Wikipedia

1979 U.S. Open (golf)

The 1979 U.S. Open was the 79th U.S. Open, held June 14–17, at Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio. Hale Irwin won his second U.S. Open title, two strokes ahead of former champions Jerry Pate and Gary Player.[2][3]

1979 U.S. Open
Tournament information
DatesJune 14–17, 1979
LocationToledo, Ohio
Course(s)Inverness Club
Organized byUSGA
Tour(s)PGA Tour
Statistics
Par71
Length6,982 yards (6,384 m)[1]
Field153 players, 63 after cut
Cut151 ( 9)
Winner's share$50,000
Champion
United States Hale Irwin
284 (E)
← 1978
1980 →
Inverness Club is located in the United States
Inverness Club
Inverness
Club
class=notpageimage|
Location in the United States

Summary

edit

For the first time, the USGA granted exemptions to Order of Merit champions of the top five international tours. The tours granted exemptions were: Southern African Tour, European Tour, PGA Tour of Australia, Asia Golf Circuit, and Japan Golf Tour.[4]

Hale Irwin, the 1974 champion, held a three-stroke lead over Tom Weiskopf going to the final round. Irwin did not play particularly well, recording bogeys at 11, 14, and 18, and a double-bogey at 17. His final-round 75 tied the post-World War II tournament record for highest final round score by the champion. Jerry Pate, the 1976 champion, began the day five behind Irwin and carded a 72 to finish two back. 1965 champion Gary Player, nine behind at the start of the round, fired a 68 to tie Pate for 2nd. Weiskopf struggled on his way to a 76 and finished in 4th.

During the first round a mini controversy sprung up when Lon Hinkle purposefully hit his tee shot on the par 5 8th hole on to the fairway of hole 17, dramatically shortening the hole by cutting off the dogleg. Hinkle reached the green in two with an iron, two putted for birdie and shared the first-round lead. USGA officials were not pleased by Hinkle's ingenuity and the following morning planted a tree off the side of the 8th tee so that players would not be able to take Hinkle's shortcut again.[5]

Player's runner-up finish was his final top-10 in a U.S. Open. Fred Couples, age 19, played in his first major championship and was low amateur.

This was the fourth U.S. Open at Inverness, which hosted in 1920, 1931, and 1957. It later hosted the PGA Championship in 1986 and 1993.

Course layout

edit
See also: 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 398 385 185 446 401 220 452 528 420 3,455 363 378 167 523 448 458 405 431 354 3,527 6,982
Par 4 4 3 4 4 3 4 5 4 35 4 4 3 5 4 4 4 4 4 36 71
Source:[6][7]

Lengths of the course for previous major championships:

Round summaries

edit

First round

edit

Thursday, June 14, 1979

Place Player Score To par
T1   Andy Bean 70 −1
  Keith Fergus
  Lou Graham
  Lon Hinkle
  Tom Purtzer
T6   Jim Colbert 71 E
  John Cook (a)
  Larry Nelson
  Jerry Pate
  Dana Quigley
  Bill Rogers
  Tom Weiskopf

Second round

edit

Friday, June 15, 1979

Place Player Score To par
T1   Larry Nelson 71-68=139 −3
  Tom Purtzer 70-69=139
3   Hale Irwin 74-68=142 E
4   Bill Rogers 71-72=143 1
T5   Jim Colbert 71-74=145 3
  Lou Graham 70-75=145
  Jerry Pate 71-74=145
  Ed Sneed 72-73=145
  Dave Stockton 75-70=145
  Tom Weiskopf 71-74=145

Amateurs: Couples ( 8), Rassett ( 8), Cook ( 9), Britton ( 11), Clampett ( 11), Ogrin ( 13), McGough ( 16), Gusmus ( 18), Inskeep ( 21), Kemp ( 21), Peddy ( 21), Rentz ( 21), Clements ( 22), Nordling ( 24), Taylor ( 26), Marrello (WD).

Third round

edit

Saturday, June 16, 1979

Place Player Score To par
1   Hale Irwin 74-68-67=209 −4
2   Tom Weiskopf 71-74-67=212 −1
T3   Jerry Pate 71-74-69=214 1
  Tom Purtzer 70-69-75=214
T5   Lee Elder 74-72-69=215 2
  Larry Nelson 71-68-76=215
T7   Bob Gilder 77-70-69=216 3
  David Graham 73-73-70=216
  Bill Rogers 71-72-73=216
T10   Andy Bean 70-76-71=217 4
  Al Geiberger 74-74-69=217
  Bob E. Smith 77-71-69=217
  Bobby Walzel 74-72-71=217

Final round

edit

Sunday, June 17, 1979

Place Player Score To par Money ($)
1   Hale Irwin 74-68-67-75=284 E 50,000
T2   Jerry Pate 71-74-69-72=286 2 22,250
  Gary Player 73-73-72-68=286
T4   Larry Nelson 71-68-76-73=288 4 13,733
  Bill Rogers 71-72-73-72=288
  Tom Weiskopf 71-74-67-76=288
7   David Graham 73-73-70-73=289 5 10,000
8   Tom Purtzer 70-69-75-76=290 6 9,000
T9   Keith Fergus 70-77-72-72=291 7 7,500
  Jack Nicklaus 74-77-72-68=291

Amateurs: Fred Couples ( 18), John Cook ( 20), Joey Rassett ( 20).

Scorecard

edit

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 3 4 5 4 4 4 3 5 4 4 4 4 4
  Irwin −4 −5 −4 −4 −3 −3 −3 −4 −4 −4 −3 −4 −4 −3 −3 −3 −1 E
  Pate 1 E −1 −1 1 1 1 1 3 2 2 2 3 2 2 2 3 2
  Player 6 6 6 6 6 5 5 4 4 4 4 4 3 4 4 4 3 2
Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
Birdie Bogey Double bogey
Source:[2]

References

edit
  1. ^ "Golf: U.S. Open finish". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. June 18, 1979. p. 21 – via Google News Archive.
  2. ^ a b "A bit of a tussle, but hearty at the end". Toledo Blade. (Ohio). June 18, 1979. p. 13 – via Google News Archive.
  3. ^ Jenkins, Dan (June 25, 1979). "Up a tree in Toledo". Sports Illustrated. p. 20.
  4. ^ "Sports in Brief". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. February 2, 1979. p. 12. Retrieved September 12, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ Raley, Dan (May 18, 2001). "Hinkle linked to tree for 25 years". Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
  6. ^ "Map: 79th U.S. Open Championship". Toledo Blade. (Ohio). Associated Press. June 9, 1979. p. 18 – via Google News Archive.
  7. ^ "Inverness statistics". Toledo Blade. (Ohio). June 14, 1979. p. 40 – via Google News Archive.
edit

41°39′07″N 83°39′04″W / 41.652°N 83.651°W / 41.652; -83.651

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1979_U.S._Open_(golf)&oldid=1212072038"