1979 U.S. Open (golf)

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)
Field	153 players, 63 after cut
Cut	151 (+9)
Winner's share	$50,000
Champion
	Hale Irwin
	284 (E)
	← 1978 1980 →

Inverness
Club

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Location in the United States

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]

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.^[4]

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[]

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:^[5]^[6]

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

Past champions in the field[]

Made the cut[]

Player	Country	Year(s) won	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total	To par	Finish
Hale Irwin	United States	1974	74	68	67	75	284	E	1
Gary Player	South Africa	1965	73	73	72	68	286	+2	T2
Jerry Pate	United States	1976	71	74	69	72	286	+2	T2
Jack Nicklaus	United States	1962, 1967, 1972	74	77	72	68	291	+7	T9
Andy North	United States	1978	77	74	68	74	293	+9	T11
Lee Trevino	United States	1968, 1971	77	73	73	72	295	+11	T19
Hubert Green	United States	1977	74	77	73	72	296	+12	24
Lou Graham	United States	1975	70	75	77	75	297	+13	T25
Arnold Palmer	United States	1960	76	73	75	81	305	+21	T59

Missed the cut[]

Player	Country	Year won	R1	R2	Total	To par
Johnny Miller	United States	1973	74	78	152	+10
Gene Littler	United States	1961	79	74	153	+11

Source:^[7]

Round summaries[]

First round[]

Thursday, June 14, 1979

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

Second round[]

Friday, June 15, 1979

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
T1	Larry Nelson	United States	71-68=139	−3
T1	Tom Purtzer	United States	70-69=139	−3
3	Hale Irwin	United States	74-68=142	E
4	Bill Rogers	United States	71-72=143	+1
T5	Jim Colbert	United States	71-74=145	+3
	Lou Graham	United States	70-75=145
	Jerry Pate	United States	71-74=145
	Ed Sneed	United States	72-73=145
	Dave Stockton	United States	75-70=145
	Tom Weiskopf	United States	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	Country	Score	To par
1	Hale Irwin	United States	74-68-67=209	−4
2	Tom Weiskopf	United States	71-74-67=212	−1
T3	Jerry Pate	United States	71-74-69=214	+1
T3	Tom Purtzer	United States	70-69-75=214	+1
T5	Lee Elder	United States	74-72-69=215	+2
T5	Larry Nelson	United States	71-68-76=215	+2
T7	Bob Gilder	United States	77-70-69=216	+3
	David Graham	Australia	73-73-70=216
	Bill Rogers	United States	71-72-73=216
T10	Andy Bean	United States	70-76-71=217	+4
	Al Geiberger	United States	74-74-69=217
		United States	77-71-69=217
	Bobby Walzel	United States	74-72-71=217

Final round[]

Sunday, June 17, 1979

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

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[]

^ "Golf: U.S. Open finish". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. June 18, 1979. p. 21.
^ ^a ^b "A bit of a tussle, but hearty at the end". Toledo Blade. (Ohio). June 18, 1979. p. 13.
^ Jenkins, Dan (June 25, 1979). "Up a tree in Toledo". Sports Illustrated. p. 20.
^ Raley, DAn (May 18, 2001). "Hinkle linked to tree for 25 years". Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
^ "Map: 79th U.S. Open Championship". Toledo Blade. (Ohio). Associated Press. June 9, 1979. p. 18.
^ "Inverness statistics". Toledo Blade. (Ohio). June 14, 1979. p. 40.
^ "U.S. Open scores - second round". Milwaukee Sentinel. June 16, 1982. p. 8-part 2.

External links[]

Preceded by 1979 Masters	Major Championships	Succeeded by 1979 Open Championship

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

[1] "Golf: U.S. Open finish". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. June 18, 1979. p. 21.

[aboats-2] "A bit of a tussle, but hearty at the end". Toledo Blade. (Ohio). June 18, 1979. p. 13.

[sijun79-3] Jenkins, Dan (June 25, 1979). "Up a tree in Toledo". Sports Illustrated. p. 20.

[4] Raley, DAn (May 18, 2001). "Hinkle linked to tree for 25 years". Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

[mpusap-5] "Map: 79th U.S. Open Championship". Toledo Blade. (Ohio). Associated Press. June 9, 1979. p. 18.

[invst-6] "Inverness statistics". Toledo Blade. (Ohio). June 14, 1979. p. 40.

[usosc-7] "U.S. Open scores - second round". Milwaukee Sentinel. June 16, 1982. p. 8-part 2.

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