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
Dates	June 14–17, 1979
Location	Toledo, Ohio
Course(s)	Inverness Club
Organized by	USGA
Tour(s)	PGA Tour
Statistics
Par	71
Length	6,982 yards (6,384 m)[1]
Field	153 players, 63 after cut
Cut	151 (+9)
Winner's share	$50,000
Champion
Hale Irwin
284 (E)
← 1978 1980 →

Inverness
Club

Location in the United States

Summary

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

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:

6,919 yards (6,327 m), par 71 - 1957 U.S. Open 6,529 yards (5,970 m), par 71 - 1931 U.S. Open 6,569 yards (6,007 m), par 71 - 1920 U.S. Open

Round summaries

First round

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

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

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

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

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

1. "Golf: U.S. Open finish". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. June 18, 1979. p. 21 – via Google News Archive.
2. "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.

External links

• USGA Championship Database
• USOpen.com – 1979

41.652°N 83.651°W / 41.652; -83.651