James H. Buxbaum

In response to the preference of the Public Links Committee, the field of sectional qualifiers was reduced from 200 to 150 and a 36-hole qualifying round was restored to determine 64 qualifiers and the team Championship.

The Champion was exempt from sectional but not from Championship qualifying. This was substantially the form which had been used through 1947. The even attracted an entry of 1,921 and was held for the second time at the Harding Park Golf Course, in San Francisco, Calif.

All honors went to Memphis, Tenn. It won the team Championship for the first time with a three-man score of 445 for 36 holes, and James H. (Junie) Buxbaum, a trucking company representative, won the individual Championship, defeating William C. Scarbrough, Jr. in the final, 3 and 2. Scarbrough, a Navy Chief Petty Officer stationed at Jacksonville, Fla., had originated in Memphis, too. Buxbaum had played as a professional from late 1947 into 1951 and been reinstated in 1953. It was his first appearance in this event.

The qualifying medal was won by D.M. (Scotty) McBeath, of Palo Alto, Calif. With 69-72-141, three under par. Joe Gallardo, Jr., of Los Angeles, made a 68 in the second round, the lowest 18-hole score. Fifteen tied for the last 14 places at 155, but there was no playoff since two failed to appear and one of them was drawn into match play by lot.

The scores all ran higher than in the first playing at Harding Park in 1937. Sam D. Kocsis, the defending Champion, made a 77 in the first qualifying round and then was recalled to Detroit because of the death of his feather-in-law. Gene Andrews, the 1954 Champion, and 1955 semi-finalist, failed to qualify sectionally. Joe Roach, of Los Angeles, the national Negro amateur Champion, played for the first time and reached the quarter finals.