −1 −1 −2 −3 −3 −3
United States Espinosa +13 +13 +14 +14 +16 +17 +17 +17 +16 +18 +18 +18 +18 +18 +18 +17 +18 +20

Cumulative playoff scores, relative to par

Birdie Bogey Double bogey Triple bogey+

Source:

References

  1. ^ "Sarazen and Espinosa tie with 142 in golf meet". Milwaukee Journal. Associated Press. June 28, 1929. p. 8.
  2. ^ Trumball, Walter (July 1, 1929). "Jones wins U.S. Open title; overwhelms Espinosa". Milwaukee Journal. p. 6.
  3. ^ "Jones' 69 leads U.S. Open; Al Espinosa 2d". Chicago Daily Tribune. June 28, 1929. p. 21.
  4. ^ Pegler, Westbrook (June 29, 1929). "Sarazen and Espinosa tie for Open golf lead". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 17.
  5. ^ Gould, Alan J. (June 30, 1929). "Jones, Espinosa tie for Open title with 294 score". Milwaukee Journal. p. 1-sports.
  6. ^ Pegler, Westbrook (June 30, 1929). "Jones, Espinosa tie; title playoff today". Chicago Sunday Tribune. p. 1, part 2.
  7. ^ Pegler, Westbrook (July 1, 1929). "Jones' 141 wins playoff for Open title". Chicago Sunday Tribune. p. 29.
  8. ^ Johnson, E. Michael (July 15, 2008). "Why Winged Foot Is Special". Golf Digest. Archived from the original on October 25, 2015. Retrieved September 12, 2020.

40°57′29″N 73°45′14″W / 40.958°N 73.754°W / 40.958; -73.754