The 1954 U.S. Open was the 54th U.S. Open, held June 17–19 at

Baltusrol Golf Club The Baltusrol Golf Club is a private 36-hole golf club in the eastern United States, located in Springfield, New Jersey, about west of New York City. It was founded in 1895 by Louis Keller. In 1985, Baltusrol became the first club to have ho ...

in Springfield, New Jersey, west of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. On the Lower Course,

Ed Furgol Edward Joseph Furgol (March 24, 1917 – March 6, 1997) was an American professional golfer, the winner of the U.S. Open in 1954. At age twelve, Furgol injured his left elbow when he fell off a set of parallel bars at a playground. Despite sever ...

won his only

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

title, one stroke ahead of runner-up

Gene Littler Gene Alec Littler (July 21, 1930 – February 15, 2019) was an American professional golfer and a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame. Known for a solid temperament and nicknamed "Gene the Machine" for his smooth, rhythmical swing, he once said ...

. Littler owned the 36-hole lead by two strokes over defending champion

Ben Hogan William Ben Hogan (August 13, 1912 – July 25, 1997) was an American professional golfer who is generally considered to be one of the greatest players in the history of the game. He is notable for his profound influence on golf swing theory and ...

and Furgol. After a 76 in the third round, Littler fell three strokes back of Furgol, who shot a 71 to take a one-stroke lead over Dick Mayer. Hogan made four bogeys at the first six holes and fell out of contention with a 76. In the final round on Saturday afternoon, Littler rebounded with a 70, but it was not enough. Furgol was helped by a great recovery on the 18th. After hitting his drive into the trees, he played his escape shot onto the 18th fairway of Baltusrol's other course. From there he managed to make par, carding a 72 for a 284 total. Mayer was tied with Furgol as he played 18, but he double-bogeyed the hole to fall into third. This U.S. Open was the first to be nationally televised, one hour of the final round, carried by

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

. It was also the first in which ropes were used to control the gallery, and prize money was increased by 20% over the previous year. This was the fourth U.S. Open at Baltusrol, but the first on the Lower Course, which later hosted in

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

, and

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

Course layout

Lower Course Source: Lengths of the courses for previous major championships at Baltusrol: *, par 72 - 1936 U.S. Open (Upper Course) *, par 74 - 1915 U.S. Open (Old Course) The Old Course was plowed under in 1918 *, par - 1903 U.S. Open (Old Course)

Past champions in the field

Made the cut

Missed the cut

Source:

Round summaries

First round

''Thursday, June 17, 1954'' Source:

Second round

''Friday, June 18, 1954'' Source:

Third round

''Saturday, June 19, 1954 (morning)'' Source:

Final round

''Saturday, June 19, 1954 (afternoon)'' Source: :(a) denotes

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

References

External links

USOpen.com - 1954
{{coord, 40.705, -74.328, type:event, display=title U.S. Open (golf) Golf in New Jersey Springfield Township, Union County, New Jersey U.S. Open U.S. Open U.S. Open golf U.S. Open golf