1978 U.S. Open (golf)

The 1978 U.S. Open was the 78th U.S. Open, held June 15–18 at Cherry Hills Country Club in Cherry Hills Village, Colorado, a suburb south of Denver. Andy North held on for a one-stroke victory over runners-up Dave Stockton and J. C. Snead to claim the first of his two U.S. Open titles.[3][4]

1978 U.S. Open
Tournament information
DatesJune 15–18, 1978
LocationCherry Hills Village, Colorado
Course(s)Cherry Hills Country Club
Organized byUSGA
Tour(s)PGA Tour
Statistics
Par71
Length7,083 yards (6,477 m)[1]
Field153 players, 63 after cut
Cut150 (+8) [2]
Winner's share$45,000
Champion
Andy North
285 (+1)
Cherry Hills Country Club
Location in the United States
Cherry Hills Country Club
Location in Colorado

The strength in North's game was putting, and he needed only 114 putts over 72 holes, tying the record set by Billy Casper in 1966. This was North's second win on the PGA Tour, but he would not win again until the 1985 U.S. Open; of North's three career PGA Tour wins, two of them came at the U.S. Open.

This was the third U.S. Open at Cherry Hills, which previously hosted in 1938 and 1960. It was also the site of the PGA Championship in 1941, and later hosted in 1985. The average elevation of the course exceeds 5,300 feet (1,620 m) above sea level.

Three players received special exemptions into the field. They were Billy Casper, Seve Ballesteros, and Arnold Palmer.[5]

Forty-three golfers received an exemption from the qualifying process. The PGA Tour felt this was too few players. To protest, the PGA Tour staged the Buick Open the same week to compete with the U.S. Open.[5]

Course layout
Main article: Cherry Hills Country Club
Hole123456789Out101112131415161718InTotal
Yards3994193234295431663842294323,3244375942033824862084195504803,7597,083
Par444453434354534434543671

Source:[6]

Lengths of the course for previous major championships:

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, June 15, 1978

PlacePlayerScoreTo par
1 Hale Irwin69−2
T2 Bobby Clampett (a)70−1
Andy North
J. C. Snead
T5 Bill Brask71E
Billy Casper
Al Geiberger
Phil Hancock
Gary Player
Dave Stockton
Bobby Wadkins

Second round

Friday, June 16, 1978

PlacePlayerScoreTo par
1 Andy North70-70=140−2
T2 Jack Nicklaus73-69=142E
Gary Player71-71=142
J. C. Snead70-72=142
T5 Bobby Clampett (a)70-73=143+1
Mark Hayes73-70=143
Hale Irwin69-74=143
Lee Trevino72-71=143
T9 Seve Ballesteros75-69=144+2
Andy Bean72-72=144
Phil Hancock71-73=144
Joe Inman72-72=144
Peter Oosterhuis72-72=144
Dave Stockton71-73=144

Amateurs: Clampett (+1), Holtgrieve (+8), Heafner (+9), Miller (+9), Edwards (+11), Choate (+16), Hodge (+17), Lewis (+21), Pomerantz (+25).

Third round

Saturday, June 17, 1978

PlacePlayerScoreTo par
1 Andy North70-70-71=211−2
2 Gary Player71-71-70=212−1
T3 J. C. Snead70-72-72=214+1
Dave Stockton71-73-70=214
T5 Seve Ballesteros75-69-71=215+2
Andy Bean72-72-71=215
Johnny Miller78-69-68=215
T8 Tom Kite73-73-70=216+3
Billy Kratzert72-74-70=216
Jack Nicklaus73-69-74=216

Final round

Sunday, June 18, 1978

North began the final round with a one-stroke lead over Gary Player. Two months earlier, Player had won the Masters with a blistering 64 in the final round. History, however, would not repeat itself, as this time around Player struggled to a 77 (+6) and finished in a tie for 6th. North owned a four-shot lead over Snead heading to the back-nine, and after birdies at 11 and 13 he appeared to have the championship wrapped up. A bogey at 14, however, combined with a double-bogey at 15 and a birdie by Dave Stockton at the same hole dropped his lead to just one. Stockton, however, missed an 18-footer (5.5 m) for par at 18, increasing North's lead to two.

Snead had a chance for birdie at the last after his tee shot skipped off the water and onto the fairway, but he missed the birdie putt. Needing just a bogey at 18 to win, North's drive found the rough. He hit his second shot into the fairway, then his third found a greenside bunker. Needing to get up-and-down, he played his sand shot to five feet (1.5 m), and after backing off twice, sank the bogey putt for the one-stroke win.[7][8]

PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)
1 Andy North70-70-71-74=285+145,000
T2 J. C. Snead70-72-72-72=286+219,750
Dave Stockton71-73-70-72=286
T4 Hale Irwin69-74-75-70=288+413,000
Tom Weiskopf77-73-70-68=288
T6 Andy Bean72-72-71-74=289+57,548
Billy Kratzert72-74-70-73=289
Johnny Miller78-69-68-74=289
Jack Nicklaus73-69-74-73=289
Gary Player71-71-70-77=289
Tom Watson74-75-70-70=289

Amateurs: Bobby Clampett (+13), Jim Holtgrieve (+20)

Scorecard

Final round

Hole123456789101112131415161718
Par444453434453443454
North−2−2−2−3−4−4−4−3−2−1−2−2−3−2EEE+1
Snead+1+1+1+1+1EE+1+2+2+2+2+2+2+2+2+2+2
Stockton+1+2+2+2+2+2+2+2+2+2+1+1+1+2+1+1+1+2
Irwin+6+6+6+6+5+4+4+5+4+5+4+4+4+4+4+4+3+4
Weiskopf+7+7+7+7+6+6+6+6+7+6+5+5+5+5+5+5+4+4
Player−1E+1+1+1+1+1+2+3+3+3+4+4+4+5+5+4+5

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par

Birdie Bogey Double bogey

Source:[9]

References
  1. Parascenzo, Marino (June 16, 1978). "Hale fires hearty 69 in Open". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 11.
  2. "U.S. Open results: Second round". Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. Associated Press. June 17, 1978. p. 15.
  3. Bunch, Ken. "North holds on to win US Open". Milwaukee Sentinel. p. 1, part 2.
  4. Jenkins, Dan (June 26, 1978). "The bogey that won the Open". Sports Illustrated. p. 14.
  5. "34 U.S. Open Spots Up For Grabs Here". The Charlotte Observer. June 4, 1978. p. 33. Retrieved June 22, 2021.
  6. "Cherry Hills CC hole by hole". Lakeland Ledger. Florida. Associated Press. June 11, 1978. p. 8D.
  7. "North's Open winner: makes critical putt". Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. Associated Press. June 19, 1978. p. 17.
  8. Parascenzo, Marino (June 19, 1978). "North stubles to Open title by stroke". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 13.
  9. "U.S. Open History". USGA. Retrieved April 24, 2019.

39.643°N 104.963°W / 39.643; -104.963

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.