1916 U.S. Open (golf)

The 1916 U.S. Open was the 22nd U.S. Open, held June 29–30 at Minikahda Club in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Amateur Chick Evans led wire-to-wire and set a new U.S. Open scoring record to win his only U.S. Open title, two strokes ahead of runner-up Jock Hutchison.

Contents

• Course layout
• Past champions in the field
• Final leaderboard
• References

There were 94 entries and on-site qualifying was held. Everyone had to qualify except the defending champion. Qualifying was held on Tuesday and Wednesday and each day half the field played for 32 places in the starting field.

Evans opened the tournament with rounds of 70-69, becoming the first player in U.S. Open history to shoot below 140 in the first two rounds. He led by three over Wilfrid Reid, but Reid shot himself out of contention with a 79 (+7) in the third round. Evans carded a 74 to maintain his 3-shot advantage, this time over Jim Barnes, going into the final round. After a double-bogey at the 4th, Evans recovered with a birdie at 5 and matched Barnes through the front-nine. At the par-5 12th Evans found the green in two shots and two-putted for a birdie. He finished with a round of 73 to Barnes' 74. Hutchison, nine back after two rounds, moved up to 2nd place with a 68 (–4), the lowest score to date in the final round of a U.S. Open. As the top professional, he took home the winner's share of the purse.

Evans' total of 286 established a new U.S. Open scoring record that stood for two decades, until 1936. Three months later he won the U.S. Amateur championship at Merion near Philadelphia to become the first to win both titles in the same year. Evans won the U.S. Amateur again in 1920.

Like previous U.S. Opens, this championship was scheduled for just two days, 36 holes each. When the tournament resumed play in 1919, after the 1917 and 1918 events were canceled due to World War I, it was stretched to three days, with 18 holes on the first two days and 36 holes on the third. It reverted to the two-day format in 1920, then went to the three-day schedule in 1926.