That 299 belonged to Sam Parks Jr., the club pro at Pittsburgh's South Hills Country Club, who at age 12 took lessons from Gene Sarazen. Parks had been a pro for only three years in 1935, and had no tournament wins. But every day for a month prior to the U.S. Open, Parks - heading to his job at South Hills - stopped off at Oakmont to play nine holes. He entered the U.S. Open thinking his knowledge of Oakmont might pay off.

And it did. Parks was the only golfer to finish the tournament in fewer than 300 strokes.

Parks and Jimmy Thomson were tied for the lead entering the final round, with many others in the hunt. But with bad weather conditions exacerbating Oakmont's treacherous greens, all those big names posted big numbers: Walter Hagen, 76; Denny Shute, 76; Henry Picard, 79; Sarazen, 79; Horton Smith, 79.

Thomson shot 78 and Parks 76, and that was the 2-stroke margin of victory. Parks had only one other Top 10 finish in a major. Thomson never won a major, but also finished second at the 1936 PGA Championship.

Hagen's tie for third was his last Top 10 finish in a major championship. Byron Nelson's tie for 32nd was his first cut made in a U.S. Open (in his second appearance).

Six golfers from Japan were on an exhibition tour across America in 1935, and one of them - Kanekichi Nakamura - made the cut here. He was quoted afterward in Time magazine on the Oakmont greens: "At home we hit ball on green. Here you bunt."