The 1954 U.S. Open was the 54th U.S. Open, held June 17–19 at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, New Jersey, west of New York City. On the Lower Course, Ed Furgol won his only major title, one stroke ahead of runner-up Gene Littler.
Littler owned the 36-hole lead by two strokes over defending champion Ben Hogan and Furgol. After a 76 in the third round, Littler fell three strokes back of Furgol, who shot a 71 to take a one-stroke lead over Dick Mayer. Hogan made four bogeys at the first six holes and fell out of contention with a 76.
In the final round on Saturday afternoon, Littler rebounded with a 70, but it was not enough. Furgol was helped by a great recovery on the 18th. After hitting his drive into the trees, he played his escape shot onto the 18th fairway of Baltusrol's other course. From there he managed to make par, carding a 72 for a 284 total. Mayer was tied with Furgol as he played 18, but he double-bogeyed the hole to fall into third.
This U.S. Open was the first to be nationally televised, one hour of the final round, carried by NBC. It was also the first in which ropes were used to control the gallery, and prize money was increased by 20% over the previous year. This was the fourth U.S. Open at Baltusrol, but the first on the Lower Course, which later hosted in 1967, 1980, and 1993.
Course layout
Lower Course Hole123456789Out101112131415161718InTotal Yards4653794441833914674683722043,3734504211903914094272016205453,6547,027Par444344443344434443553670 Source:
Lengths of the courses for previous major championships at Baltusrol: , par 72 - 1936 U.S. Open (Upper Course) , par 74 - 1915 U.S. Open (Old Course) The Old Course was plowed under in 1918 , par - 1903 U.S. Open (Old Course)
Round summaries First round Thursday, June 17, 1954 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Billy Joe Patton (a) 69 −1T2 Ted Kroll 70 E Gene Littler Bob Toski T5 Ed Furgol 71 +1 Ben Hogan Al Mengert T8 Tommy Bolt 72 +2 Leland Gibson Lloyd Mangrum Dick Mayer Cary Middlecoff Johnny Revolta Sam Snead Robert Watson Lew Worsham Source:
Second round Friday, June 18, 1954 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Gene Littler 70-69=139 −1T2 Ed Furgol 71-70=141 +1 Ben Hogan 71-70=141T4 Lloyd Mangrum 72-71=143 +3 Dick Mayer 72-71=143 Al Mengert 71-72=143 Cary Middlecoff 72-71=143T8 Tommy Bolt 72-72=144 +4 Dick Chapman (a) 77-67=143 Bobby Locke 74-70=144 Bob Toski 70-74=144 Source:
Third round
Saturday, June 19, 1954 (morning) PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Ed Furgol 71-70-71=212 +2 2 Dick Mayer 72-71-70=213 +3T3 Gene Littler 70-69-76=215 +5 Lloyd Mangrum 72-71-72=215 Cary Middlecoff 72-71-72=215 T6 Al Mengert 71-72-73=216 +6 Billy Joe Patton (a) 69-76-71=216 T8 Tommy Bolt 72-72-73=217 +7 Fred Haas 73-73-71=217 Jay Hebert 77-70-70=217 Ben Hogan 71-70-76=217 Sam Snead 72-73-72=217 Source:
Final round Saturday, June 19, 1954 (afternoon) PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)1 Ed Furgol 71-70-71-72=284 +4 6,0002 Gene Littler 70-69-76-70=285 +5 3,600T3 Lloyd Mangrum 72-71-72-71=286 +6 1,500 Dick Mayer 72-71-70-73=2865 Bobby Locke 74-70-74-70=288 +8 960T6 Tommy Bolt 72-72-73-72=289 +9 570 Fred Haas 73-73-71-72=289 Ben Hogan 71-70-76-72=289 Shelley Mayfield 73-75-72-69=289 Billy Joe Patton (a) 69-76-71-73=289 0 Source: (a) denotes amateur
References
External links USOpen.com - 1954