1931 U.S. Open (golf) explained

1931 U.S. Open
Dates:	July 2–6, 1931
Location:	Toledo, Ohio
Course:	Inverness Club
Tour:	PGA Tour
Org:	USGA
Format:	Stroke play − 72 holes
Par:	71^[1]
Yardage:	^[2]
Field:	144 players,^[3] 62 after cut
Cut:	158 (+16)
Purse:	$6,000
Winners Share:	$1,750 (incl. $750 playoff bonus)^[4]
Champion:	Billy Burke
Score:	292 (+8), playoff
Previous:	1930
Next:	1932

The 1931 U.S. Open was the 35th U.S. Open, held July 2–6 at Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio. Billy Burke won his only major title, defeating George Von Elm in a marathon 72-hole playoff, the longest in tournament history.^[5] ^[6] ^[7]

Von Elm, the 1926 U.S. Amateur champion, held the 54-hole lead at 217 after rounds of 75-69-73. Burke, playing just ahead of Von Elm in the final round, carded a 73 and a 292 total. Von Elm bogeyed 12, 14, 15, and 16, and needed a birdie at 18 to force a 36-hole playoff on Sunday.^[8] ^[9]

In the playoff, Von Elm and Burke were still tied after 36 holes, with Von Elm making a birdie on the 36th to extend it.^[10] ^[11] In the era prior to sudden-death, 36-hole playoffs were required to break ties, so another was held the following day.

In the morning round, Von Elm shot a 76 and led by a stroke, but Burke took the lead late in the afternoon round at the 32nd and extended it to two strokes at the 34th. A bogey on the final hole narrowed Burke's victory margin to one stroke, 148 to Von Elm's 149.^[12] ^[13] Burke reportedly smoked 32 cigars during the tournament, and quipped afterwards: "George Von Elm lost 15lb. I gained three."

Following this tournament, the USGA reduced the length of all future playoffs to 18 holes, which remained the format until 2018.^[14] A second playoff round was played in 1939 and 1946. Sudden-death after 18 holes was added in the 1950s, but was not needed until 1990, and was used again 1994 and 2008.

Leo Diegel made a hole-in-one during the second round, only the third in U.S. Open history and first since 1922. He missed the playoff by two strokes and finished in third place. Low-amateur went to Philip Perkins, who finished in a tie for seventh. Three-time British Open champion Henry Cotton played the first of two U.S. Open appearances this year, missing the cut. Defending champion Bobby Jones retired from competition in 1930 and did not compete.

This was the second U.S. Open at Inverness, which hosted eleven years earlier in 1920. It later hosted in 1957 and 1979, and the PGA Championship in 1986 and 1993.

Course layout

See main article: Inverness Club.

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Out	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	In	Total
Yards	392	388	146	431	430	350	316	210	492	3,155	348	380	516	146	416	441	398	404	325	3,374	6,529
Par	4	4	3	4	4	4	4	3	5	35	4	4	5	3	4	4	4	4	4	36	71

Source:^[2] ^[15]

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, July 2, 1931

Place	Score	To par
T1	71	E

Charles Guest
Eddie Williams
5	72	+1
T6	73	+2


Guy Paulsen

Joe Turnesa
Frank Walsh

Source:^[16]

Second round

Friday, July 3, 1931

Place	Player	Score	To par
1			75-69=144	+2
T2		73-72=145	+3
Eddie Williams	71-74=145
T4		71-75=146	+4
Charles Guest	71-75=146
Guy Paulsen	74-72=146
	73-73=146
T8		75-73=148	+6
	71-77=148
	78-70=148
	74-74=148
	73-75=148

Source:^[17]

Third round

Saturday, July 4, 1931 (morning)

Place	Player	Score	To par
1			75-69-73=217	+4
2		73-72-74=219	+6
3	Guy Paulsen	74-72-74=220	+7
T4		71-77-73=221	+8
	74-74-73=221
	73-73-75=221
T7		75-73-74=222	+9
Charles Guest	71-75-76=222
T9		76-74-74=224	+11
	71-75-78=224

Source:^[8] ^[9] ^[11]

Final round

Saturday, July 4, 1931 (afternoon)

Place	Player	Score	To par	Money ($)
T1		73-72-74-73=292	+8	Playoff
	75-69-73-75=292
3		75-73-74-72=294	+10	650
T4		76-74-74-72=296	+12	450
	77-73-75-71=296
	74-78-74-70=296
T7		71-77-73-76=297	+13	200
	74-74-73-76=297
Philip Perkins (a)	78-76-73-70=297	0
T10		72-78-75-74=299	+15	105
	78-70-79-72=299
	73-73-75-78=299

(a) denotes amateurSource:^[8] ^[9] ^[11]

