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  • 21 Aug, 2019

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1935 U.S. Open (golf)

The 1935 U.S. Open was the 39th U.S. Open, held June 6–8 at Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pennsylvania, a suburb northeast of Pittsburgh. Sam Parks Jr., a 25-year-old club pro at nearby South Hills Country Club with no prior tournament wins, prevailed by two strokes in difficult scoring conditions for his only major title. The purse was $5,000 and the winner's share was $1,000.

Jimmy Thomson owned the 36-hole lead after consecutive rounds of 73, despite severe weather that caused scores to soar. Sam Parks trailed by four, but in the third round he recorded a 60-foot (18 m) chip-in for eagle to tie Thomson, who shot a 77. The weather only got worse during the final round, and Thomson could do no better than a 78. Parks, however, shot a 76 for a two-stroke victory. Walter Hagen briefly led during the final round, but four consecutive bogeys knocked him back to third. It would be the last time that Hagen would contend in a major championship. Scoring conditions were so difficult that no player in contention broke 75 and 73 was the lowest score of the round.

Parks was certainly helped by his preparation for the tournament. Every day for a month, he stopped at Oakmont to play a practice round before returning to his own club. This practice paid off particularly on Oakmont's notoriously difficult greens, where he three-putted just twice in 72 holes. His winning score of 299 was the highest since 1927, also at Oakmont, and he was the only player to break 300. Born in nearby Bellevue, Parks was an alumnus of the University of Pittsburgh, where he had been captain of the golf team.

The field of 159 included six entrants from Japan and one from South Africa; the rest from 31 states and the District of Columbia. For the first time, a Japanese player made the cut at the Open. Kanekichi Nakamura was part of a tour of the U.S. by Japanese golfers and finished in 58th at 325. Chris Brinke captured low-amateur honors in 32nd place at 315, a stroke ahead of 1933 champion Johnny Goodman.

Oakmont had previously hosted the U.S. Open in 1927, the PGA Championship in 1922, and the U.S. Amateur in 1919 and 1925.

The Stimpmeter was inspired by the fast greens of this Open. Edward Stimpson Sr., the Massachusetts amateur champion and a former captain of the Harvard golf team, devised a simple device and method to accurately measure the speed of greens.

Course layout

Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Out 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 In Total
Yards 482 363 428 536 386 187 395 253 477 3,507 461 395 621 164 349 475 234 302 473 3,474 6,981
Par 5 4 4 5 4 3 4 3 5 37 4 4 5 3 4 4 3 4 4 35 72

Source:

Lengths of the course for previous major championships:

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, June 6, 1935

Place Player Score To par
1 United States Butch Krueger 71 −1
2 United States Roland MacKenzie 72 E
T3 United States Herman Barron 73 +1
United States Cliff Spencer
United States Horton Smith
United States Jimmy Thomson
T7 United States Tommy Armour 74 +2
United States Ed Dudley
United States Jim Foulis
United States Macdonald Smith

Source:

Second round

Friday, June 7, 1935

Place Player Score To par
1 United States Jimmy Thomson 73-73=146 +2
2 United States Butch Krueger 71-77=148 +4
3 United States Gene Sarazen 75-74=149 +5
4 United States Sam Parks Jr. 77-73=150 +6
T5 United States Al Espinosa 75-76=151 +7
United States Denny Shute 78-73=151
United States Ted Turner 80-71=151
T8 United States Herman Barron 73-79=152 +8
United States Mortie Dutra 75-77=152
United States Vincent Eldred 75-77=152
United States Ray Mangrum 76-76=152
United States Horton Smith 73-79=152

Source:

Third round

Saturday, June 8, 1935 (morning)

Place Player Score To par
T1 United States Sam Parks Jr. 77-73-73=223 +7
United States Jimmy Thomson 73-73-77=223
3 United States Ray Mangrum 76-76-72=224 +8
T4 United States Walter Hagen 77-76-73=226 +10
United States Butch Krueger 71-77-78=226
T6 United States Henry Picard 79-78-70=227 +11
United States Gene Sarazen 75-74-78=227
United States Denny Shute 78-73-76=227
T9 United States Vincent Eldred 75-75-77=229 +13
United States Al Espinosa 75-76-78=229
United States Dick Metz 77-76-76=229

