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1935 U.S. Open

Tournament information
Dates	June 6–8, 1935
Location	Oakmont, Pennsylvania
Course(s)	Oakmont Country Club
Organized by	USGA
Tour(s)	PGA Tour
Format	Stroke play − 72 holes
Statistics
Par	72
Length	6,981 yards (6,383 m)
Field	159 players, 66 after cut
Cut	161 (+17)
Prize fund	$5,000
Winner's share	$1,000
Champion
Sam Parks Jr.
299 (+11)
← 19341936 →

The 1935 U.S. Open was the 39th U.S. Open, held June 6–8 at Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pennsylvania, a suburb northeast of Pittsburgh. Sam Parks Jr., a 25-year-old club pro at nearby South Hills Country Club with no prior tournament wins, prevailed by two strokes in difficult scoring conditions for his only major title. The purse was $5,000 and the winner's share was $1,000.

Jimmy Thomson owned the 36-hole lead after consecutive rounds of 73, despite severe weather that caused scores to soar. Sam Parks trailed by four, but in the third round he recorded a 60-foot (18 m) chip-in for eagle to tie Thomson, who shot a 77. The weather only got worse during the final round, and Thomson could do no better than a 78. Parks, however, shot a 76 for a two-stroke victory. Walter Hagen briefly led during the final round, but four consecutive bogeys knocked him back to third. It would be the last time that Hagen would contend in a major championship. Scoring conditions were so difficult that no player in contention broke 75 and 73 was the lowest score of the round.

Parks was certainly helped by his preparation for the tournament. Every day for a month, he stopped at Oakmont to play a practice round before returning to his own club. This practice paid off particularly on Oakmont's notoriously difficult greens, where he three-putted just twice in 72 holes. His winning score of 299 was the highest since 1927, also at Oakmont, and he was the only player to break 300. Born in nearby Bellevue, Parks was an alumnus of the University of Pittsburgh, where he had been captain of the golf team.

The field of 159 included six entrants from Japan and one from South Africa; the rest from 31 states and the District of Columbia. For the first time, a Japanese player made the cut at the Open. Kanekichi Nakamura was part of a tour of the U.S. by Japanese golfers and finished in 58th at 325. Chris Brinke captured low-amateur honors in 32nd place at 315, a stroke ahead of 1933 champion Johnny Goodman.

Oakmont had previously hosted the U.S. Open in 1927, the PGA Championship in 1922, and the U.S. Amateur in 1919 and 1925.

The Stimpmeter was inspired by the fast greens of this Open. Edward Stimpson Sr., the Massachusetts amateur champion and a former captain of the Harvard golf team, devised a simple device and method to accurately measure the speed of greens.

Course layout

Source:

Lengths of the course for previous major championships:

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, June 6, 1935

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Butch Krueger	71	−1
2	Roland MacKenzie	72	E
T3	Herman Barron	73	+1
	Cliff Spencer
	Horton Smith
	Jimmy Thomson
T7	Tommy Armour	74	+2
	Ed Dudley
	Jim Foulis
	Macdonald Smith

Source:

Second round

Friday, June 7, 1935

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Jimmy Thomson	73-73=146	+2
2	Butch Krueger	71-77=148	+4
3	Gene Sarazen	75-74=149	+5
4	Sam Parks Jr.	77-73=150	+6
T5	Al Espinosa	75-76=151	+7
	Denny Shute	78-73=151
	Ted Turner	80-71=151
T8	Herman Barron	73-79=152	+8
	Mortie Dutra	75-77=152
	Vincent Eldred	75-77=152
	Ray Mangrum	76-76=152
	Horton Smith	73-79=152

Source:

Third round

Saturday, June 8, 1935 (morning)

Place	Player	Score	To par
T1	Sam Parks Jr.	77-73-73=223	+7
	Jimmy Thomson	73-73-77=223
3	Ray Mangrum	76-76-72=224	+8
T4	Walter Hagen	77-76-73=226	+10
	Butch Krueger	71-77-78=226
T6	Henry Picard	79-78-70=227	+11
	Gene Sarazen	75-74-78=227
	Denny Shute	78-73-76=227
T9	Vincent Eldred	75-75-77=229	+13
	Al Espinosa	75-76-78=229
	Dick Metz	77-76-76=229

