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1928 U.S. Open (golf)

1928 U.S. Open

Tournament information
Dates	June 21–24, 1928
Location	Olympia Fields, Illinois
Course(s)	Olympia Fields Country Club Course No. 4[1][2]
Organized by	USGA
Format	Stroke play − 72 holes
Statistics
Par	71[3]
Length	6,726 yards (6,150 m)[3]
Field	144 players,[4] 65 after cut
Cut	158 (+16)
Prize fund	$2,000[4]
Winner's share	$500
Champion
Johnny Farrell
294 (+10), playoff
← 1927 1929 →

Olympia 
Fields 

Olympia 
Fields 

The 1928 U.S. Open was the 32nd U.S. Open, held June 21–24 at Course No. 4 of Olympia Fields Country ClubinOlympia Fields, Illinois, a suburb south of Chicago. Johnny Farrell defeated noted amateur Bobby Jones in a 36-hole playoff to win his only major title.^[5] For Jones, a two-time champion in 1923 and 1926, it was his second playoff loss at the U.S. Open in four years and his fourth finish as a runner-up. He won the next two in 1929 and 1930.

Jones jumped out to the 36-hole lead with rounds of 73-71, two shots ahead of George Von Elm and Bill Leach.^[6] After a 73 in the third round, Jones took a two-stroke lead over Leach and Henry Ciuci into the final round. Five strokes behind Jones was Farrell, who had recorded rounds of 77-74-71. Farrell teed off well before Jones and shot 72 and a 294 total. With Jones still on the course with the lead, Farrell did not believe he had a chance of winning. In his final round, Jones was uncharacteristically erratic on holes six through ten, at seven-over-par for those five holes. He regrouped on the last eight holes and carded a 77 (+6) for 294 (+10).^[7][8] Gene Sarazen informed Farrell in the clubhouse that he and Jones were tied. Roland Hancock, age 21, would have won the championship by two strokes had he parred the final two holes, but he double-bogeyed 17 and bogeyed 18 to fall a shot out of the playoff.

This was the first year that the USGA implemented a 36-hole playoff. On the first 18, Farrell shot a 70 to Jones' 73. Beginning the second 18, however, Jones quickly got back to all square after two holes. Jones double-bogeyed the 4th to give Farrell a two-stroke lead once again, but three consecutive bogeys beginning at the 10th knocked Farrell out of the lead. Now trailing by one with six holes to play, Farrell nearly aced the par-3 13th, recording a birdie to tie up the match. At the 16th, Jones missed a short putt to give Farrell the lead. At 17, Farrell hit a superb approach to 3 feet (0.9 m), while Jones was 20 feet (6 m) away. Jones made his birdie putt to put pressure on Farrell, who responded by holing out. At the par-5 18th, both Jones and Farrell recorded birdies, clinching a one-stroke victory for Farrell in the rain.^[9]

The next playoff at the U.S. Open was the following year, won by Jones by 23 strokes. The playoff in 1931 was tied after 36 holes, resulting in a second 36-hole playoff, which caused the USGA to return to the 18-hole format. The next playoff in 1939 was reduced back to 18 holes, but the top two competitors were tied and it went another 18 holes. Sudden-death following the round was not introduced until the 1950s, and not needed until 1990; it was used again in 1994 and 2008.

The four 18-hole courses at Olympia Fields were reduced to two in the late 1940s when the club sold half of its property. Course No. 4 became the North course, and the South course is a composite of holes from the other three.^[10]

Course layout[edit]

Course No. 4

Source:^[2][3][4]

Round summaries[edit]

First round[edit]

Thursday, June 21, 1928

Place	Player	Score	To par
T1	Frank Ball	70	−1
	Henry Ciuci
3	Leonard Schmutte	71	E
T4	Leo Diegel	72	+1
	Johnny Golden
	Bill Leach
	Horton Smith
T8	Jim Barnes	73	+2
	Bobby Jones (a)
	Johnny Jones
	Willie Hunter
	Willie Macfarlane
	Fred McLeod
	Fred Morrison

