1928 U.S. Open (golf)

The 1928 U.S. Open was the 32nd U.S. Open, held June 21–24 at Course No. 4 of Olympia Fields Country Club in Olympia Fields, Illinois, a suburb south of Chicago. Johnny Farrell defeated noted amateur Bobby Jones in a 36-hole playoff to win his only major title.[5] For Jones, a two-time champion in 1923 and 1926, it was his second playoff loss at the U.S. Open in four years and his fourth finish as a runner-up. He won the next two in 1929 and 1930.

1928 U.S. Open

Tournament information
Dates	June 21–24, 1928
Location	Olympia Fields, Illinois
Course(s)	Olympia Fields Country Club Course No. 4[1][2]
Organized by	USGA
Format	Stroke play − 72 holes
Statistics
Par	71[3]
Length	6,726 yards (6,150 m)[3]
Field	144 players,[4] 65 after cut
Cut	158 (+16)
Prize fund	$2,000[4]
Winner's share	$500
Champion
Johnny Farrell
294 (+10), playoff

Olympia 
Fields 

Location in the United States

Olympia 
Fields 

Location in Illinois

Jones jumped out to the 36-hole lead with rounds of 73-71, two shots ahead of George Von Elm and Bill Leach.[6] After a 73 in the third round, Jones took a two-stroke lead over Leach and Henry Ciuci into the final round. Five strokes behind Jones was Farrell, who had recorded rounds of 77-74-71. Farrell teed off well before Jones and shot 72 and a 294 total. With Jones still on the course with the lead, Farrell did not believe he had a chance of winning. In his final round, Jones was uncharacteristically erratic on holes six through ten, at seven-over-par for those five holes. He regrouped on the last eight holes and carded a 77 (+6) for 294 (+10).[7][8] Gene Sarazen informed Farrell in the clubhouse that he and Jones were tied. Roland Hancock, age 21, would have won the championship by two strokes had he parred the final two holes, but he double-bogeyed 17 and bogeyed 18 to fall a shot out of the playoff.

This was the first year that the USGA implemented a 36-hole playoff. On the first 18, Farrell shot a 70 to Jones' 73. Beginning the second 18, however, Jones quickly got back to all square after two holes. Jones double-bogeyed the 4th to give Farrell a two-stroke lead once again, but three consecutive bogeys beginning at the 10th knocked Farrell out of the lead. Now trailing by one with six holes to play, Farrell nearly aced the par-3 13th, recording a birdie to tie up the match. At the 16th, Jones missed a short putt to give Farrell the lead. At 17, Farrell hit a superb approach to 3 feet (0.9 m), while Jones was 20 feet (6 m) away. Jones made his birdie putt to put pressure on Farrell, who responded by holing out. At the par-5 18th, both Jones and Farrell recorded birdies, clinching a one-stroke victory for Farrell in the rain.[9]

The next playoff at the U.S. Open was the following year, won by Jones by 23 strokes. The playoff in 1931 was tied after 36 holes, resulting in a second 36-hole playoff, which caused the USGA to return to the 18-hole format. The next playoff in 1939 was reduced back to 18 holes, but the top two competitors were tied and it went another 18 holes. Sudden-death following the round was not introduced until the 1950s, and not needed until 1990; it was used again in 1994 and 2008.

The four 18-hole courses at Olympia Fields were reduced to two in the late 1940s when the club sold half of its property. Course No. 4 became the North course, and the South course is a composite of holes from the other three.[10]

Course layout

Course No. 4

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Out	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	In	Total
Yards	530	455	420	368	353	163	415	220	458	3,382	433	387	380	130	433	555	153	383	490	3,344	6,726
Par	5	4	4	4	4	3	4	3	4	35	4	4	4	3	4	5	3	4	5	36	71

Source:[2][3][4]

Past champions in the field

Made the cut

Player	Country	Year(s) won	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total	To par	Finish
Bobby Jones (a)	United States	1923, 1926	73	71	73	77	294	+10	2
Walter Hagen	United States	1914, 1919	75	72	73	76	296	+12	T4
Gene Sarazen	United States	1922	78	76	73	72	299	+15	T6
Willie Macfarlane	Scotland	1925	73	74	73	80	300	+16	T14
Tommy Armour	Scotland  United States	1927	76	75	77	73	301	+17	16
Jim Barnes	England	1921	73	80	78	79	310	+26	T36
Fred McLeod	Scotland	1908	73	76	84	78	311	+27	T41

Source:[7][11][12]

Missed the cut

Player	Country	Year won	R1	R2	Total	To par
Chick Evans (a)	United States	1916	77	80	157	+15

Source:[11]

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, June 21, 1928

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
T1	Frank Ball	England	70	–1
	Henry Ciuci	United States
3	Leonard Schmutte	United States	71	E
T4	Leo Diegel	United States	72	+1
	Johnny Golden	United States
	Bill Leach	United States
	Horton Smith	United States
T8	Jim Barnes	England	73	+2
	Bobby Jones (a)	United States
	Johnny Jones	United States
	Willie Hunter	Scotland  United States
	Willie Macfarlane	Scotland
	Fred McLeod	Scotland
	Fred Morrison	United States

