John Goodman

Johnny Goodman, an amateur, played away to one of the Open's longest leads, then turned conservative and won by only a stroke at the North Shore Golf Club, Glen View, Ill., in June. Goodman started with a 75 and a 66 to lead at the halfway mark, extended his lead to six strokes with a 70 in the third round and started his last round 4-3-2, three less than par.

Yet he fell away to a 76 for 287, one under par, and Ralph Guldahl would have tied him if his iron shot to the last green had been true for a 4, instead of fading into a bunker for a 5. Goodman, the fourth man to break par in the Open, played from the Omaha (Neb.) Field Club and was the fifth and last amateur to win; like Ouinet, Evans and Jones, he was not to win his Amateur Championship until later, four years later in his case.