1978 U.S. Open (golf)


The 1978 U.S. Open was the 78th U.S. Open, held June 15–18 at Cherry Hills Country Club in Cherry Hills Village, Colorado, a suburb south of Denver. Andy North held on for a one-stroke victory over runners-up Dave Stockton and J. C. Snead to claim the first of his two U.S. Open titles.
The strength in North's game was putting, and he needed only 114 putts over 72 holes, tying the record set by Billy Casper in 1966. This was North's second win on the PGA Tour, but he would not win again until the 1985 U.S. Open; of North's three career PGA Tour wins, two of them came at the U.S. Open.
This was the third U.S. Open at Cherry Hills, which previously hosted in 1938 and 1960. It was also the site of the PGA Championship in 1941, and later hosted in 1985. The average elevation of the course exceeds above sea level.

Course layout

Hole123456789Out101112131415161718InTotal
Yards3994193234295431663842294323,3244375942033824862084195504803,7597,083
Par444453434354534434543671

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Lengths of the course for previous major championships:

Past champions in the field

Made the cut

Missed the cut

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Round summaries

First round

Thursday, June 15, 1978
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Hale Irwin69−2
T2Bobby Clampett 70−1
T2Andy North70−1
T2J. C. Snead70−1
T5Bill Brask71E
T5Billy Casper71E
T5Al Geiberger71E
T5Phil Hancock71E
T5Gary Player71E
T5Dave Stockton71E
T5Bobby Wadkins71E

Second round

Friday, June 16, 1978
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Andy North70-70=140−2
T2Jack Nicklaus73-69=142E
T2Gary Player71-71=142E
T2J. C. Snead70-72=142E
T5Bobby Clampett 70-73=143+1
T5Mark Hayes73-70=143+1
T5Hale Irwin69-74=143+1
T5Lee Trevino72-71=143+1
T9Seve Ballesteros75-69=144+2
T9Andy Bean72-72=144+2
T9Phil Hancock71-73=144+2
T9Joe Inman72-72=144+2
T9Peter Oosterhuis72-72=144+2
T9Dave Stockton71-73=144+2

Amateurs: Clampett, Holtgrieve , Heafner, Miller, Edwards, Choate, Hodge, Lewis, Pomerantz.

Third round

Saturday, June 17, 1978
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Andy North70-70-71=211−2
2Gary Player71-71-70=212−1
T3J. C. Snead70-72-72=214+1
T3Dave Stockton71-73-70=214+1
T5Seve Ballesteros75-69-71=215+2
T5Andy Bean72-72-71=215+2
T5Johnny Miller78-69-68=215+2
T8Tom Kite73-73-70=216+3
T8Billy Kratzert72-74-70=216+3
T8Jack Nicklaus73-69-74=216+3

Final round

Sunday, June 18, 1978
North began the final round with a one-stroke lead over Gary Player. Two months earlier, Player had won the Masters with a blistering 64 in the final round. History, however, would not repeat itself, as this time around Player struggled to a 77 and finished in a tie for 6th. North owned a four-shot lead over Snead heading to the back-nine, and after birdies at 11 and 13 he appeared to have the championship wrapped up. A bogey at 14, however, combined with a double-bogey at 15 and a birdie by Dave Stockton at the same hole dropped his lead to just one. Stockton, however, missed an 18-footer for par at 18, increasing North's lead to two.
Snead had a chance for birdie at the last after his tee shot skipped off the water and onto the fairway, but he missed the birdie putt. Needing just a bogey at 18 to win, North's drive found the rough. He hit his second shot into the fairway, then his third found a greenside bunker. Needing to get up-and-down, he played his sand shot to five feet, and after backing off twice, sank the bogey putt for the one-stroke win.
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo parMoney
1Andy North70-70-71-74=285+145,000
T2J. C. Snead70-72-72-72=286+219,750
T2Dave Stockton71-73-70-72=286+219,750
T4Hale Irwin69-74-75-70=288+413,000
T4Tom Weiskopf77-73-70-68=288+413,000
T6Andy Bean72-72-71-74=289+57,548
T6Billy Kratzert72-74-70-73=289+57,548
T6Johnny Miller78-69-68-74=289+57,548
T6Jack Nicklaus73-69-74-73=289+57,548
T6Gary Player71-71-70-77=289+57,548
T6Tom Watson74-75-70-70=289+57,548

Amateurs: Bobby Clampett, Jim Holtgrieve

Scorecard

Final round
Hole123456789101112131415161718
Par444453434453443454
North−2−2−2−3−4−4−4−3−2−1−2−2−3−2EEE+1
Snead+1+1+1+1+1EE+1+2+2+2+2+2+2+2+2+2+2
Stockton+1+2+2+2+2+2+2+2+2+2+1+1+1+2+1+1+1+2
Irwin+6+6+6+6+5+4+4+5+4+5+4+4+4+4+4+4+3+4
Weiskopf+7+7+7+7+6+6+6+6+7+6+5+5+5+5+5+5+4+4
Player−1E+1+1+1+1+1+2+3+3+3+4+4+4+5+5+4+5

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
BirdieBogeyDouble bogey

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