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.[2]

1929 U.S. Open

Tournament information
Dates	June 27–30, 1929
Location	Mamaroneck, New York
Course(s)	Winged Foot Golf Club, West Course
Organized by	USGA
Tour(s)	PGA Tour
Format	Stroke play − 72 holes
Statistics
Par	72
Length	6,786 yards (6,205 m)[1]
Field	142 players, 67 after cut
Cut	159 (+15)
Prize fund	$5,000
Winner's share	$1,000 Awarded to runner-up
Champion
Bobby Jones (a)
294 (+6), playoff

Winged Foot Golf Club

Location in the United States

Winged Foot Golf Club

Location in New York

Jones opened with a 69 in the first round to grab the lead,[3] then followed with a 75.[1][4]

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.[5][6]

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.[2][7] 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.[8] 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:[3]					Total		6,786	72

Past champions in the field

Made the cut

Player	Country	Year(s) won	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total	To par	Finish
Bobby Jones	United States	1923, 1926	69	75	71	79	294	+6	1
Gene Sarazen	United States	1922	71	71	76	78	296	+8	T3
Tommy Armour	Scotland  United States	1927	74	71	76	76	297	+9	T5
Walter Hagen	United States	1914, 1919	76	81	74	78	309	+21	T19
Jim Barnes	England	1921	78	78	81	73	310	+22	T21
Willie Macfarlane	Scotland	1925	79	78	76	79	312	+24	T27

Source:[5][6][4]

Missed the cut

Player	Country	Year won	R1	R2	Total	To par
Fred McLeod	Scotland	1908	82	84	166	+22
Johnny Farrell	United States	1928	84	83	167	+23

Source:[4]

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, June 27, 1929

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

Source:[3]

Second round

Friday, June 28, 1929

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

Source:[4]

Third round

Saturday, June 29, 1929 (morning)

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

Source:[5][6]

Final round

Saturday, June 29, 1929 (afternoon)

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

Source:[5][6][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	3	4	5	4	3	4	5	3	4	5	3	4	4	5	4	4
Jones	−1	E	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	+2	+1	+2	+2	+2	+3	+3	+6	+6	+6	+6
Espinosa	+4	+4	+3	+4	+3	+3	+4	+4	+3	+4	+5	+8	+8	+8	+8	+7	+6	+6
Sarazen	+3	+3	+3	+3	+4	+5	+5	+7	+7	+7	+7	+7	+7	+7	+8	+7	+8	+8
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:[6]

Playoff

Sunday, June 30, 1929

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

Source:[2]

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
Jones	+2	+2	+3	+3	+2	+1	+1	+1	+1	+1	E	−1	E	−1	+1	E	E	E
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
Jones	E	+1	+1	+1	+1	+1	E	E	E	E	E	−1	−1	−1	−2	−3	−3	−3
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:[2]

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. Retrieved September 12, 2020.

External links

• About.com – 1929 U.S. Open
• USGA Championship Database
• USOpen.com – 1929