1920 U.S. Open Winner and Scores
The 1920 U.S. Open was the 24th time the tournament was played. A 50-year-old British golf legend entered and nearly won the tournament. But, instead, one of his countrymen grabbed the trophy.
Winner: Ted Ray, 295
Where it was played: Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio
Tournament dates: August 12-13, 1920
Leader after first round: Jock Hutchison, 69
Leader after second round: Jock Hutchison, 145
Leader after third round: Harry Vardon, 218
What Happened in the 1920 U.S. Open
Bobby Jones made his debut in the U.S. national championship, but it was an "old" British guy who won the 1920 U.S. Open. That old British guy should have been Harry Vardon; instead, it turned out to be Ted Ray.Ray was 43 years, 4 months and 16 days old at the time of his victory. That made him the oldest winner of the tournament to this point, and Ray remained the oldest U.S. Open winner all the way until the 1986 U.S. Open.
Ray, who also won the 1912 British Open, is probably best-known for being part of the famous 3-man playoff at the 1913 U.S. Open, a tournament immortalized in the movie The Greatest Game Ever Played (affiliate link). Ray and Vardon were beaten in that playoff by young amateur Francis Ouimet, an outcome that many credit with spurring the growth of golf in America.
So perhaps it's appropriate that another amateur made his tournament debut in a U.S. Open won by Ray, and almost won by Vardon. Jones was only 18 years old when he played this tournament, and he played the first two rounds with the legendary Vardon. Jones was entering the scene and Vardon was leaving it. This tournament was Vardon's final appearance in a U.S. Open. Vardon, age 50, tied for second, one stroke behind Ray, while Jones tied for eighth.
Why did we say that Vardon should have won? He held a 5-stroke lead with five holes to play. But Vardon collapsed on the back nine, shooting 42 for a 78 total in the final round. His last five holes were particularly ugly, including three, 3-putt greens and a ball in the water at the 17th.
Ray began the final round in fourth place, two strokes off Vardon's 54-hole lead. And Ray didn't play a great final round, either: He had four bogeys on the back nine and shot 75. But he parred the last hole, and that was enough to win with a 295 total.
Matching Vardon in second place were Leo Diegel, Jock Hutchison and Jack Burke Sr. All the runners-up but Burke were (or would become) major champions. While Burke Sr. never won a major, his son did: Jack Burke Jr. won The Masters and PGA Championship in 1956.
Jones wasn't the only future golf legend to make his U.S. Open debut in 1920. So did Gene Sarazen, who was, like Jones, 18 years old. Sarazen tied for 30th, but won the 1922 U.S. Open, one year before Jones won his first U.S. Open. Tommy Armour, still an amateur, made his tournament debut here, too, and finished tied for 48th. Johnny Farrell, not a legend but a future U.S. Open champion, also made his tournament debut.
1920 U.S. Open Final Scores
| Ted Ray | 74-73-73-75—295 |
| Jack Burke Sr. | 75-77-72-72—296 |
| Leo Diegel | 72-74-73-77—296 |
| Jock Hutchison | 69-76-74-77—296 |
| Harry Vardon | 74-73-71-78—296 |
| Jim Barnes | 76-70-76-76—298 |
| a-Chick Evans | 74-76-73-75—298 |
| a-Bobby Jones | 78-74-70-77—299 |
| Willie Macfarlane | 76-75-74-74—299 |
| Bob Macdonald | 73-78-71-78—300 |
| Walter Hagen | 74-73-77-77—301 |
| Clarence Hackney | 78-74-74-76—302 |
| Fred McLeod | 75-77-73-79—304 |
| Mike Brady | 77-76-74-78—305 |
| Frank McNamara | 78-77-76-74—305 |
| Charles Rowe | 76-78-77-74—305 |
| Laurie Ayton | 75-78-76-77—306 |
| Johnny Golden | 77-80-74-75—306 |
| Eddie Loos | 75-74-73-84—306 |
| J.D. Edgar | 73-82-74-78—307 |
| James West | 80-77-75-75—307 |
| Harry Hampton | 79-76-74-79—308 |
| Tom Kerrigan | 77-81-74-77—309 |
| Gilbert Nicholls | 77-82-75-75—309 |
| J.J. Obrien | 82-77-73-77—309 |
| David K. White | 78-75-79-77—309 |
| Bill Mehlhorn | 78-74-79-79—310 |
| Peter O'Hara | 84-74-74-78—310 |
| Alex Ross | 80-76-77-77—310 |
| George Bowden | 74-80-76-81—311 |
| Charles Hall | 77-80-76-78—311 |
| Willie Kidd | 77-81-76-77—311 |
| George McLean | 83-76-73-79—311 |
| Gene Sarazen | 79-79-76-77—311 |
| Fred Bell | 80-79-76-77—312 |
| a-W.C. Fownes Jr. | 80-78-71-83—312 |
| Emil Loeffler Jr. | 76-80-77-79—312 |
| Jack Dowling | 81-79-78-75—313 |
| Jack Gordon | 79-77-76-81—313 |
| Willie Hunter | 75-82-78-78—313 |
| George Sargent | 76-81-78-78—313 |
| Louis Tellier | 78-75-77-83—313 |
| Pat Doyle | 85-76-79-74—314 |
| Otto Hackbarth | 83-78-77-76—314 |
| Johnny Farrell | 80-77-78-80—315 |
| Charles Thom | 79-83-78-75—315 |
| a-Rudolph Knepper | 76-77-83-80—316 |
| a-Tommy Armour | 77-83-76-81—317 |
| a-Jimmy Johnston | 80-81-76-80—317 |
| Fred Brand | 84-77-80-77—318 |
| Alex Cunningham | 79-78-80-81—318 |
| a-John Simpson | 78-77-85-78—318 |
| Frank Adams | 82-84-73-81—320 |
| Alex Ayton | 79-79-76-86—320 |
| Dave Robertson | 82-77-83-78—320 |
| Charles Lorms | 82-79-78-82—321 |
| Charles Mayo | 77-81-83-80—321 |
| Wilfred Reid | 80-85-78-78—321 |
| John Cowan | 83-78-81-80—322 |
| Dan Kenney | 78-81-79-84—322 |
| Frank Sprogell | 81-82-79-80—322 |
| James Carberry | 80-81-80-83—324 |
| Lloyd Gullickson | 80-80-86-79—325 |
| a-Howard Lee | 83-82-83-79—327 |
| John Rodgers | 90-82-81-76—329 |
| Peter Walsh | 85-88-80-83—336 |
| Eugene McCarthy | 76-83-87-91—337 |
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