1931 U.S. Open (golf)

The 1931 U.S. Open was the 35th U.S. Open, held July 2–6 at Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio. Billy Burke won his only major title, defeating George Von Elm in a marathon 72-hole playoff, the longest in tournament history.^[5][6][7]

1931 U.S. Open

Tournament information
Dates	July 2–6, 1931
Location	Toledo, Ohio
Course(s)	Inverness Club
Organized by	USGA
Tour(s)	PGA Tour
Format	Stroke play − 72 holes
Statistics
Par	71[1]
Length	6,529 yards (5,970 m)[2]
Field	144 players,[3] 62 after cut
Cut	158 (+16)
Prize fund	$6,000
Winner's share	$1,750 (incl. $750 playoff bonus)[4]
Champion
Billy Burke
292 (+8), playoff
← 1930 1932 →

Toledo

Location in the United States

Toledo

Location in Ohio

Von Elm, the 1926 U.S. Amateur champion, held the 54-hole lead at 217 after rounds of 75-69-73. Burke, playing just ahead of Von Elm in the final round, carded a 73 and a 292 total. Von Elm bogeyed 12, 14, 15, and 16, and needed a birdie at 18 to force a 36-hole playoff on Sunday.^[8][9]

In the playoff, Von Elm and Burke were still tied after 36 holes, with Von Elm making a birdie on the 36th to extend it.^[10][11] In the era prior to sudden-death, 36-hole playoffs were required to break ties, so another was held the following day.

In the morning round, Von Elm shot a 76 and led by a stroke, but Burke took the lead late in the afternoon round at the 32nd and extended it to two strokes at the 34th. A bogey on the final hole narrowed Burke's victory margin to one stroke, 148 to Von Elm's 149.^[12][13] Burke reportedly smoked 32 cigars during the tournament, and quipped afterwards: "George Von Elm lost 15 pounds (7 kg). I gained three."

Following this tournament, the USGA reduced the length of all future playoffs to 18 holes, which remained the format until 2018.^[14] A second playoff round was played in 1939 and 1946. Sudden-death after 18 holes was added in the 1950s, but was not needed until 1990, and was used again 1994 and 2008.

Leo Diegel made a hole-in-one during the second round, only the third in U.S. Open history and first since 1922. He missed the playoff by two strokes and finished in third place. Low-amateur went to Philip Perkins, who finished in a tie for seventh. Three-time British Open champion Henry Cotton played the first of two U.S. Open appearances this year, missing the cut. Defending champion Bobby Jones retired from competition in 1930 and did not compete.

This was the second U.S. Open at Inverness, which hosted eleven years earlier in 1920. It later hosted in 1957 and 1979, and the PGA Championship in 1986 and 1993.

Course layout

Main article: 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	392	388	146	431	430	350	316	210	492	3,155	348	380	516	146	416	441	398	404	325	3,374	6,529
Par	4	4	3	4	4	4	4	3	5	35	4	4	5	3	4	4	4	4	4	36	71

Source:^[2][15]

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, July 2, 1931

Place	Player	Score	To par
T1	Herman Barron	71	E
	Mortie Dutra
	Charles Guest
	Eddie Williams
5	Al Espinosa	72	+1
T6	Billy Burke	73	+2
	Henry Ciuci
	Bill Davies
	Guy Paulsen
	Fred Robson
	Joe Turnesa
	Frank Walsh

Source:^[16]

Second round

Friday, July 3, 1931

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	George Von Elm	75-69=144	+2
T2	Billy Burke	73-72=145	+3
	Eddie Williams	71-74=145
T4	Herman Barron	71-75=146	+4
	Charles Guest	71-75=146
	Guy Paulsen	74-72=146
	Macdonald Smith	73-73=146
T8	Leo Diegel	75-73=148	+6
	Mortie Dutra	71-77=148
	Johnny Farrell	78-70=148
	Walter Hagen	74-74=148
	Joe Turnesa	73-75=148

Source:^[17]

Third round

Saturday, July 4, 1931 (morning)

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	George Von Elm	75-69-73=217	+4
2	Billy Burke	73-72-74=219	+6
3	Guy Paulsen	74-72-74=220	+7
T4	Mortie Dutra	71-77-73=221	+8
	Walter Hagen	74-74-73=221
	Macdonald Smith	73-73-75=221
T7	Leo Diegel	75-73-74=222	+9
	Charles Guest	71-75-76=222
T9	Wiffy Cox	76-74-74=224	+11
	Herman Barron	71-75-78=224

Source:^[8][9][11]

Final round

Saturday, July 4, 1931 (afternoon)

Place	Player	Score	To par	Money ($)
T1	Billy Burke	73-72-74-73=292	+8	Playoff
	George Von Elm	75-69-73-75=292
3	Leo Diegel	75-73-74-72=294	+10	650
T4	Wiffy Cox	76-74-74-72=296	+12	450
	Bill Mehlhorn	77-73-75-71=296
	Gene Sarazen	74-78-74-70=296
T7	Mortie Dutra	71-77-73-76=297	+13	200
	Walter Hagen	74-74-73-76=297
	Philip Perkins (a)	78-76-73-70=297		0
T10	Al Espinosa	72-78-75-74=299	+15	105
	Johnny Farrell	78-70-79-72=299
	Macdonald Smith	73-73-75-78=299

