1939 U.S. Open (golf)

The 1939 U.S. Open was the 43rd U.S. Open, held June 8–12 at Philadelphia Country Club in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania, a suburb northwest of Philadelphia. Byron Nelson won after two playoff rounds to prevail against Craig Wood and Denny Shute to claim his only U.S. Open title,^[2] and the second of his five major championships. It was the first playoff at the U.S. Open in eight years and the first three-way playoff since 1913.

1939 U.S. Open

Tournament information
Dates	June 8–12, 1939
Location	Gladwyne, Pennsylvania
Course(s)	Philadelphia Country Club Spring Mill Course[1]
Organized by	USGA
Tour(s)	PGA Tour
Statistics
Par	69[2]
Length	6,786 yards (6,205 m)[1]
Field	161 players, 65 after cut
Cut	152 (+14)
Prize fund	$5,000[3]
Winner's share	$1,000
Champion
Byron Nelson
284 (+8), playoff
← 1938 1940 →

Philadelphia 
Country Club

Location in the United States

Sam Snead led after each of the first two rounds but his triple-bogey on the 72nd hole dropped him to fifth place, two strokes back. Two years earlier, he was runner-up in his first U.S. Open in 1937. Following World War II, Snead finished second three more times, but never won the title to complete a career grand slam.

In his fourth U.S. Open, Ben Hogan made his first 36-hole cut at the championship and finished in a tie for 62nd. He finished in a tie for fifth the following year; after the war he won four U.S. Opens and contended in numerous others. He made every subsequent cut he played in at the U.S. Open, the last in 1967 at age 54.

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, June 8, 1939

Place	Player	Score	To Par
1	Sam Snead	68	−1
T2	Lawson Little	69	E
	Bud Ward (a)
	Matt Kowal
T5	Craig Wood	70	+1
	Tommy Armour
	Denny Shute
	Olin Dutra
	Lloyd Mangrum
	Harold "Jug" McSpaden

Second round

Friday, June 9, 1939

Place	Player	Score	To Par
1	Sam Snead	68-71=139	+1
2	Horton Smith	72-68=140	+2
3	Craig Wood	70-71=141	+3
T4	Denny Shute	70-72=142	+4
	Bud Ward (a)	69-73=142
T6	Frank Moore	73-70=143	+5
	Johnny Bulla	72-71=143
	Harry Cooper	71-72=143
	Harold "Jug" McSpaden	70-73=143
	Lawson Little	69-74=143

Source:^[4][5]

Third round

Saturday, June 10, 1939 - (morning)

Place	Player	Score	To Par
1	Johnny Bulla	72-71-68=211	+4
T2	Sam Snead	68-71-73=212	+5
	Craig Wood	70-71-71=212
	Denny Shute	70-72-70=212
5	Bud Ward (a)	69-73-71=213	+6
T6	Tommy Armour	70-75-69=214	+7
	John E. Rogers	75-70-69=214
	Olin Dutra	70-74-70=214
9	Horton Smith	72-68-75=215	+8
T10	Byron Nelson	72-73-71=216	+9
	Ralph Guldahl	71-73-72=216
	Henry Picard	72-72-72=216

Source:^[6]

Final round

Saturday, June 10, 1939 - (afternoon)

Nelson began the final round on Saturday afternoon five strokes back of leader Johnny Bulla and shot 68 to gain the clubhouse lead at 284. Wood birdied the 18th to also get to 284, while Shute also finished on that number after a bogey at 17. It appeared, however, that that number would not be enough. Snead stood on the par-5 18th needing only a par to win the championship. Snead believed he needed a birdie to win and played the hole aggressively. After finding two bunkers, he made a triple-bogey 8 and missed the playoff by two strokes.

Place	Player	Score	To Par	Money ($)
T1	Byron Nelson	72-73-71-68=284	+8	Playoff
	Craig Wood	70-71-71-72=284
	Denny Shute	70-72-70-72=284
4	Bud Ward (a)	69-73-71-72=285	+9	0
5	Sam Snead	68-71-73-74=286	+10	600
6	Johnny Bulla	72-71-68-76=287	+11	450
T7	Ralph Guldahl	71-73-72-72=288	+12	325
	Dick Metz	76-72-71-69=288
T9	Ky Laffoon	76-70-73-70=289	+13	175
	Harold McSpaden	70-73-71-75=289
	Paul Runyan	76-70-71-72=289

(a) denotes amateur

Source:^[7][8]

Playoff

Sunday, June 11, 1939
Monday, June 12, 1939

In the three-way 18-hole playoff on Sunday afternoon, Nelson and Wood each carded 68 (−1), while Shute shot a 76 (+7) and was eliminated. In the second 18-hole playoff on Monday morning, Nelson took control at the third hole with a birdie while Wood double-bogeyed. At the next hole, Nelson holed out for an eagle to take a five-stroke lead. With a three-shot lead at the turn, Nelson matched Wood on the back nine and finished with a 70 to Wood's 73.

Place	Player	Score	To par	Money ($)
1	Byron Nelson	68-70=138	E	1,000
2	Craig Wood	68-73=141	+3	800
3	Denny Shute	76-x	+7	700

Scorecards

Sunday, June 11, 1939

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

Source:^[8]

Monday, June 12, 1939

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

Cumulative playoff scores, relative to par

Eagle

Birdie

Bogey

Double bogey

Source:^[9]