The 1937 U.S. Open was the 41st U.S. Open, held June 10–12 at the South Course of Oakland Hills Country Club in Birmingham, Michigan, a suburb northwest of Detroit. Ralph Guldahl won the first of his two consecutive U.S. Opens, two strokes ahead of runner-up Sam Snead, making his U.S. Open debut.

Snead opened with a 69 to share the lead with Denny Shute. Through 54 holes, Snead and Guldahl trailed Ed Dudley by a stroke. During the final round on Saturday afternoon, Dudley shot a 76 and fell out of contention, while Snead birdied the last to finish with a 71 and a 283 total. Guldahl, playing well behind Snead, holed a putt for eagle at 8, then a birdie from at 9. After bogeys at 10 and 11, he rallied with birdies on the next two holes. He then went even on his last five holes to finish with a 69 and a 281 total, two better than Snead and a stroke better than the previous tournament record, set the previous year by Tony Manero.

Two years earlier, Guldahl had become so frustrated with the game that he quit to become a carpenter. After deciding to return to the game, he went through a period of dominance throughout the late-1930s. He won the Western Open, then considered on-par with the major championships, three years in a row; was runner-up in the Masters Tournament in 1937 and 1938 before winning in 1939; and successfully defended this U.S. Open title in 1938. For Snead, age 25, this tournament was just the beginning of a hard-luck career in the U.S. Open; he finished runner-up four times at the only major he never won.

Guldahl won the title with 19 clubs in his bag. The USGA rule (4-4) regarding a maximum of 14 clubs went into effect the following January.

Set at , Oakland Hills was the first U.S. Open venue to surpass ; its average elevation is approximately above sea level.

The South Course previously hosted the U.S. Open in 1924, also at par 72, and it returned at par 70 in 1951, 1961, 1985, and 1996. It also later hosted the PGA Championship in 1972, 1979, and 2008. The second par-5 holes on each nine (#8, #18) were played at par-4.

Course layout

South Course Hole123456789Out101112131415161718InTotal Yards4435122004474493514164912153,5144484135551424504053801985373,5237,037Par453444453364453444353672 Source:

Length of the course for previous major: , par 72 - 1924 U.S. Open

Round summaries First round Thursday, June 10, 1937 PlacePlayerScoreTo parT1 Denny Shute 69 −3 Sam Snead T3 Ed Dudley 70 −2 Johnny Goodman (a) Bill Holt (a) Frank Strafaci (a) Frank Walsh T8 Ralph Guldahl 71 −1 Fred Morrison Henry Picard Mike Turnesa Source:

Second round Friday, June 11, 1937 PlacePlayerScoreTo parT1 Ed Dudley 70-70=140 −4 Ralph Guldahl 71-69=140 Frank Walsh 70-70=140 Jimmy Thomson 74-66=140 T5 Harry Cooper 72-70=142 −2 Pat Sawyer 72-70=142 Frank Strafaci (a) 70-72=142 Sam Snead 69-73=142 T9 Vic Ghezzi 72-71=143 −1 Johnny Goodman (a) 70-73=143 Source:

Third round Saturday, June 12, 1937 (morning) PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Ed Dudley 70-70-71=211 −5 T2 Ralph Guldahl 71-69-72=212 −4 Sam Snead 69-73-70=212 4 Bobby Cruickshank 73-73-67=213 −3 T5 Harry Cooper 72-70-73=215 −1 Al Brosch 74-73-68=215 Johnny Goodman (a) 70-73-72=215 8 Pat Sawyer 72-70-75=217 +1 T9 Henry Picard 71-75-72=218 +2 Gene Sarazen 78-69-71=218 Frank Walsh 70-70-78=218 Source:

Final round Saturday, June 12, 1937 (afternoon) PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)1 Ralph Guldahl 71-69-72-69=281 −7 1,0002 Sam Snead 69-73-70-71=283 −5 8003 Bobby Cruickshank 73-73-67-72=285 −3 7004 Harry Cooper 72-70-73-71=286 −2 6005 Ed Dudley 70-70-71-76=287 −1 4506 Al Brosch 74-73-68-73=288 E 3757 Clarence Clark 72-75-73-69=289 +1 2758 Johnny Goodman (a) 70-73-72-75=290 +2 09 Frank Strafaci (a) 70-72-77-72=291 +3T10 Charles Kocsis (a) 72-73-76-71=292 +4 Henry Picard 71-75-72-74=292 175 Gene Sarazen 78-69-71-74=292 Denny Shute 69-76-75-72=292 Source: (a) = amateur

Scorecard Hole 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 101112131415161718Par453444453 445344454 Guldahl−4−4−4−4−5−4−4−6−7−6−5−6−7−7−7−7−7−7 Snead−3−4−4−4−3−3−3−4−4−4−5−5−4−4−5−5−4−5 Cruickshank−3−4−4−4−3−3−3−4−4−4−3−4−3−3−3−3−3−3 Cooper−1−1−1−1−1EEEE−1E−1−1−1EE−1−2 Dudley−4−4−5−4−4−5−6−5−5−3−2−2−3−2−1E−1−1 BroschEEEEEEEEEEEEE+1+1+1+1E Clark+3+2+2+2+2+2+2+2+3+3+3+3+2+2+2+2+2+1 GoodmanEEEEEEE−1−1E−1−1−1EE+2+2+2 Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par EagleBirdieBogeyDouble bogeyTriple bogey+ Source:

References

External links USGA Championship Database USOpen.com - 1937