The 1939 Open Championship was the 74th

Open Championship The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...

, held 5–7 July at the Old Course in

St Andrews St Andrews (; ; , pronounced ʰʲɪʎˈrˠiː.ɪɲ is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fourth-largest settleme ...

, Scotland. Dick Burton won his only

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

title, two strokes ahead of runner-up Johnny Bulla. The purse was £500 with a winner's share of £100. It was the last Open played for seven years, due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Qualifying took place on 3–4 July, Monday and Tuesday, with 18 holes on the Old Course and 18 holes on the New Course. As in the previous year, the number of qualifiers was limited to a maximum of 130, and ties for 130th place did not qualify. For the first time a prize of £20 was awarded to the professional with the lowest qualifying score. Amateur Jimmy Bruen led the qualifiers on 138 with Henry Cotton next on 142; the qualifying score was 156 and 129 players advanced. Despite taking an eight at the 14th hole,

Bobby Locke Arthur D'Arcy "Bobby" Locke (20 November 1917 – 9 March 1987) was a South African professional golfer. He is generally regarded as one of the greatest golfers of all time. He won The Open Championship four times and 15 PGA Tour events in total ...

opened the championship on Wednesday with a round of 70 (−3), tying Burton for the lead. In the second round on Thursday, Locke again found trouble on 14, and after a ball out of bounds fell out of the lead. The maximum number of players making the cut after 36 holes was increased from 40 to 44, and ties for 44th place did not make the cut. Eleven players tied for 35th place, so only 34 players made the cut. John Fallon was the surprise leader after 54 holes by two shots, but he could not cope with the strong winds and fell back to 3rd place with a final round 79 (+6). Bulla, the only American to make the 36-hole cut, began the final round on Friday afternoon four strokes behind Fallon. At the second hole, he hooked his drive over the parallel 17th fairway and into a railway yard; he finished with a round of even-par 73 and established a clubhouse lead of at even par 292. Burton, setting out just as Bulla was finishing, needed a 72 to win the title and came to the 18th needing a par four. He hit a drive over , pitched to , then holed the birdie putt for a win. The previous three Opens at St Andrews had been won by Americans; Burton was the first Briton to win the Open at the Old Course since

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, won by James Braid of Scotland. Since Burton's 1939 win, the sole British winner at St Andrews was

Nick Faldo Sir Nicholas Alexander Faldo (born 18 July 1957) is an English retired professional golfer and television commentator. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, he was renowned for his dedication to the game, and was ranked No. ...

of England in

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. Burton enlisted in the

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shortly after his win. This was the last Open for seven years, until

1946 1946 (Roman numerals, MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1946th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 946th year of the 2nd millennium, the 46th year of the 20th centur ...

;

started in September 1939 and the championship was canceled through 1945. Birkdale Golf Club was scheduled as the venue for the 1940 championship, its first, but did not host until

1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...

Course

^ The 10th hole was posthumously named for Bobby Jones in 1972

Round summaries

First round

''Wednesday, 5 July 1939'' Source:

Second round

''Thursday, 6 July 1939'' Source:

Third round

''Friday, 7 July 1939 (morning)'' Source:

Final round

''Friday, 7 July 1939 (afternoon)'' Source: Amateurs: Bruen (+5), Kyle (+8), Crowley (+10), Dowie (+16), Sweeny (+16)

References

External links

St Andrews 1939 (Official site)
{{coord, 56.343, -2.803, type:event, display=title The Open Championship Golf tournaments in Scotland