(a) denotes amateur

Source:^[8][9][11]

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	4	4	4	3	5	4	4	5	3	4	4	4	4	4
Burke	+7	+7	+7	+8	+8	+8	+8	+7	+7	+7	+7	+7	+7	+8	+8	+8	+8	+8
Von Elm	+3	+3	+3	+4	+5	+5	+5	+5	+5	+5	+5	+6	+6	+7	+8	+9	+9	+8

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par

Birdie

Bogey

Source:^[18]

Playoff

First playoff

Sunday, July 5, 1931

Player	Score	To par
Billy Burke	73-76=149	+7
George Von Elm	75-74=149	+7

Source:^[11]

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	4	4	4	3	5	4	4	5	3	4	4	4	4	4
Burke	E	+1	+2	+2	+2	+2	+1	+1	E	+1	+1	E	E	E	E	E	+1	+2
Von Elm	E	-1	E	+2	+4	+4	+3	+3	+3	+3	+3	+2	+3	+3	+3	+4	+4	+4

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	4	4	4	3	5	4	4	5	3	4	4	4	4	4
Burke	+3	+3	+4	+5	+5	+6	+7	+8	+7	+7	+7	+7	+7	+6	+7	+7	+7	+7
Von Elm	+4	+6	+7	+7	+9	+8	+7	+6	+5	+6	+6	+6	+6	+6	+8	+8	+8	+7

Cumulative playoff scores, relative to par

Birdie

Bogey

Double bogey

Source:^[19]

Second playoff

Monday, July 6, 1931

Place	Player	Score	To par	Money ($)
1	Billy Burke	77-71=148	+6	1,750
2	George Von Elm	76-73=149	+7	1,000

• Playoff bonus is included: $750 to champion, $250 to runner-up^[4]

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	4	4	4	3	5	4	4	5	3	4	4	4	4	4
Burke	+1	+3	+3	+3	+3	+3	+2	+3	+2	+2	+2	+3	+3	+3	+5	+4	+5	+6
Von Elm	E	E	E	+1	+1	+1	+2	+3	+3	+4	+3	+3	+5	+5	+5	+5	+5	+5

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	4	4	4	3	5	4	4	5	3	4	4	4	4	4
Burke	+6	+5	+5	+4	+5	+5	+6	+5	+5	+5	+5	+4	+5	+5	+5	+5	+5	+6
Von Elm	+5	+5	+5	+6	+6	+6	+6	+7	+6	+5	+5	+5	+5	+6	+6	+7	+7	+7

Source:^[5][15][20]

References

1. "Leaders' cards". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. July 3, 1931. p. 15.
2. Gould, Alan (July 3, 1931). "Four outsiders lead in U.S. Open golf at Toledo". Montreal Gazette. Associated Press. p. 13.
3. Bartlett, Charles (July 2, 1931). "144 start play today for Jones' U.S. Open crown". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 32.
4. "Bonus given Burke, Von Elm for fine play". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. July 7, 1931. p. 14.
5. Rice, Grantland (July 7, 1931). "Burke beats Von Elm for title by 1 stroke". Milwaukee Journal. p. 1, sports.
6. "Burke's work on green wins Open title". Pittsburgh Press. July 7, 1931. p. 18.
7. McCabe, Jim (June 13, 2011). "The epic battle of the 1931 U.S. Open". Golfweek. Retrieved July 1, 2015.
8. Bartlett, Charles (July 5, 1931). "Burke's 292 ties Von Elm for Open title". Chicago Sunday Tribune. p. 1, part 2.
9. Rice, Grantland (July 5, 1931). "Von Elam and Burke tie in National Open meet". Milwaukee Journal. p. 1, sports.
10. Bartlett, Charles (July 6, 1931). "Von Elm, Burke tie at 149 in Open golf playoff". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 29.
11. "Von Elm, Burke all square in Open playoff". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. July 6, 1931. p. 1.
12. Bartlett, Charles (July 7, 1931). "Burke defeats Von Elm; king of U.S. golf". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 1.
13. "Burke wins National Open golfing crown". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. July 7, 1931. p. 1.
14. "U.S. Open abandons 18 holes for 2-hole playoff". ESPN. Associated Press. February 26, 2018.
15. "Hole-by-hole account of Von Elm-Burke match". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. July 7, 1931. p. 14.
16. Bartlett, Charles (July 3, 1931). "Four pros shoot par 71 for lead in U.S. Open". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 19.
17. Bartlett, Charles (July 4, 1931). "Von Elm breaks par to lead U.S. Open". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 11.
18. "Leaders' scores". Pittsburgh Press. United Press. July 5, 1931. p. 1, sports.
19. "Play-off cards". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. July 6, 1931. p. 15.
20. "The cards". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. July 7, 1931. p. 14.

External links

• USGA Championship Database
• USOpen.com - 1931

41.652°N 83.651°W / 41.652; -83.651