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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)
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
← 19281930 →

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.

Jones opened with a 69 in the first round to grab the lead, then followed with a 75.

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.

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. 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. 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

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, June 27, 1929

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

Source:

Second round

Friday, June 28, 1929

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

Source:

Third round

Saturday, June 29, 1929 (morning)

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

Source:

Final round

Saturday, June 29, 1929 (afternoon)

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

Source:

(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:

Playoff

Sunday, June 30, 1929

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

Source:

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:

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. Archived from the original on October 25, 2015. Retrieved September 12, 2020.

External links

• USGA Championship Database
• USOpen.com – 1929

40°57′29″N 73°45′14″W / 40.958°N 73.754°W / 40.958; -73.754

• U.S. Open (golf)
• Golf tournaments in New York (state)
• Mamaroneck, New York
• 1929 in golf
• 1929 in American sports
• 1929 in sports in New York (state)
• June 1929 sports events