Byron Nelson made 2 eagle twos in the 1939 US Open!

“DID YOU KNOW”
Byron Nelson made 2 eagle twos in the 1939 US Open!

The 1939 US Open was played at the Philadelphia Country Club’s Spring Mill Course in the second week of June. The defending champion was Texan Ralph Guldahl who had won the last two US Opens, in 1937 and 1938.

The Spring Mill Course, a par 71, measured 6,786 yards. William Flynn, the original architect of the course, had been brought in to tighten up the course for the US Open. In the 12 years since the course had opened Flynn’s design had been softened some for member play. Flynn added new bunkers and some length to the course. For the tournament the United States Golf Association changed two of the five par-five holes to par-fours, with play from a forward tee box on those two holes. With only one par-five, the 18th hole (now 3rd), it made par 69. With that, six of the par-four holes were 450 yards or more in length. It appeared that the USGA was determined to keep the winning score from being under par.

Early Thursday June 8, 136 professionals and 29 amateurs began play teeing off in 2-man pairings at 5 minute intervals. At the end of the day Sam Snead was the only one who broke par. He led by one stroke with a 68. A second round 71 kept Snead in front by the same one stroke.

At that time the US Open had a 36-hole Saturday finish. For management of the gallery the leaders were off at various times. Snead, paired with the host professional Ed Dudley, was off at 8:50, and with a break for lunch, off at 12:50 for the final round. Their starting times were 1 hour and 20 minutes earlier than the final pairing.

On Saturday Byron Nelson shot a 68 in the final round for a four round total of 284. He was the low man in the clubhouse, but probably not a winner. Snead, playing two groups behind Nelson, was two strokes nearer par than Nelson with two holes to play. But then, Snead finished with a bogey 5 and a triple bogey 8 on the last two holes for 286. Later in the afternoon Craig Wood and Denny Shute also finished with 284s to end in a three-way tie with Nelson.  

There was an 18-hole playoff on Sunday at 2 p.m. The three players were asked, if the playoff ended in a tie, did they want to go to a sudden-death playoff or play another 18 holes. They chose to play another 18. With Philadelphia’s “Blue Laws”, no Sunday sporting event could start until one hour after church services ended. Nelson and Wood tied with 68s. Shute, with a 76, was eliminated. At 9:30 Monday morning there was a second 18-hole playoff. On the 4th hole (now 17th), Nelson holed out a 1-iron from 200 yards for an eagle 2. That carried him to a 70 and a three-stroke margin of victory.

Byron Nelson was the first to win the US Open not wearing a tie. Because the tournament lasted so long Nelson just ran out of clean dress shirts.

Most golfers have heard about Nelson’s eagle on the fourth hole that helped him win a playoff for the 1939 US Open, but very few know that he had made another eagle 2 earlier in the tournament in the third round. Playing with Olin Dutra, Nelson had holed out an 8-iron second shot on the par-four 3rd hole (now 16th).

Not only did Nelson make two eagle 2s during that US Open, but during the six rounds that included two 18-hole playoff rounds, his second shots from a 1-iron to an 8-iron on the par-4s, struck the flagstick six times.

Even with today’s golf ball that goes farther and straighter, the great golfers don’t seem to finish as near the hole with their second shots as the champion golfers of 75 years ago.