Source:[13]

Second round

Friday, June 22, 1928

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
1	Bobby Jones (a)	United States	73-71=144	+2
T2	Bill Leach	United States	72-74=146	+4
	George Von Elm (a)	United States	74-72=146
T4	Henry Ciuci	United States	70-77=147	+5
	Walter Hagen	United States	75-72=147
	Willie Macfarlane	Scotland	73-74=147
T7	Waldo Crowder	United States	74-74=148	+6
	Al Espinosa	United States	74-74=148
	Denny Shute	United States	75-73=148
	Frank Walsh	United States	74-74=148

Source:[11]

Third round

Saturday, June 23, 1928 (morning)

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
1	Bobby Jones (a)	United States	73-71-73=217	+4
T2	Henry Ciuci	United States	70-77-72=219	+6
	Bill Leach	United States	72-74-73=219
T4	Walter Hagen	United States	75-72-73=220	+7
	Willie Macfarlane	Scotland	73-74-73=220
T6	Johnny Farrell	United States	77-74-71=222	+9
	George Von Elm (a)	United States	74-72-76=222
8	Roland Hancock	United States	74-77-72=223	+10
T9	Waldo Crowder	United States	74-74-76=224	+11
	Ed Dudley	United States	77-79-68=224

Source:[7][12]

Final round

Saturday, June 23, 1928 (afternoon)

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par	Money ($)
T1	Johnny Farrell	United States	77-74-71-72=294	+10	Playoff
	Bobby Jones (a)	United States	73-71-73-77=294
3	Roland Hancock	United States	74-77-72-72=295	+11	300
T4	Walter Hagen	United States	75-72-73-76=296	+12	200
	George Von Elm (a)	United States	74-72-76-74=296		0
T6	Henry Ciuci	United States	70-77-72-80=299	+15	74
	Waldo Crowder	United States	74-74-76-75=299
	Ed Dudley	United States	77-79-68-75=299
	Bill Leach	United States	72-74-73-80=299
	Gene Sarazen	United States	78-76-73-72=299
	Denny Shute	United States	75-73-79-72=299
	Macdonald Smith	Scotland  United States	75-77-75-72=299
	Joe Turnesa	United States	74-77-74-74=299

Source:[7][12]

(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	5	4	4	4	4	3	4	3	4	4	4	4	3	4	5	3	4	5
Farrell	+9	+9	+9	+9	+10	+10	+10	+10	+10	+11	+10	+10	+10	+10	+11	+11	+11	+10
Jones	+4	+4	+4	+4	+3	+5	+7	+8	+9	+9	+10	+10	+10	+10	+9	+10	+10	+10

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
Source:[7]

Playoff

Sunday, June 24, 1928   (36 holes)

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par	Money ($)
1	Johnny Farrell	United States	70-73=143	+1	500
2	Bobby Jones (a)	United States	73-71=144	+2	0

Scorecards

Morning round

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

Afternoon round

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

Cumulative playoff scores, relative to par

Eagle

Birdie

Bogey

Double bogey

Triple bogey+

Source:[5]

References

1. "Bobby Jones turns in 70 card at Olympia Fields". Milwaukee Journal. Associated Press. June 20, 1928. p. 4-sec 2.
2. "National Open tourney starts today at Olympia". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. June 21, 1928. p. 14.
3. "Favorites lag behind two 'dark horses'". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. June 22, 1928. p. 14.
4. Rohm, Harold (June 21, 1928). "144 start play today for U.S. Open golf title". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 19.
5. Sixty, Billy (June 25, 1928). "Farrell wins playoff from Jones by one stroke". Milwaukee Journal. p. 4-part 2.
6. Rohm, Harland (June 23, 1928). "Jones' 144 leads Open by 2 strokes". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 17.
7. Maxwell, Don (June 24, 1928). "Bobby Jones shows 5,000 how to do the impossible". Chicago Sunday Tribune. p. 1, part 2.
8. "Jones and Farrell in tie at finish of National Open golf championship". Reading Eagle. (Pennsylvania). Associated Press. June 24, 1928. p. 15.
9. "Farrell wins over Jones in golf playoff". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. June 25, 1928. p. 1.
10. Chase, Al (June 23, 1946). "Olympia Fields acres expected to be homesites". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. B, part 3.
11. "What they shot". Chicago Daily Tribune. June 23, 1928. p. 17.
12. "Final scores in National Open meet". Chicago Sunday Tribune. June 24, 1928. p. 2, sec. 2.
13. Rohm, Harland (June 22, 1928). "Ball and Ciuci, with 70, tie for lead in Open golf". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 17.

External links

• About.com – 1928 U.S. Open
• USGA Championship Database
• USOpen.com - 1928
• Olympia Fields Country Club