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	4	4	4	3	5	4	4	5	3	4	4	4	4	4
Burke	+7	+7	+7	+8	+8	+8	+8	+7	+7	+7	+7	+7	+7	+8	+8	+8	+8	+8
Von Elm	+3	+3	+3	+4	+5	+5	+5	+5	+5	+5	+5	+6	+6	+7	+8	+9	+9	+8

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par

	Eagle-->		Birdie		Bogey		Double bogey		Triple bogey+ -->

Source:^[18]

Playoff

First playoff

Sunday, July 5, 1931

Player	Score	To par
	73-76=149	+7
	75-74=149	+7

Source:^[11]

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	4	4	4	3	5	4	4	5	3	4	4	4	4	4
Burke	E	+1	+2	+2	+2	+2	+1	+1	E	+1	+1	E	E	E	E	E	+1	+2
Von Elm	E	style="background: Pink;"	-1	E	+2	+4	+4	+3	+3	+3	+3	+3	+2	+3	+3	+3	+4	+4	+4

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	4	4	4	3	5	4	4	5	3	4	4	4	4	4
Burke	+3	+3	+4	+5	+5	+6	+7	+8	+7	+7	+7	+7	+7	+6	+7	+7	+7	+7
Von Elm	+4	+6	+7	+7	+9	+8	+7	+6	+5	+6	+6	+6	+6	+6	+8	+8	+8	+7

Cumulative playoff scores, relative to par

	Eagle-->		Birdie		Bogey		Double bogey		Triple bogey+ -->

Source:^[19]

Second playoff

Monday, July 6, 1931

Place	Player	Score	To par	Money ($)
1	Billy Burke	77-71=148	+6	1,750<	--1,000 plus 750 playoff bonus-->
2		76-73=149	+7	1,000<	--750 plus 250 playoff bonus-->

Playoff bonus is included: $750 to champion, $250 to runner-up^[4]

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	4	4	4	3	5	4	4	5	3	4	4	4	4	4
Burke	+1	+3	+3	+3	+3	+3	+2	+3	+2	+2	+2	+3	+3	+3	+5	+4	+5	+6
Von Elm	E	E	E	+1	+1	+1	+2	+3	+3	+4	+3	+3	+5	+5	+5	+5	+5	+5

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	4	4	4	3	5	4	4	5	3	4	4	4	4	4
Burke	+6	+5	+5	+4	+5	+5	+6	+5	+5	+5	+5	+4	+5	+5	+5	+5	+5	+6
Von Elm	+5	+5	+5	+6	+6	+6	+6	+7	+6	+5	+5	+5	+5	+6	+6	+7	+7	+7

Source:^[5] ^[15] ^[20]

External links

41.652°N -83.651°W

Notes and References

News: Leaders' cards. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. July 3, 1931. 15.
News: Four outsiders lead in U.S. Open golf at Toledo . Montreal Gazette. Associated Press . Gould . Alan . July 3, 1931 . 13 .
News: 144 start play today for Jones' U.S. Open crown . Chicago Daily Tribune . Bartlett . Charles . July 2, 1931 . 32.
News: Bonus given Burke, Von Elm for fine play. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. July 7, 1931 . 14.
News: Burke beats Von Elm for title by 1 stroke . Milwaukee Journal . Rice . Grantland . Grantland Rice . July 7, 1931 . 1, sports .
News: Burke's work on green wins Open title . Pittsburgh Press . July 7, 1931 . 18 .
The epic battle of the 1931 U.S. Open . Golfweek . McCabe . Jim . June 13, 2011 . July 1, 2015.
News: Burke's 292 ties Von Elm for Open title. Chicago Sunday Tribune . Bartlett . Charles . July 5, 1931 . 1, part 2 .
News: Von Elam and Burke tie in National Open meet . Milwaukee Journal . Rice . Grantland . Grantland Rice . July 5, 1931 . 1, sports.
News: Von Elm, Burke tie at 149 in Open golf playoff . Chicago Daily Tribune . Bartlett . Charles . July 6, 1931 . 29.
News: Von Elm, Burke all square in Open playoff. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. July 6, 1931 . 1.
News: Burke defeats Von Elm; king of U.S. golf . Chicago Daily Tribune . Bartlett . Charles . July 7, 1931 . 1.
News: Burke wins National Open golfing crown . Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. July 7, 1931 . 1.
News: U.S. Open abandons 18 holes for 2-hole playoff . ESPN . Associated Press . February 26, 2018.
News: Hole-by-hole account of Von Elm-Burke match . Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . Associated Press . July 7, 1931 . 14.
News: Four pros shoot par 71 for lead in U.S. Open . Chicago Daily Tribune . Bartlett . Charles . July 3, 1931 . 19.
News: Von Elm breaks par to lead U.S. Open . Chicago Daily Tribune . Bartlett . Charles . July 4, 1931 . 11.
News: Leaders' scores . Pittsburgh Press . United Press . July 5, 1931 . 1, sports .
News: Play-off cards . Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . July 6, 1931 . 15 .
News: The cards . Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . July 7, 1931 . 14.