1935 U.S. Open Winner and Scores
The 1935 U.S. Open was the 39th time the tournament was played. The winner, one of the lesser-known major champs, used local knowledge to claim the victory.
Winner: Sam Parks Jr., 299
Where it was played: Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pennsylvania
Tournament dates: June 6-8, 1935
Leader after first round: Alvin Krueger, 71
Leader after second round: Jimmy Thomson, 146
Leader after third round: Sam Parks and Jimmy Thomson, 223
What Happened in the 1935 U.S. Open
Writing in the July 1935 issue of American Golfer, sportswriter Grantland Rice said of Oakmont Country Club, site of the 1935 U.S. Open:"Oakmont, with its ghostlike, haunted greens and its snatching traps peering well out into the fairways, is something more than a savage test of golf. It is also the type of course, as arranged for the recent Open Championship, that breaks down the mental side and rips into the nerves."The course certainly seemed to have that effect during the 1935 U.S. Open. The winning score of 299 is the highest winning total in a U.S. Open since 1927 (which is the last time the winning score was 300 or more).
That winning 299 belonged to Sam Parks Jr., the club pro at Pittsburgh's South Hills Country Club, who at age 12 took lessons from Gene Sarazen. Parks had been a pro for only three years in 1935, and had no tournament wins. But every day for a month prior to the U.S. Open, Parks, heading to his job at South Hills, stopped off at Oakmont to play nine holes. He entered the U.S. Open thinking his knowledge of Oakmont might pay off.
And it did. Parks was the only golfer to finish the tournament in fewer than 300 strokes.
Parks and Jimmy Thomson were tied for the lead entering the final round, with many others in the hunt. But with bad weather conditions exacerbating Oakmont's treacherous greens, all those big names posted big numbers: Walter Hagen, 76; Denny Shute, 76; Henry Picard, 79; Sarazen, 79; Horton Smith, 79.
Thomson shot 78 and Parks 76, and that was the 2-stroke margin of victory. Parks had only one other Top 10 finish in a major. Thomson never won a major, but also finished second at the 1936 PGA Championship.
Hagen's tie for third was his last Top 10 finish in a major championship. Byron Nelson's tie for 32nd was his first cut made in a U.S. Open (in his second appearance).
Six golfers from Japan were on an exhibition tour across America in 1935, and one of them, Kanekichi Nakamura, made the cut here. He was quoted afterward in Time magazine on the Oakmont greens: "At home we hit ball on green. Here you bunt."
1935 U.S. Open Final Scores
| Sam Parks Jr. | 77-73-73-76—299 |
| Jimmy Thomson | 73-73-77-78—301 |
| Walter Hagen | 77-76-73-76—302 |
| Ray Mangrum | 76-76-72-79—303 |
| Denny Shute | 78-73-76-76—303 |
| Alvin Krueger | 71-77-78-80—306 |
| Henry Picard | 79-78-70-79—306 |
| Gene Sarazen | 75-74-78-79—306 |
| Horton Smith | 73-79-79-75—306 |
| Dick Metz | 77-76-76-78—307 |
| Paul Runyan | 76-77-79-75—307 |
| Olin Dutra | 77-76-78-77—308 |
| Vincent Eldred | 75-77-77-79—308 |
| Herman Barron | 73-79-78-79—309 |
| Bobby Cruickshank | 78-76-77-78—309 |
| Mortie Dutra | 75-77-80-77—309 |
| Macdonald Smith | 74-82-76-77—309 |
| Ted Turner | 80-71-81-77—309 |
| Al Watrous | 75-80-79-75—309 |
| Vic Ghezzi | 75-78-81-77—311 |
| Sid Brews | 76-81-78-77—312 |
| Ed Dudley | 74-83-75-80—312 |
| Bill Kaiser | 78-82-78-74—312 |
| Gene Kunes | 76-79-77-80—312 |
| Craig Wood | 76-80-79-77—312 |
| Ted Luther | 80-76-84-73—313 |
| Frank Walsh | 76-82-82-73—313 |
| Harry Cooper | 77-81-79-77—314 |
| Al Espinosa | 75-76-78-85—314 |
| Willie Hunter Jr. | 78-80-80-76—314 |
| Ky Laffoon | 75-83-81-75—314 |
| a-Chris Brinke | 80-80-81-74—315 |
| Billy Burke | 77-84-75-79—315 |
| Jim Foulis | 74-81-81-79—315 |
| Byron Nelson | 75-81-82-77—315 |
| a-Johnny Goodman | 77-78-83-78—316 |
| Philip Perkins | 77-82-80-77—316 |
| Johnny Revolta | 80-75-82-79—316 |
| Mark Fry | 80-77-80-80—317 |
| Perry Del Vecchio | 80-81-77-80—318 |
| Willie Goggin | 77-82-82-77—318 |
| Ralph Guldahl | 78-76-82-82—318 |
| Roland Mackenzie | 72-82-80-84—318 |
| Tony Manero | 77-80-76-85—318 |
| a-Zell Eaton | 81-80-82-76—319 |
| Cliff Spencer | 73-82-80-84—319 |
| Floyd Farley | 75-84-84-77—320 |
| Al Houghton | 78-82-80-80—320 |
| Willie Macfarlane | 77-81-78-84—320 |
| James Fogertey | 82-79-79-81—321 |
| George Schnieter | 77-84-79-81—321 |
| Johnny Farrell | 77-79-84-82—322 |
| Phil Turnesa | 77-82-82-81—322 |
| a-Charlie Yates | 77-79-84-82—322 |
| a-Maurice McCarthy Jr. | 79-81-81-83—324 |
| Felix Serafin | 80-79-81-84—324 |
| George Von Elm | 81-74-83-86—324 |
| Walter Kozak | 81-78-81-85—325 |
| Kanekichi Nakamura | 82-79-78-86—325 |
| Jack Gordon | 75-79-87-87—328 |
| Johnny Golden | 79-81-86-86—332 |
| a-Earl Stokes Jr. | 76-80-93-85—334 |
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