1929 U.S. Open (golf) explained

1929 U.S. Open
Dates:	June 27–30, 1929
Location:	Mamaroneck, New York
Course:	Winged Foot Golf Club, West Course
Tour:	PGA Tour
Org:	USGA
Format:	Stroke play − 72 holes
Par:	72
Yardage:	^[1]
Field:	142 players, 67 after cut
Cut:	159 (+15)
Purse:	$5,000
Winners Share:	$1,000 Awarded to runner-up
Champion:	Bobby Jones (a)
Score:	294 (+6), playoff
Previous:	1928
Next:	1930

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]

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 12feet 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

See main article: Winged Foot Golf Club. 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	Bobby Jones (a)	69	−3
2			70	−2
3		71	−1
T4	Chris Hilgendorf	72	E
Jack White
T6	Leonard Schnutte	73	+1
Denny Shute
T8		74	+2
Jack Cummins (a)
Ted Longworth

Source:^[3]

Second round

Friday, June 28, 1929

Place	Player	Score	To par
T1		71-71=142	−2
	70-72=142
T3	Bobby Jones (a)	69-75=144	E
	73-71=144
5		74-71=145	+1
T6		74-74=148	+4
Leonard Schnutte	73-75=148
T8	George Von Elm (a)	79-70=149	+5
T9		74-76=150	+6
	74-76=150
	79-71=150

Source:^[4]

Third round

Saturday, June 29, 1929 (morning)

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Bobby Jones (a)	69-75-71=215	−1
2		71-71-76=218	+2
3		70-72-77=219	+3
4		73-71-76=220	+4
5		74-71-76=221	+5
T6	George Von Elm (a)	79-70-74=223	+7
	74-76-73=223
T8		78-74-72=224	+8
	74-74-76=224
10		76-77-74=227	+11

Source:^{[5] [6]}

Final round

Saturday, June 29, 1929 (afternoon)

Place	Player	Score	To par	Money ($)
T1	Bobby Jones (a)	69-75-71-79=294	+6	Playoff
	70-72-77-75=294
T3		71-71-76-78=296	+8	700
	73-71-76-76=296
T5		74-71-76-76=297	+9	550
George Von Elm (a)	79-70-74-74=297	0
7		78-74-72-75=299	+11	450
T8		74-74-76-77=301	+13	300
	74-76-73-78=301
10		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	Score	To par	Money ($)
1	Bobby Jones (a)	72-69=141	−3	0
2		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

Eagle-->

Birdie

Bogey

Double bogey

Triple bogey+

Source:^[2]

External links

• USGA Championship Database
• USOpen.com – 1929

40.958°N -73.754°W

Notes and References

1. News: Sarazen and Espinosa tie with 142 in golf meet . Milwaukee Journal. Associated Press. June 28, 1929. 8.
2. News: Jones wins U.S. Open title; overwhelms Espinosa . Milwaukee Journal . Trumball . Walter . July 1, 1929 . 6.
3. News: Jones' 69 leads U.S. Open; Al Espinosa 2d . Chicago Daily Tribune . June 28, 1929 . 21.
4. News: Sarazen and Espinosa tie for Open golf lead . Chicago Daily Tribune . Pegler . Westbrook . June 29, 1929 . 17.
5. News: Jones, Espinosa tie for Open title with 294 score. Milwaukee Journal. Gould. Alan J.. June 30, 1929. 1-sports.
6. News: Jones, Espinosa tie; title playoff today . Chicago Sunday Tribune . Pegler . Westbrook . June 30, 1929 . 1, part 2.
7. News: Jones' 141 wins playoff for Open title . Chicago Sunday Tribune . Pegler . Westbrook . July 1, 1929 . 29.
8. Web site: Why Winged Foot Is Special . https://web.archive.org/web/20151025001718/http://www.golfdigest.com/story/gw20060609johnson . dead . October 25, 2015 . Golf Digest . E. Michael . Johnson . July 15, 2008 . September 12, 2020 .