1934 U.S. Open Golf Tournament Winner and Scores
The 1934 U.S. Open was the 38th time the tournament was played. A serious illness in the days prior to the tournament didn't stop the golfer known as "King Kong" from winning.
Winner: Olin Dutra, 293
Where it was played: Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pennsylvania
Tournament dates: June 7-9, 1934
Leader after first round: Charles Lacey, Bobby Cruickshank and Wiffy Cox, 71
Leader after second round: Bobby Cruickshank, 142
Leader after third round: Gene Sarazen, 218
What Happened at the 1934 U.S. Open
Olin Dutra showed plenty of intestinal fortitude, so to speak, by winning the 1934 U.S. Open. Because he did so after being laid up for days with serious stomach problems.Traveling to Pennsylvania to play the Open at Merion Golf Club, Dutra stopped in Detroit to pick up his brother Mortie Dutra (who finished tied for 28th in the tournament). But while picking up Mortie, Olin picked up something else: some kind of stomach bug.
The USGA history states that Dutra didn't leave his hotel room for three days and lost 15 pounds, and that he went 10 days unable to practice. When the Dutras finally reached Merion, Olin was not in good shape, physically or golf-wise. But convinced by Mortie to play on, Olin opened with rounds of 76-74. That kept him in the tournament, but he was eight strokes off the lead.
Dutra had to play 36 holes the final day, which couldn't have been easy given his condition. But he played great anyway, shooting 71 to get within three strokes of third-round leader Gene Sarazen.
And then Olin closed with a 72 to beat Sarazen by a single stroke and win the trophy.
Dutra had finished in the Top 10 at the two previous U.S. Opens, and was the 1932 PGA Championship winner. But he had only one Top 10 finish in a major after this.
In the final round, PGA Championship winner Tom Creavy tied the tournament's then-record for 18 holes with a 66, the only round under 70 scored the whole tournament.
Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson both made their major championship debuts in the 1934 U.S. Open. And both missed the cut, Hogan shooting 79-79 and Nelson carding 79-83. Nelson's young career progressed quicker than Hogan's from this point, Nelson earning his first major championship win at the 1937 Masters. Hogan missed the cut in the 1936 U.S. Open, and that was his only other appearance in a major until 1938.
Another golfer making his U.S. Open debut here: Lawson Little, who finished 25th as low amateur. Little won the U.S. and British amateur championships in 1934, did so again in 1935, and won the 1940 U.S. Open.
How far could the longest hitters hit it in these days? An interesting historical footnote from the USGA's tournament history: Big-bopper Jimmy Thomson drove the 325-yard first green at Merion to win a $50 bet with Walter Hagen.
1934 U.S. Open Final Scores
| Olin Dutra | 76-74-71-72—293 |
| Gene Sarazen | 73-72-73-76—294 |
| Harry Cooper | 76-74-74-71—295 |
| Wiffy Cox | 71-75-74-75—295 |
| Bobby Cruickshank | 71-71-77-76—295 |
| Billy Burke | 76-71-77-72—296 |
| Macdonald Smith | 75-73-78-70—296 |
| Tom Creavy | 79-76-78-66—299 |
| Ralph Guldahl | 78-73-70-78—299 |
| Jimmy Hines | 80-70-77-72—299 |
| Johnny Revolta | 76-73-77-73—299 |
| Joe Kirkwood Sr. | 75-73-78-74—300 |
| Ted Luther | 78-71-78-73—300 |
| Willie Hunter Jr. | 75-74-80-72—301 |
| Alvin Krueger | 76-75-75-75—301 |
| a-Mark Fry | 79-75-74-74—302 |
| Henry Ciuci | 74-74-79-76—303 |
| Leo Diegel | 76-71-78-78—303 |
| Johnny Golden | 75-76-74-78—303 |
| Horton Smith | 74-73-79-77—303 |
| Al Espinosa | 76-74-76-78—304 |
| Philip Perkins | 78-74-79-73—304 |
| Herman Barron | 79-72-76-78—305 |
| Ky Laffoon | 76-73-80-76—305 |
| a-Lawson Little | 83-72-76-75—306 |
| Eddie Loos | 76-75-78-77—306 |
| Orville White | 76-79-76-75—306 |
| a-Rodney Bliss Jr. | 74-73-82-78—307 |
| Mortie Dutra | 74-77-79-77—307 |
| a-Zell Eaton | 76-73-78-80—307 |
| Paul Runyan | 74-78-79-76—307 |
| George Schnieter | 76-76-79-76—307 |
| Bill Schwartz | 81-74-73-79—307 |
| George Von Elm | 74-76-80-77—307 |
| Jack Forrester | 78-72-80-78—308 |
| Jim Foulis | 79-76-82-71—308 |
| Ed Dudley | 76-78-83-72—309 |
| Charles Lacey | 71-78-81-79—309 |
| Bill Mehlhorn | 78-77-77-77—309 |
| Sam Parks Jr. | 76-76-76-81—309 |
| Frank Walsh | 78-74-78-80—310 |
| a-Jack Westland | 77-76-81-76—310 |
| a-Johnny Goodman | 76-77-83-75—311 |
| Reggie Myles Jr. | 80-75-84-72—311 |
| Denny Shute | 78-73-81-79—311 |
| Jimmy Thomson | 74-75-78-84—311 |
| Willie Goggin | 74-80-80-79—313 |
| Henry Picard | 79-75-80-79—313 |
| Al Watrous | 77-78-82-76—313 |
| Julius Ackerbloom | 80-74-79-81—314 |
| Tommy Armour | 82-72-79-81—314 |
| Clarence Ehresman | 76-77-79-82—314 |
| Gunnar Johnson | 76-79-80-79—314 |
| a-Charlie Yates | 75-77-81-81—314 |
| a-Chris Brinke | 77-74-88-77—316 |
| Toney Penna | 76-76-81-83—316 |
| a-Gus Moreland | 77-76-85-79—317 |
| Johnny Farrell | 75-79-83-81—318 |
| Walter Hagen | 76-79-83-80—318 |
| a-George Dawson | 75-79-82-83—319 |
| John Schuebel | 78-77-80-84—319 |
| a-Rudolph Knepper | 82-73-85-82—322 |
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