Source:^[11]

Second round[edit]

Friday, June 22, 1928

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Bobby Jones (a)	73-71=144	+2
T2	Bill Leach	72-74=146	+4
	George Von Elm (a)	74-72=146
T4	Henry Ciuci	70-77=147	+5
	Walter Hagen	75-72=147
	Willie Macfarlane	73-74=147
T7	Waldo Crowder	74-74=148	+6
	Al Espinosa	74-74=148
	Denny Shute	75-73=148
	Frank Walsh	74-74=148

Source:^[12]

Third round[edit]

Saturday, June 23, 1928 (morning)

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Bobby Jones (a)	73-71-73=217	+4
T2	Henry Ciuci	70-77-72=219	+6
	Bill Leach	72-74-73=219
T4	Walter Hagen	75-72-73=220	+7
	Willie Macfarlane	73-74-73=220
T6	Johnny Farrell	77-74-71=222	+9
	George Von Elm (a)	74-72-76=222
8	Roland Hancock	74-77-72=223	+10
T9	Waldo Crowder	74-74-76=224	+11
	Ed Dudley	77-79-68=224

Source:^[7][13]

Final round[edit]

Saturday, June 23, 1928 (afternoon)

Place	Player	Score	To par	Money ($)
T1	Johnny Farrell	77-74-71-72=294	+10	Playoff
	Bobby Jones (a)	73-71-73-77=294
3	Roland Hancock	74-77-72-72=295	+11	300
T4	Walter Hagen	75-72-73-76=296	+12	200
	George Von Elm (a)	74-72-76-74=296		0
T6	Henry Ciuci	70-77-72-80=299	+15	74
	Waldo Crowder	74-74-76-75=299
	Ed Dudley	77-79-68-75=299
	Bill Leach	72-74-73-80=299
	Gene Sarazen	78-76-73-72=299
	Denny Shute	75-73-79-72=299
	Macdonald Smith	75-77-75-72=299
	Joe Turnesa	74-77-74-74=299

Source:^[7][13]

(a) denotes amateur

Scorecard[edit]

Final round

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
Par	5	4	4	4	4	3	4	3	4	4	4	4	3	4	5	3	4	5
Farrell	+9	+9	+9	+9	+10	+10	+10	+10	+10	+11	+10	+10	+10	+10	+11	+11	+11	+10
Jones	+4	+4	+4	+4	+3	+5	+7	+8	+9	+9	+10	+10	+10	+10	+9	+10	+10	+10

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
Source:^[7]

Playoff[edit]

Sunday, June 24, 1928   (36 holes)

Place	Player	Score	To par	Money ($)
1	Johnny Farrell	70-73=143	+1	500
2	Bobby Jones (a)	73-71=144	+2	0

Scorecards[edit]

Morning round

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
Par	5	4	4	4	4	3	4	3	4	4	4	4	3	4	5	3	4	5
Farrell	E	+1	+1	+1	+1	E	+1	+2	+2	+1	+2	+2	+2	+3	+2	+1	E	−1
Jones	−1	E	+2	+2	+2	+2	+2	+2	+3	+3	+3	+3	+3	+3	+2	+2	+2	+2

Afternoon round

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
Par	5	4	4	4	4	3	4	3	4	4	4	4	3	4	5	3	4	5
Farrell	E	+1	+1	E	E	E	+1	+1	+1	+2	+3	+4	+3	+3	+3	+3	+2	+1
Jones	+1	+1	+3	+2	+1	+1	+1	+1	+3	+3	+3	+3	+3	+3	+3	+4	+3	+2

Cumulative playoff scores, relative to par

Source:^[5]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• USGA Championship Database
• USOpen.com - 1928
• Olympia Fields Country Club

41°31′16″N 87°41′13″W / 41.521°N 87.687°W / 41.521; -87.687