The 1930 U.S. Open was the 34th U.S. Open, held July 10–12 at Interlachen Country Club in Edina, Minnesota, a suburb southwest of Minneapolis. Bobby Jones won his second consecutive and record-tying fourth U.S. Open title. Having already won the British Amateur and the British Open in June, Jones secured his third consecutive major title of the single-season at the U.S. Open. He completed the grand slam with a victory in late September at Merion in the fourth and final leg, the U.S. Amateur.

The 1930 U.S. Open was played in oppressive heat, and the first round on Thursday saw Macdonald Smith and 1927 champion Tommy Armour share the lead, with Jones a stroke behind. Jones was one-under through eight holes in his second round when he hit one of his most famous shots: the "lily pad shot." Jones was attempting to reach the par-5 9th in two shots when two spectators ran onto the fairway during his swing. He mishit the ball toward the lake where it fell about twenty yards short of dry ground. Incredibly, the ball skipped off a lily pad and onto the far bank, just thirty yards short of the green. Jones would get up-and-down for an unlikely birdie, one that only added to his growing legend. Jones finished the round with a 73, putting him at 144 in a tie for second, two strokes behind leader Horton Smith.

Jones took command over the final two rounds on Saturday; he shot 68 in the third round in the morning and started the final round with a front-nine 38. However, he ran into trouble with a bogey at 12 and a double bogey at 13. Now leading Smith by only one shot, Jones birdied 14 and 16. After finding the water on 17 and settling for a bogey, he needed to two-putt from on the 18th for the championship. Instead, he holed out for birdie and a two-stroke victory over Smith, who claimed the $1,000 winner's share of the $5,000 purse as the top professional. In third place was 36-hole leader Horton Smith, who won the first edition of Jones' "Augusta National Invitation Tournament" in 1934, later known as the Masters Tournament, and again in 1936.

Jones became the first to successfully defend his Open title since John McDermott in 1911–12. He was now tied with Willie Anderson with four Open titles, but he would not attempt to win a fifth. Only four have won consecutive U.S. Opens since: Ralph Guldahl (1937, 1938), Ben Hogan (1950, 1951), Curtis Strange (1988, 1989), and Brooks Koepka (2017, 2018). After completing the Grand Slam with his U.S. Amateur win, Jones retired from competitive golf at age 28.

Round summaries First round Thursday, July 10, 1930 PlacePlayerScoreTo parT1 Tommy Armour 70 −2 Macdonald Smith T3 Wiffy Cox 71 −1 Bobby Jones (a) T5 Harry Cooper 72 E Walter Hagen John Rogers George Smith Horton Smith T10 Olin Dutra 73 +1 Jack Forrester Irwin Ottman Joe Turnesa Eddie Williams Craig Wood Source:

Second round Friday, July 11, 1930 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Horton Smith 72-70=142 −2T2 Harry Cooper 72-72=144 E Bobby Jones (a) 71-73=144 Charles Lacey 74-70=1445 Macdonald Smith 70-75=145 +1 T6 Tommy Armour 70-76=146 +2 Wiffy Cox 71-75=146 Johnny Farrell 74-72=146 T9 Johnny Golden 74-73=147 +3 Walter Hagen 72-75=147 Source:

Third round Saturday, July 12, 1930 (morning) PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Bobby Jones (a) 71-73-68=212 −42 Harry Cooper 72-72-73=217 +1T3 Johnny Golden 74-73-71=218 +2 Horton Smith 72-70-76=218 T5 Macdonald Smith 70-75-74=219 +3 Johnny Farrell 74-72-73=219 7 Craig Wood 73-75-72=220 +4 T8 Tommy Armour 70-76-75=221 +5 Charles Lacey 74-70-77=221T9 Walter Hagen 72-75-76=223 +7 Wiffy Cox 71-75-77=223 Source:

Final round Saturday, July 12, 1930 (afternoon) PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)1 Bobby Jones (a) 71-73-68-75=287 −1 02 Macdonald Smith 70-75-74-70=289 +1 1,0003 Horton Smith 72-70-76-74=292 +4 7504 Harry Cooper 72-72-73-76=293 +5 6505 Johnny Golden 74-73-71-76=294 +6 5506 Tommy Armour 70-76-75-76=297 +9 4507 Charles Lacey 74-70-77-77=298 +10 3508 Johnny Farrell 74-72-73-80=299 +11 250T9 Bill Mehlhorn 76-74-75-75=300 +12 138 Craig Wood 73-75-72-80=300 Source: (a) denotes amateur

References

External links USGA Championship Database USOpen.com - 1930