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1978 U.S. Open
Tournament information
Dates	June 15–18, 1978
Location	Cherry Hills Village, Colorado
Course(s)	Cherry Hills Country Club
Organized by	USGA
Tour(s)	PGA Tour
Statistics
Par	71
Length	7,083 yards (6,477 m)
Field	153 players, 63 after cut
Cut	150 (+8)
Winner's share	$45,000
Champion
	Andy North
	285 (+1)
	← 1977 1979 →

Cherry Hills Country Club

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Location in the United States

Cherry Hills Country Club

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Location in 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.^[3]^[4]

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 5,300 feet (1,620 m) above sea level.

Three players received special exemptions into the field. They were Billy Casper, Seve Ballesteros, and Arnold Palmer.^[5]

Forty-three golfers received an exemption from the qualifying process. The PGA Tour felt this was too few players. To protest, the PGA Tour staged the Buick Open the same week to compete with the U.S. Open.^[5]

Course layout

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:^[6]

Lengths of the course for previous major championships:

7,004 yards (6,404 m), par 71 - 1960 U.S. Open
6,888 yards (6,298 m), par 71 - 1941 PGA Championship
6,888 yards (6,298 m), par 71 - 1938 U.S. Open

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, June 15, 1978

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

Second round

Friday, June 16, 1978

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Andy North	70-70=140	−2
T2	Jack Nicklaus	73-69=142	E
	Gary Player	71-71=142
	J. C. Snead	70-72=142
T5	Bobby Clampett (a)	70-73=143	+1
	Mark Hayes	73-70=143
	Hale Irwin	69-74=143
	Lee Trevino	72-71=143
T9	Seve Ballesteros	75-69=144	+2
	Andy Bean	72-72=144
	Phil Hancock	71-73=144
	Joe Inman	72-72=144
	Peter Oosterhuis	72-72=144
	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	Andy North	70-70-71=211	−2
2	Gary Player	71-71-70=212	−1
T3	J. C. Snead	70-72-72=214	+1
T3	Dave Stockton	71-73-70=214	+1
T5	Seve Ballesteros	75-69-71=215	+2
	Andy Bean	72-72-71=215
	Johnny Miller	78-69-68=215
T8	Tom Kite	73-73-70=216	+3
	Billy Kratzert	72-74-70=216
	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 five feet (1.5 m), and after backing off twice, sank the bogey putt for the one-stroke win.^[7]^[8]

Place	Player	Score	To par	Money ($)
1	Andy North	70-70-71-74=285	+1	45,000
T2	J. C. Snead	70-72-72-72=286	+2	19,750
T2	Dave Stockton	71-73-70-72=286	+2	19,750
T4	Hale Irwin	69-74-75-70=288	+4	13,000
T4	Tom Weiskopf	77-73-70-68=288	+4	13,000
T6	Andy Bean	72-72-71-74=289	+5	7,548
	Billy Kratzert	72-74-70-73=289
	Johnny Miller	78-69-68-74=289
	Jack Nicklaus	73-69-74-73=289
	Gary Player	71-71-70-77=289
	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
North	−2	−2	−2	−3	−4	−4	−4	−3	−2	−1	−2	−2	−3	−2	E	E	E	+1
Snead	+1	+1	+1	+1	+1	E	E	+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	−1	E	+1	+1	+1	+1	+1	+2	+3	+3	+3	+4	+4	+4	+5	+5	+4	+5

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par

	Birdie		Bogey		Double bogey

Source:^[9]

References

^ Parascenzo, Marino (June 16, 1978). "Hale fires hearty 69 in Open". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 11.
^ "U.S. Open results: Second round". Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. Associated Press. June 17, 1978. p. 15.
^ Bunch, Ken. "North holds on to win US Open". Milwaukee Sentinel. p. 1, part 2.
^ Jenkins, Dan (June 26, 1978). "The bogey that won the Open". Sports Illustrated. p. 14.
^ ^a ^b "34 U.S. Open Spots Up For Grabs Here". The Charlotte Observer. June 4, 1978. p. 33. Retrieved June 22, 2021.
^ "Cherry Hills CC hole by hole". Lakeland Ledger. Florida. Associated Press. June 11, 1978. p. 8D.
^ "North's Open winner: makes critical putt". Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. Associated Press. June 19, 1978. p. 17.
^ Parascenzo, Marino (June 19, 1978). "North stubles to Open title by stroke". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 13.
^ "U.S. Open History". USGA. Retrieved April 24, 2019.