The 1939 U.S. Open was the 43rd U.S. Open, held June 8–12 at Philadelphia Country Club in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania, a suburb northwest of Philadelphia. Byron Nelson won after two playoff rounds to prevail against Craig Wood and Denny Shute to claim his only U.S. Open title, and the second of his five major championships. It was the first playoff at the U.S. Open in eight years and the first three-way playoff since 1913.

Sam Snead led after each of the first two rounds but his triple-bogey on the 72nd hole dropped him to fifth place, two strokes back. Two years earlier, he was runner-up in his first U.S. Open in 1937. Following World War II, Snead finished second three more times, but never won the title to complete a career grand slam.

In his fourth U.S. Open, Ben Hogan made his first 36-hole cut at the championship and finished in a tie for 62nd. He finished in a tie for fifth the following year; after the war he won four U.S. Opens and contended in numerous others. He made every subsequent cut he played in at the U.S. Open, the last in 1967 at age 54.

Round summaries

First round Thursday, June 8, 1939 PlacePlayerScoreTo Par1 Sam Snead 68 −1T2 Lawson Little 69 E Bud Ward (a) Matt Kowal T5 Craig Wood 70 +1 Tommy Armour Denny Shute Olin Dutra Lloyd Mangrum Harold "Jug" McSpaden

Second round Friday, June 9, 1939 PlacePlayerScoreTo Par1 Sam Snead 68-71=139 +1 2 Horton Smith 72-68=140 +23 Craig Wood 70-71=141 +3T4 Denny Shute 70-72=142 +4 Bud Ward (a) 69-73=142 T6 Frank Moore 73-70=143 +5 Johnny Bulla 72-71=143 Harry Cooper 71-72=143 Harold "Jug" McSpaden 70-73=143 Lawson Little 69-74=143 Source:

Third round Saturday, June 10, 1939 - (morning) PlacePlayerScoreTo Par1 Johnny Bulla 72-71-68=211 +4 T2 Sam Snead 68-71-73=212 +5 Craig Wood 70-71-71=212 Denny Shute 70-72-70=2125 Bud Ward (a) 69-73-71=213 +6T6 Tommy Armour 70-75-69=214 +7 John E. Rogers 75-70-69=214 Olin Dutra 70-74-70=2149 Horton Smith 72-68-75=215 +8T10 Byron Nelson 72-73-71=216 +9 Ralph Guldahl 71-73-72=216 Henry Picard 72-72-72=216 Source:

Final round Saturday, June 10, 1939 - (afternoon)

Nelson began the final round on Saturday afternoon five strokes back of leader Johnny Bulla and shot 68 to gain the clubhouse lead at 284. Wood birdied the 18th to also get to 284, while Shute also finished on that number after a bogey at 17. It appeared, however, that that number would not be enough. Snead stood on the par-5 18th needing only a par to win the championship. Snead believed he needed a birdie to win and played the hole aggressively. After finding two bunkers, he made a triple-bogey 8 and missed the playoff by two strokes.

PlacePlayerScoreTo ParMoney ($)T1 Byron Nelson 72-73-71-68=284 +8 Playoff Craig Wood 70-71-71-72=284 Denny Shute 70-72-70-72=2844 Bud Ward (a) 69-73-71-72=285 +9 05 Sam Snead 68-71-73-74=286 +10 6006 Johnny Bulla 72-71-68-76=287 +11 450T7 Ralph Guldahl 71-73-72-72=288 +12 325 Dick Metz 76-72-71-69=288T9 Ky Laffoon 76-70-73-70=289 +13 175 Harold McSpaden 70-73-71-75=289 Paul Runyan 76-70-71-72=289 (a) denotes amateur Source:

Playoff Sunday, June 11, 1939 Monday, June 12, 1939

In the three-way 18-hole playoff on Sunday afternoon, Nelson and Wood each carded 68 (−1), while Shute shot a 76 (+7) and was eliminated. In the second 18-hole playoff on Monday morning, Nelson took control at the third hole with a birdie while Wood double-bogeyed. At the next hole, Nelson holed out for an eagle to take a five-stroke lead. With a three-shot lead at the turn, Nelson matched Wood on the back nine and finished with a 70 to Wood's 73.

PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)1 Byron Nelson 68-70=138 E1,0002 Craig Wood 68-73=141 +38003 Denny Shute 76-x +7700

Scorecards Sunday, June 11, 1939 Hole 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 101112131415161718Par434444344 434344445 NelsonEEEE+1+1EE−1−1E−1EEE−1E−1 Wood EEEEE−1−1−1−1EEEEEEE−1−1 Shute E+1+1+1+1+2+2+2+3+3+3+3+4+4+4+4+5+7 Source:

Monday, June 12, 1939 Hole 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 101112131415161718Par434444344 434344445 NelsonEE−1−3−2−1−1−1−1EE+1+1+1+1+1+1+1 Wood+1E+2+2+2+2+2+2+2+3+4+5+5+6+5+5+4+4 Cumulative playoff scores, relative to par {|class="wikitable" span = 50 style="font-size:85%; |- |style="background: Red;" width=10| |Eagle |style="background: Pink;" width=10| |Birdie |style="background: PaleGreen;" width=10| |Bogey |style="background: Green;" width=10| |Double bogey |} Source:

References

External links USOpen.com - 1939