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1978 U.S. Open (golf)

Field	Value
name	1978 U.S. Open
dates	June 15–18, 1978
location	Cherry Hills Village, Colorado
course	Cherry Hills Country Club
org	USGA
tour	PGA Tour
par	71
yardage	7083 yd
field	153 players,
63 after cut
cut	150 (+8)
winners_share	$45,000
champion	USA Andy North
score	285 (+1)
previous	[1977](1977-u-s-open-golf)
next	[1979](1979-u-s-open-golf)
map	USA#USA Colorado
map_relief	yes
map_label	Cherry Hills
map_caption	Location in the United States##Location in Colorado
coordinates

63 after cut |USA |USA Colorado 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 did 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 and most recent 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 5300 ft above sea level.

Three players received special exemptions into the field: 21-year-old Seve Ballesteros of Spain and former champions Arnold Palmer (1960) and Billy Casper (1959, 1966), increasing the field to 153.

Only 43 players in the original field of 150 were exempt from the qualifying process, and the PGA Tour felt this was too few. To protest, the Tour staged its Buick Open the same week this year as an alternate event. Jack Newton defeated Mike Sullivan with a birdie on the first playoff hole to take the $20,000 winner's share.

Course layout

Main article: Cherry Hills Country Club

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Out	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	In	Total
Yards	399	419	323	429	543	166	384	229	432	3,324	437	594	203	382	486	208	419	550	480	3,759	7,083
Par	4	4	4	4	5	3	4	3	4	35	4	5	3	4	4	3	4	5	4	36	71

Source:

Lengths of the course for previous major championships:

7004 yd, par 71 - 1960 U.S. Open
6888 yd, par 71 - 1941 PGA Championship
6888 yd, par 71 - 1938 U.S. Open

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, June 15, 1978

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	USA Hale Irwin	69	−2
T2	USA Bobby Clampett (a)	70	−1
USA Andy North
USA J. C. Snead
T5	USA Bill Brask	71	E
USA Billy Casper
USA Al Geiberger
USA Phil Hancock
ZAF Gary Player
USA Dave Stockton
USA Bobby Wadkins

Second round

Friday, June 16, 1978

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	USA Andy North	70-70=140	−2
T2	USA Jack Nicklaus	73-69=142	E
ZAF Gary Player	71-71=142
USA J. C. Snead	70-72=142
T5	USA Bobby Clampett (a)	70-73=143	+1
USA Mark Hayes	73-70=143
USA Hale Irwin	69-74=143
USA Lee Trevino	72-71=143
T9	ESP Seve Ballesteros	75-69=144	+2
USA Andy Bean	72-72=144
USA Phil Hancock	71-73=144
USA Joe Inman	72-72=144
ENG Peter Oosterhuis	72-72=144
USA Dave Stockton	71-73=144

Amateurs: Clampett (+1), Holtgrieve (+8), Heafner (+9), Miller (+9), Edwards (+11), Choate (+16), Hodge (+17), Lewis (+21), Pomerantz (+25).

Third round

Saturday, June 17, 1978

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	USA Andy North	70-70-71=211	−2
2	ZAF Gary Player	71-71-70=212	−1
T3	USA J. C. Snead	70-72-72=214	+1
USA Dave Stockton	71-73-70=214
T5	ESP Seve Ballesteros	75-69-71=215	+2
USA Andy Bean	72-72-71=215
USA Johnny Miller	78-69-68=215
T8	USA Tom Kite	73-73-70=216	+3
USA Billy Kratzert	72-74-70=216
USA Jack Nicklaus	73-69-74=216

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 (+6) 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 (5.5 m) 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 5 ft and after backing off twice, sank the bogey putt for the one-stroke win.

Place	Player	Score	To par	Money ($)
1	USA Andy North	70-70-71-74=285	+1	45,000
T2	USA J. C. Snead	70-72-72-72=286	+2	19,750
USA Dave Stockton	71-73-70-72=286
T4	USA Hale Irwin	69-74-75-70=288	+4	13,000
USA Tom Weiskopf	77-73-70-68=288
T6	USA Andy Bean	72-72-71-74=289	+5	7,548
USA Billy Kratzert	72-74-70-73=289
USA Johnny Miller	78-69-68-74=289
USA Jack Nicklaus	73-69-74-73=289
ZAF Gary Player	71-71-70-77=289
USA Tom Watson	74-75-70-70=289

Amateurs: Bobby Clampett (+13), Jim Holtgrieve (+20)

Scorecard

Final round

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
Par	4	4	4	4	5	3	4	3	4	4	5	3	4	4	3	4	5	4
USA North	−2	−2	−2	−3	−4	−4	−4	−3	−2	−1	−2	−2	−3	−2	E	E	E	+1
USA Snead	+1	+1	+1	+1	+1	E	E	+1	+2	+2	+2	+2	+2	+2	+2	+2	+2	+2
USA Stockton	+1	+2	+2	+2	+2	+2	+2	+2	+2	+2	+1	+1	+1	+2	+1	+1	+1	+2
USA Irwin	+6	+6	+6	+6	+5	+4	+4	+5	+4	+5	+4	+4	+4	+4	+4	+4	+3	+4
USA Weiskopf	+7	+7	+7	+7	+6	+6	+6	+6	+7	+6	+5	+5	+5	+5	+5	+5	+4	+4
RSA Player	−1	E	+1	+1	+1	+1	+1	+2	+3	+3	+3	+4	+4	+4	+5	+5	+4	+5

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par

Double Eagle		Eagle --		Birdie		Bogey		Double bogey		Triple bogey+ --

Source:

References

Parascenzo, Marino. (June 16, 1978). "Hale fires hearty 69 in Open". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
(June 17, 1978). "U.S. Open results: Second round". Spokesman-Review.
Bunch, Ken. "North holds on to win US Open". Milwaukee Sentinel.
Jenkins, Dan. (June 26, 1978). "The bogey that won the Open".
(1978-06-04). "34 U.S. Open Spots Up For Grabs Here". The Charlotte Observer.
(June 19, 1978). "Newton's birdie decides Buick Open playoff". Wilmington Morning Star.
(June 11, 1978). "Cherry Hills CC hole by hole". Lakeland Ledger.
(June 19, 1978). "North's Open winner: makes critical putt". Spokesman-Review.
Parascenzo, Marino. (June 19, 1978). "North stubles to Open title by stroke". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
"U.S. Open History". USGA.

Info: Wikipedia Source

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