1907 U.S. Open Golf Tournament Winner and Scores
Winner: Alex Ross, 302
Where it was played: Philadelphia Cricket Club in Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania
Tournament dates: June 20-21, 1907
Leader after first round: David Brown, 75
Leader after second round: Alex Ross, 150
Leader after third round: Jack Hobens, 224
What Happened in the 1907 U.S. Open Golf Tournament
Alex Ross, brother of golf design legend Donald Ross, won by two strokes over Gilbert Nicholls to take the trophy.Donald Ross himself was still playing tournament golf at this point, and finished 10th, 10 strokes behind his brother. (Another future golf design legend, A.W. Tillinghast, withdrew following the third round.)
Alex Ross had a 1-stroke lead over Jack Hobens at the midway point, and Hobens accomplished something in the second round that had never been done before in a U.S. Open: He made a hole-in-one.
After three rounds, Hobens led Ross by two strokes, but Hobens soared to an 85 in Round 4 and fell back to fourth place. Ross shot 76 and also passed up Gilbert Nicholls (79), the eventual runner-up, to claim the trophy. Nicholls was also runner-up at the 1904 U.S. Open.
Ross (who is also known as Alec Ross) kept playing U.S. Opens as late as 1926, but posted only one more Top 10 finish after this.
In the final round, Alex Campbell's golf ball sprang a leak. Campbell was playing a newfangled "pneumatic" golf ball, one filled with highly compressed air. But on the fourth hole, when he had moved into the lead, his ball partially deflated. Under the rules of the time, he could only switch to a new ball between holes, not during the play of one. So Campbell had to finish the fourth hole with that damaged ball. He made a triple bogey, and three strokes is the margin by which he finished behind Ross.
The U.S. Open and British Open were played on the same dates in 1907. That didn't matter much: Travel conditions prevented most golfers of the time from venturing overseas (either way) to play a golf tournament. But Alex Smith, the defending champion in the U.S. Open, did not return to defend that title because he chose to play the British Open instead.
1907 U.S. Open Final Scores
| Alex Ross | 76-74-76-76—302 |
| Gilbert Nicholls | 80-73-72-79—304 |
| Alex Campbell | 78-74-78-75—305 |
| Jack Hobens | 76-75-73-85—309 |
| George Low | 78-76-79-77—310 |
| Fred McLeod | 79-77-79-75—310 |
| Peter Robertson | 81-77-78-74—310 |
| David Brown | 75-80-78-78—311 |
| Bernard Nicholls | 76-76-81-78—311 |
| Donald Ross | 78-80-76-78—312 |
| Laurie Auchterlonie | 77-77-83-76—313 |
| Fred Brand | 78-80-73-82—313 |
| David Robertson | 80-78-75-81—314 |
| Tom McNamara | 82-79-78-76—315 |
| Willie Anderson | 81-77-81-77—316 |
| Mike Brady | 76-77-84-80—317 |
| David Hunter | 77-75-85-80—317 |
| Martin O'Loughlin | 81-81-77-78—317 |
| Jack Campbell | 78-79-82-80—319 |
| George Bouse | 78-78-86-78—320 |
| Stewart Gardner | 81-79-78-83—321 |
| James Campbell | 76-85-81-80—322 |
| Isaac Mackie | 82-83-79-78—322 |
| Walter Clark | 88-81-79-84—332 |
| Jack Jolly | 78-86-81-78—323 |
| David Ogilvie | 82-81-81-80—324 |
| Horace Rawlins | 82-76-83-83—324 |
| William Robinson | 82-84-80-78—324 |
| a-Jerome Travers | 81-84-80-79—324 |
| William Gaudin | 80-86-82-77—325 |
| William Ogilvie | 80-83-82-80—325 |
| James Thomson | 80-82-84-81—327 |
| George Thomson | 83-86-82-76—327 |
| a-George Smith | 78-82-83-85—328 |
| David Honeyman | 82-79-85-83—329 |
| Robert Peebles | 85-78-82-85—330 |
| William C. Sherwood | 82-84-85-79—330 |
| Herbert Strong | 82-85-84-80—331 |
| Alex Cunningham | 82-82-83-85—332 |
| David Foulis | 82-82-83-85—332 |
| Walter Fovargue | 80-84-86-82—332 |
| a-Simon Carr | 82-87-80-85—334 |
| J.S. Pearson | 79-83-85-87—334 |
| William Byrne | 85-84-81-85—335 |
| a-William West | 87-79-90-79—335 |
| William Hoare | 86-80-86-85—337 |
| a-H.M. Forrest | 82-82-87-87—338 |
| George Pearson | 81-86-90-84—341 |
| John Burke | 80-86-89-89—344 |
| a-Warren Cochran | 82-80-93-91—346 |
Previous and next:
1906 U.S. Open - 1908 U.S. Open