Golf’s national championship had a humble start in 1895. Eleven players completed on the 9-hole Newport (R.I.) Golf Club, with winner, Horace Rollins, claiming a check for $150. Since then the U.S. Open has become the most prestigious event in the sport. Here are some of the greatest moments.
10. 1930: Bobby Jones
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At Interlachen (Minn.), the 28-year-old birdied three of the final five holes to defeat Macdonald Smith by two strokes. Later in the year, when he won the U.S. Amateur, he retired from competitive golf after completing the Amateur Slam, which included the British Open and British Amateur.
9. 1962: Jack Nicklaus
Playing his first Open as a pro, Nicklaus, 22, shot 71 to defeat Arnold Palmer by three strokes in a Monday playoff at Oakmont. Palmer, a made-for-TV icon, missed clinching putts on the final two holes Sunday, triggering an Arnie-Jack rivalry that would raise the profile of golf in the 1960s.
8. 1999: Payne Stewart
Four months before his untimely death at age 42, Stewart rolled in the clinching 20-foot par putt on No. 18, supplying the exclamation point with an overhand fist pump toward the hole. The moment was commemorated in stone, a statue of Stewart with arm extended, stands now at Pinehurst (N.C.).
7. 1968: Lee Trevino
With a bandage on his forearm, covering a tattoo, Trevino emerged at Oak Hill, winning his first tour title and becoming the first player in Open history to break 70 all four rounds. Nicknamed “Super-Mex,” Trevino had an unorthodox swing and an unlikely background, raised in Texas by Mexican parents.
6. 1960: Arnold Palmer
Coming from seven strokes back in the final round at Cherry Hills, Palmer passes Mike Souchak early, then out-duels Jack Nicklaus, then a 20-year-old amateur, and Ben Hogan, gunning for an unprecedented fifth Open title at 47. With a final-round 65, it would be the last Open victory for Palmer.
5. 1951: Ben Hogan
Sixteen months after a near-fatal highway collision, Hogan, struggling on heavily bandaged legs, survived 36 holes on Sunday and 18 more in a Monday playoff at Merion, shooting 69 to defeat Lloyd Mangrum and George Fazio. Hogan’s comeback was the subject of the biopic, “Follow The Sun.”
4. 1982: Tom Watson
Dueling rival Jack Nicklaus in the final round at Pebble Beach, Watson struck perhaps the most famous shot in Open history, chipping in from a bad lie in thick rough for a birdie on the 71st hole. It was the sixth of eight major championships for the Watson.
3. 2000: Tiger Woods
Woods fires a 12-under-par 272 at Pebble Beach, winning by a major championship record 15 strokes, besting the mark of Old Tom Morris, who won the British Open in 1862 by 13 strokes. Woods’ victory began his “Tiger Slam” as he followed with wins at the British, PGA, and 2001 Masters.
2. 1973: Johnny Miller
Four American veterans started the final round tied for the lead at Oakmont, but the 26-year-old Miller passed them all with an Open-record 63, since tied three times. With brilliant iron play, Miller started with four birdies and later said, “It was the greatest round of golf in my life by a country mile.”
1. 2008: Tiger Woods
In the greatest demonstration of his will, Woods, hobbling badly on a torn ACL, made the tying 15-foot putt on the 72nd hole, then out-dueled affable journeyman Rocco Mediate in a thrilling 19-hole Monday playoff for his 14th major championship.