Source:

Final round

Saturday, June 8, 1935 (afternoon)

Place Player Score To par Money ($)
1 United States Sam Parks Jr. 77-73-73-76=299 +11 1,000
2 United States Jimmy Thomson 73-73-77-78=301 +13 750
3 United States Walter Hagen 77-76-73-76=302 +14 650
T4 United States Ray Mangrum 76-76-72-79=303 +15 500
United States Denny Shute 78-73-76-76=303
T6 United States Butch Krueger 71-77-78-80=306 +18 218
United States Henry Picard 79-78-70-79=306
United States Gene Sarazen 75-74-78-79=306
United States Horton Smith 73-79-79-75=306
T10 United States Dick Metz 77-76-76-78=307 +19 95
United States Paul Runyan 76-77-79-75=307

Source:

Scorecard

Hole  1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Par 5 4 4 5 4 3 4 3 5 4 4 5 3 4 4 3 4 4
United States Parks +6 +7 +8 +9 +9 +9 +9 +9 +8 +8 +8 +8 +8 +8 +9 +10 +10 +11
ScotlandUnited States Thomson +7 +7 +6 +5 +6 +7 +8 +10 +9 +9 +9 +9 +9 +10 +11 +12 +12 +13
United States Hagen +9 +9 +9 +8 +9 +11 +11 +11 +10 +11 +12 +13 +14 +14 +14 +15 +14 +14
United States Shute +11 +12 +13 +13 +14 +14 +14 +14 +13 +13 +13 +14 +14 +14 +13 +15 +15 +15

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par

Birdie Bogey Double bogey

Source:

References

  1. ^ Bell, Jack (June 7, 1935). "Tricky Oakmont links baffles golfers in Open". Miami News. p. 12.
  2. ^ "Oakmont course par and yardage". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. June 6, 1935. p. 18.
  3. ^ "Here's how prize money was dealt in National Open". Chicago Sunday Tribune. June 9, 1935. p. 7, part 2.
  4. ^ Taggart, Bert P. (June 6, 1935). "Open field set to tee off at Oakmont today". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 1.
  5. ^ Bartlett, Charles (June 9, 1935). "Parks takes U.S. Open golf title with 299". Chicago Sunday Tribune. p. 1, sec. 2.
  6. ^ Rice, Grantland (June 9, 1935). "Unknown Sam Parks wins National Open tourney". Miami News. p. 10.
  7. ^ "$5,000 in prizes to Open winners". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. June 10, 1935. p. 17.
  8. ^ Bartlett, Charles (June 8, 1935). "Thomson's 146 tops National Open golf". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 21.
  9. ^ "Parks, 26-year-old Pittsburgher, new U.S. Open champion". Montreal Gazette. Associated Press. June 10, 1935. p. 15.
  10. ^ Huhn, Joe (June 6, 1932). "Sam Parks, Ted Luther lead at Oakmont". Pittsburgh Press. p. 26.
  11. ^ "National Open scores". Chicago Sunday Tribune. June 9, 1935. p. 7, part 2.
  12. ^ "E. S. Stimpson '27 elected to lead Crimson golf team". Harvard Crimson. (Cambridge, Massachusetts). November 28, 1925. Retrieved May 18, 2016.
  13. ^ Dvorchak, Robert (June 13, 2007). "Reading the greens". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. E-6.
  14. ^ "Edward S. Stimpson". New York Times. UPI. March 28, 1985. Retrieved May 18, 2016.
  15. ^ McCabe, Jim (June 15, 2016). "The real history of Edward Stimpson's special gift: The Stimpmeter". Golfweek. Retrieved April 20, 2017.
  16. ^ "Sarazen first choice as Open begins today". Chicago Daily Tribune. June 6, 1935. p. 19.
  17. ^ Bartlett, Charles (June 7, 1935). "Krueger shoots 71 to lead National Open". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 25.
  18. ^ "National Open scores". Chicago Daily Tribune. June 8, 1935. p. 23.
  19. ^ "Winner's cards". Chicago Sunday Tribune. June 9, 1935. p. 7, sec. 2.
  20. ^ "How Parks won". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. June 10, 1935. p. 16.

40°31′34″N 79°49′37″W / 40.526°N 79.827°W / 40.526; -79.827