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.

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.

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.

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

Hole123456789Out101112131415161718InTotal Yards3983851854464012204525284203,4553633781675234484584054313543,5276,982Par443443454354435444443671 Source:

Lengths of the course for previous major championships: , par 71 - 1957 U.S. Open , par 71 - 1931 U.S. Open , par 71 - 1920 U.S. Open

Round summaries First round Thursday, June 14, 1979 PlacePlayerScoreTo parT1 Andy Bean70−1 Keith Fergus Lou Graham Lon Hinkle Tom PurtzerT6 Jim Colbert71E John Cook (a) Larry Nelson Jerry Pate Dana Quigley Bill Rogers Tom Weiskopf

Second round Friday, June 15, 1979 PlacePlayerScoreTo parT1 Larry Nelson71-68=139−3 Tom Purtzer70-69=1393 Hale Irwin74-68=142E4 Bill Rogers71-72=143+1T5 Jim Colbert71-74=145+3 Lou Graham70-75=145 Jerry Pate71-74=145 Ed Sneed72-73=145 Dave Stockton75-70=145 Tom Weiskopf71-74=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 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Hale Irwin74-68-67=209−42 Tom Weiskopf71-74-67=212−1T3 Jerry Pate71-74-69=214+1 Tom Purtzer70-69-75=214T5 Lee Elder74-72-69=215+2 Larry Nelson71-68-76=215T7 Bob Gilder77-70-69=216+3 David Graham73-73-70=216 Bill Rogers71-72-73=216T10 Andy Bean70-76-71=217+4 Al Geiberger74-74-69=217 Bob E. Smith77-71-69=217 Bobby Walzel74-72-71=217

Final round Sunday, June 17, 1979 PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)1 Hale Irwin 74-68-67-75=284 E 50,000T2 Jerry Pate 71-74-69-72=286+2 22,250 Gary Player 73-73-72-68=286T4 Larry Nelson 71-68-76-73=288 +4 13,733 Bill Rogers 71-72-73-72=288 Tom Weiskopf 71-74-67-76=2887 David Graham 73-73-70-73=289 +5 10,0008 Tom Purtzer 70-69-75-76=290 +6 9,000T9 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 Hole123456789101112131415161718Par443443454 443544444 Irwin −4−5−4−4−3−3−3−4−4−4−3−4−4−3−3−3−1E Pate +1E−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 {|class="wikitable" span = 50 style="font-size:85%; |- |style="background: Pink;" width=10| |Birdie |style="background: PaleGreen;" width=10| |Bogey |style="background: Green;" width=10| |Double bogey |} Source:

References

External links USGA Championship Database USOpen.com – 1979