The USGA Museum has been closed to the public for months. But that didn’t stop TGJ Senior Writer and podcast host Tom Coyne from finagling an all-access tour in preparation for the U.S. Open at Winged Foot. Alongside Museum Director Hilary Cronheim, he finds Mickey Wright’s jewelry, the original sheet music to Winged Foot’s fight song (because every course should have a fight song), the most clutch putter of all time, and a vault holding some of golf’s most valuable artifacts.
“In the final round [of the 1929 U.S. Open], Jones missed the green on 18, leaving him an uphill shot to the flag. He left himself 12 feet above the hole to force a playoff. Grantland Rice called this ‘golf’s greatest putt’ and many believe it to be the most dramatic moment in Winged Foot history. Jones would defeat Al Espinosa by 23 strokes in the playoff.”
Hilary Cronheim
