The 1940 U.S. Open was the 44th U.S. Open, June 6–9 at Canterbury Golf Club in Beachwood, Ohio, a suburb east of Cleveland. Lawson Little defeated Gene Sarazen in an 18-hole playoff to win his only professional major.
Little started the final round a stroke behind leader Frank Walsh and carded a 73 to finish at 287. Sarazen made two birdies on the back nine and did not make a bogey to also post 287 and force a playoff on Sunday.
After five holes in the playoff, Little had a four-stroke advantage and was ahead by three at the turn. Sarazen made birdie at 11 and 14 to close the gap to one stroke with four holes to play, but could draw no closer. Little birdied the next two holes and they halved the final two holes. Little won by three, 70 to 73, and became the fifth player to win both the U.S. Open and the U.S. Amateur.
Six players were disqualified after the final round for starting their round too early to avoid a coming storm. One of those players, Ed Oliver, actually tied Little and Sarazen, but his disqualification prevented his participation in the playoff. Walter Hagen, in his final U.S. Open, was also disqualified for showing up late for his third round. Under current rules, Hagen would be penalised two strokes if he arrived within a grace period. Also under current rules, officials, with access to weather radar, reserve the right to accelerate the start of the final round and change its procedure (groups of three starting at the first and tenth tees, or a shotgun start).
The top eight finishers in the tournament were all past or future major champions, and are members of the World Golf Hall of Fame.
This was the first of three majors at Canterbury. The U.S. Open returned six years later in 1946, won by Lloyd Mangrum in two playoff rounds. It was the first U.S. Open in five years, due to World War II. The PGA Championship was played at the course in 1973, won by Jack Nicklaus.
Course layout
Hole123456789Out101112131415161718InTotal Yards4303691764404104772004125533,4673671703744834033715882304413,4276,894Par443445345364345445343672 Source:
Round summaries First round Thursday, June 6, 1940 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Sam Snead 67 −5T2 Ed Oliver 69 −3 Sam Parks, Jr. Horton Smith T5 Al Huske 70 −2 Vic Ghezzi Ben Hogan T8 Bob Babbish (a) 71 −1 Andy Gibson Duke Gibson Henry Kaiser Gene Sarazen Source:
Second round Friday, June 7, 1940 PlacePlayerScoreTo parT1 Lawson Little 72-69=141 −3 Horton Smith 69-72=141 Sam Snead 67-74=141 4 Frank Walsh 73-69=142 −2 T5 Ben Hogan 70-73=143−1 Sam Parks, Jr. 69-74=213T7 Leonard Dodson 72-72=144 E Vic Ghezzi 70-74=144 Ralph Guldahl 73-71=144 Dutch Harrison 74-70=144 Source:
Third round Saturday, June 8, 1940 (morning) PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Frank Walsh 73-69-71=213 −3 T2 Lawson Little 72-69-73=214 −2 Sam Snead 67-74-73=214 4 Gene Sarazen 71-74-70=215 −1 T5 Lloyd Mangrum 75-70-71=216 E Jug McSpaden 74-72-70=216 Byron Nelson 72-74-70=216T8 Ben Hogan 70-73-74=217+1 Henry Picard 73-73-71=217 Craig Wood 72-73-72=217 Source:
Final round Saturday, June 8, 1940 (afternoon) PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)T1 Lawson Little 72-69-73-73=287 −1 Playoff Gene Sarazen 71-74-70-72=287 3 Horton Smith 69-72-78-69=288 E 7004 Craig Wood 72-73-72-72=289 +1 600T5 Ralph Guldahl 73-71-76-70=290 +2 325 Ben Hogan 70-73-74-73=290 Lloyd Mangrum 75-70-71-74=290 Byron Nelson 72-74-70-74=2909 Dick Metz 75-72-72-72=291 +3 175T10 Ed Dudley 73-75-71-73=292 +4 137 Frank Walsh 73-69-71-79=292 Source:
Playoff Sunday, June 9, 1940 PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)1 Lawson Little 70−21,000 2 Gene Sarazen 73+1800
Scorecard Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 101112131415161718Par443445345 434544534 LittleE−1−1−1−2−2−2−2−2−2−2−1−1−1−2−3−2−2 Sarazen+1+1+1+1+2E+1+1+1+1EE+1EEE+1+1 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 |} Source:
References
External links USGA Championship Database