Source:

Final round

Saturday, June 8, 1935 (afternoon)

Place	Player	Score	To par	Money ($)
1	Sam Parks Jr.	77-73-73-76=299	+11	1,000
2	Jimmy Thomson	73-73-77-78=301	+13	750
3	Walter Hagen	77-76-73-76=302	+14	650
T4	Ray Mangrum	76-76-72-79=303	+15	500
	Denny Shute	78-73-76-76=303
T6	Butch Krueger	71-77-78-80=306	+18	218
	Henry Picard	79-78-70-79=306
	Gene Sarazen	75-74-78-79=306
	Horton Smith	73-79-79-75=306
T10	Dick Metz	77-76-76-78=307	+19	95
	Paul Runyan	76-77-79-75=307

Source:

Scorecard

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
Par	5	4	4	5	4	3	4	3	5	4	4	5	3	4	4	3	4	4
Parks	+6	+7	+8	+9	+9	+9	+9	+9	+8	+8	+8	+8	+8	+8	+9	+10	+10	+11
Thomson	+7	+7	+6	+5	+6	+7	+8	+10	+9	+9	+9	+9	+9	+10	+11	+12	+12	+13
Hagen	+9	+9	+9	+8	+9	+11	+11	+11	+10	+11	+12	+13	+14	+14	+14	+15	+14	+14
Shute	+11	+12	+13	+13	+14	+14	+14	+14	+13	+13	+13	+14	+14	+14	+13	+15	+15	+15

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par

Birdie

Bogey

Double bogey

Source:

References

1. Bell, Jack (June 7, 1935). "Tricky Oakmont links baffles golfers in Open". Miami News. p. 12.
2. ^ "Oakmont course par and yardage". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. June 6, 1935. p. 18.
3. ^ "Here's how prize money was dealt in National Open". Chicago Sunday Tribune. June 9, 1935. p. 7, part 2.
4. ^ Taggart, Bert P. (June 6, 1935). "Open field set to tee off at Oakmont today". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 1.
5. ^ Bartlett, Charles (June 9, 1935). "Parks takes U.S. Open golf title with 299". Chicago Sunday Tribune. p. 1, sec. 2.
6. Rice, Grantland (June 9, 1935). "Unknown Sam Parks wins National Open tourney". Miami News. p. 10.
7. ^ "$5,000 in prizes to Open winners". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. June 10, 1935. p. 17.
8. Bartlett, Charles (June 8, 1935). "Thomson's 146 tops National Open golf". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 21.
9. "Parks, 26-year-old Pittsburgher, new U.S. Open champion". Montreal Gazette. Associated Press. June 10, 1935. p. 15.
10. Huhn, Joe (June 6, 1932). "Sam Parks, Ted Luther lead at Oakmont". Pittsburgh Press. p. 26.
11. ^ "National Open scores". Chicago Sunday Tribune. June 9, 1935. p. 7, part 2.
12. "E. S. Stimpson '27 elected to lead Crimson golf team". Harvard Crimson. (Cambridge, Massachusetts). November 28, 1925. Retrieved May 18, 2016.
13. Dvorchak, Robert (June 13, 2007). "Reading the greens". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. E-6.
14. "Edward S. Stimpson". New York Times. UPI. March 28, 1985. Retrieved May 18, 2016.
15. McCabe, Jim (June 15, 2016). "The real history of Edward Stimpson's special gift: The Stimpmeter". Golfweek. Retrieved April 20, 2017.
16. "Sarazen first choice as Open begins today". Chicago Daily Tribune. June 6, 1935. p. 19.
17. Bartlett, Charles (June 7, 1935). "Krueger shoots 71 to lead National Open". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 25.
18. "National Open scores". Chicago Daily Tribune. June 8, 1935. p. 23.
19. "Winner's cards". Chicago Sunday Tribune. June 9, 1935. p. 7, sec. 2.
20. "How Parks won". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. June 10, 1935. p. 16.

External links

• USGA Championship Database
• USOpen.com - 1935

40°31′34″N 79°49′37″W / 40.526°N 79.827°W / 40.526; -79.827

• U.S. Open (golf)
• Golf tournaments in Pennsylvania
• 1935 in golf
• 1935 in American sports
• 1935 in sports in Pennsylvania
• June 1935 sports events