1923 U.S. Open (golf)

The 1923 U.S. Open was the 27th U.S. Open, held July 13–15 at Inwood Country Club in Inwood, New York, a suburb east of New York City on Long Island. Amateur golf legend Bobby Jones, age 21, captured his first career major championship, defeating Bobby Cruickshank by two strokes in an 18-hole Sunday playoff.

1923 U.S. Open

Tournament information
Dates	July 13–15, 1923
Location	Inwood, New York
Course(s)	Inwood Country Club
Organized by	USGA
Format	Stroke play − 72 holes
Statistics
Par	72
Length	6,632 yards (6,064 m)[1]
Field	77[1]
Cut	none
Winner's share	($500)
Champion
Bobby Jones (a)
296 (+8), playoff

Inwood CC

Location in the United States

Inwood CC

Location in New York

Qualifying directly preceded the tournament proper,[2] which was held on Friday and Saturday, 36 holes per day, with no cut.

Jones held a three-stroke lead through 54 holes, but struggled throughout the final round on Saturday afternoon. He bogeyed the first, hit his tee shot out of bounds at the par-3 seventh for a double bogey, hit his second shot on 16 into the parking lot, and then added another bogey at 17. Still with the lead heading to the 18th, Jones made a double-bogey for a round of 76 (+4) and 296 (+8) total. Cruickshank, playing behind Jones, made double bogey at 16 and had to birdie the last to tie Jones; he hit his approach shot to five feet (1.5 m) and made the putt.[3][4]

During the 18-hole playoff on Sunday, Jones and Cruickshank only halved three of the first 17 holes, but they were all square heading to the 18th. After both players drove into the rough, Cruickshank elected to lay up short of the green, but Jones went for it and hit a 2-iron to 8 feet (2.4 m). After Cruickshank put his third shot into a bunker and fourth to 15 feet (4.6 m), Jones two-putted for the championship.[5][6]

This was the first of Jones' four U.S. Open titles, a record shared with three others: Willie Anderson, Ben Hogan, and Jack Nicklaus. It was also the first of four playoffs Jones was involved in, winning twice.

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	343	371	522	530	519	177	223	418	360	3,463	295	421	103	420	497	173	425	405	425	3,169	6,632
Par	4	4	5	5	5	3	3	4	4	37	4	4	3	4	5	3	4	4	4	35	72

Source:[1][4]

Past champions in the field

Player	Country	Year(s) won	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total	To par	Finish
Jim Barnes	England	1921	78	81	74	75	308	+20	T12
Chick Evans (a)	United States	1916	79	80	76	74	309	+21	T14
Gene Sarazen	United States	1922	79	78	73	80	310	+22	T16
Walter Hagen	United States	1914, 1919	77	75	73	80	311	+23	T18
Francis Ouimet (a)	United States	1913	82	75	78	82	317	+29	T29
George Sargent	England	1909	77	77	81	82	317	+29	T29

Source:[4]

Round summaries

First round

Friday, July 13, 1923 (morning)

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
1	Jock Hutchison	Scotland  United States	70	−2
2	Bobby Jones (a)	United States	71	−1
3	Fred Canausa	United States	72	E
T4	Bill Creavy	United States	73	+1
	Bobby Cruickshank	Scotland
	Bill Mehlhorn	United States
T7	Mike Brady	United States	74	+2
	Jack Burke Sr.	United States
	Cyril Hughes	England
	Willie Ogg	Scotland  United States
	Al Watrous	United States

Source:[1][7]

Second round

Friday, July 13, 1923 (afternoon)

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
1	Jock Hutchison	Scotland  United States	70-72=142	−2
2	Bobby Jones (a)	United States	71-73=144	E
3	Bobby Cruickshank	Scotland	73-72=145	+1
T4	Jack Forrester	Scotland	75-73=148	+4
	Francis Gallett	Scotland	76-72=148
6	Al Watrous	United States	74-75=149	+5
T7	Cyril Hughes	England	74-76=150	+6
	Willie Ogg	Scotland  United States	74-76=150
T9	Jack Burke Sr.	United States	74-78=152	+8
	Walter Hagen	United States	77-75=152
	Bill Mehlhorn	United States	73-79=152

Source:[1][7]

Third round

Saturday, July 14, 1923 (morning)

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
1	Bobby Jones (a)	United States	71-73-76=220	+4
2	Bobby Cruickshank	Scotland	73-72-78=223	+7
3	Jock Hutchison	Scotland  United States	70-72-82=224	+8
T4	Jack Forrester	Scotland	75-73-77=225	+9
	Francis Gallett	Scotland	76-72-77=225
	Walter Hagen	United States	77-75-73=225
	Al Watrous	United States	74-75-76=225
8	Bill Mehlhorn	United States	73-79-75=227	+11
T9	Johnny Farrell	United States	76-77-75=228	+12
	C.L. Mothersole	United States	77-80-71=228

Source:[4]

Final round

Saturday, July 14, 1923 (afternoon)

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par	Money ($)
T1	Bobby Jones (a)	United States	71-73-76-76=296	+8	0
	Bobby Cruickshank	Scotland	73-72-78-73=296		500
3	Jock Hutchison	Scotland  United States	70-72-82-78=302	+14	300
4	Jack Forrester	Scotland	75-73-77-78=303	+15	200
T5	Johnny Farrell	United States	76-77-75-76=304	+16	125
	Francis Gallett	Scotland	76-72-77-79=304
	William Reekie (a)	United States	80-74-75-75=304		0
T8	Leo Diegel	United States	77-77-76-76=306	+18	82
	Bill Mehlhorn	United States	73-79-75-79=306
	Al Watrous	United States	74-75-76-81=306

Source:[4]

(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	5	5	5	3	3	4	4	4	4	3	4	5	3	4	4	4
Jones	+5	+5	+5	+5	+4	+4	+6	+6	+6	+5	+5	+5	+5	+4	+4	+5	+6	+8
Cruickshank	+8	+8	+8	+8	+8	+7	+7	+6	+6	+5	+5	+5	+6	+6	+7	+9	+9	+8

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
Source:[4]

Playoff

Sunday, July 15, 1923

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par	Money ($)
1	Bobby Jones (a)	United States	76	+4	0
2	Bobby Cruickshank	Scotland	78	+6	500

Source:[5]

Scorecard

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

Source:[6][8]

References

1. "Jock Hutchinson's 142 sets record to top Inwood field". Chicago Daily Tribune. Associated Press. July 14, 1923. p. 8.
2. "Guilford falls, star pros waver in National Open". Chicago Daily Tribune. July 13, 1923. p. 13.
3. "Cruickshank ties Jones at Inwood". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. July 15, 1923. p. 4-part 2.
4. Fullerton, Hugh (July 15, 1923). "Cruickshank and Jones tie for golf title". Chicago Sunday Tribune. p. 1.
5. "Robert Jones won title in play-off". Montreal Gazette. Associated Press. July 16, 1923. p. 13.
6. Fullerton, Hugh (July 16, 1923). "Bobby Jones wins golf title on last hole". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 1.
7. "Chicago Scot leads golfers". St. Petersburg Times. (Florida). Associated Press. July 14, 1923. p. 8.
8. "Details of the play". Chicago Daily Tribune. July 16, 1923. p. 13.

External links

• 1923 U.S. Open
• USGA Championship Database
• USOpen.com - 1923