Bob Jones’s stirring first round in the 1929 U.S. Open at Winged Foot has lived on in U.S. Open lore; a 69 that included a 31 on the back nine which matched the low nine-hole record shot by 1925 winner Willie Macfarlene.
At 6,786 yards, the West course at Winged Foot was the third longest in the event to that point. Architect A.W. Tillinghast recalled the only order 11 members of the New York Athletic Club gave him when they hired him in 1921: “It was brief and easily understood: ‘Give us a man’s sized course.’” The course opened two years later, and the only changes ahead of the 1929 Open were the addition of a half dozen bunkers. Tillinghast noted that the course was not to be stretched in length “to the extreme limits of the large teeing grounds just to make the scoring high. Nor will the holes be cut in canny corners of the greens to make putting tricky.”
Jones was a long hitter who could move it 300 yards off the tee on occasion with hickory shafts, and the course was playing fast. He began the championship 6, 4, 5 – four over par after three holes. He then played the 15 holes played in 7 under par.
Below is his scorecard with the string of five straight 5s on the back nine.
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