SIXTY-ONE IS A lot of U.S. Opens and a lot of pressure—and I’m just talking about the deadlines. In any case, I invite you to de-anchor yourself and your putter and come along with me as I dredge up memories and thoughts from covering our national championship over seven decades.
Best Question
Jack Nicklaus to the USGA’s P. J. Boatwright in the 1972 Open at Pebble Beach: “What did you do with all the grass?”
Biggest Distraction
At Oakmont in 1994, Ernie Els was halfway toward winning his first U.S. Open while the rest of us were watching the O.J. Bronco chase.
Best First Tee, Best Flagsticks, Best Quarry Holes
Merion, Merion, and Merion.
First Golfer to Choose Winning the Open over Death by Dehydration
Ken Venturi at Congressional in 1964. They opened the coffin and out he crawled to shoot 66-70 the last day.
Best Open
Hard to go up against Palmer, Hogan, and Nicklaus battling down the stretch at Cherry Hills in 1960.
Second-Best Open
Hogan bringing the monster to its knees with that final-round 67 at Oakland Hills in 1951.
Dullest Open
No contest. The Germanater, Martin Kaymer, winning by eight at Pinehurst in 2014. Those turtleback greens sucked the life out of everything, including the press tent.
Greatest Streak
Ben Hogan finished in the top ten in sixteen straight Opens, winning five. Yeah, I count the wartime Open in ’42. So did he. How often do I have to say this?
Most Surprising Winner of Two Opens
Andy North at Cherry Hills in 1978 and at Oakland Hills in 1985. “It was an awful Open,” Andy said in ’85. “Jack didn’t win.”
When Did Mesopotamia Get the Open?
The clubhouse at Medinah still looks like the Babylon Marriott.
My Favorite Courses That Have Never Held the Open (and Can’t, Won’t, or Never Will)
Pine Valley, Cypress Point, Seminole, National Golf Links, Bel-Air, Brook Hollow, San Francisco Golf, Maidstone, Winged Foot East, Shady Oaks, Black Diamond Ranch.
Scariest Spectator
In the gallery at Oakland Hills in 1996 was Jack Kevorkian, “Dr. Death.”
Funniest Thing “Dr. Death” Said
“I’m going to walk up to Jack Nicklaus and tell him, ‘If you don’t win, I’m here.’ ”
First Cross-Handed Putting Grip to Win Open
Old Sarge, Orville Moody, used it at Champions in 1969. It was considered rare in golf for many years, but then the world went nutso-whacko with bellies and broomsticks and claws and claw threes and reverse retards.
Best Quotes
Jackie Burke on USGA officials: “Most of them don’t know the rules. They just want to play blue coat and arm band.”
Cary Middlecoff, after winning the Open at Oak Hill in 1956 while sitting in the clubhouse, which was after he sat in the clubhouse at Medinah in 1949 and won the Open: “Nobody wins the Open. It wins you.”
Tom Weiskopf, laughing after hearing about Johnny Miller’s 63 at Oakmont in 1973: “I didn’t know Miller made the cut!”
Tommy Bolt at Southern Hills in 1958 after accusing a writer from the Tulsa World of printing his age as forty-nine and hearing the writer say it was a typographical error: “Typographical error, my ass—it was a perfect four and a perfect nine.”
Lee Trevino after winning at Oak Hill in 1968 and being asked what he was going to do with all the prize money: “Buy the Alamo and give it back to the Mexicans.”
Joe Dey, the USGA’s executive director, when hearing complaints about the punishing, unfair setup of Oakland Hills in 1951: “You play the course the way you find it.”
Name the Player Who Has Won All of His Opens on Public Courses
Tiger Woods. At Pebble Beach, Bethpage, Torrey Pines.
Greatest Players Who Never Won the Open
Sam Snead, Phil Mickelson, Jimmy Demaret, Seve Ballesteros, Greg Norman, Macdonald Smith, Nick Faldo, Tom Weiskopf, Ben Crenshaw, Lanny Wadkins, Henry Picard, Paul Runyan, Harry Cooper, Horton Smith, Denny Shute, Bobby Locke, Henry Cotton, Jackie Burke.
Best Finishing Hole
The 18th at Winged Foot. It’s not exactly calendar art, but this par-4 has made things happen: Bobby Jones’s 12-foot putt to tie Al Espinosa in 1929, Billy Casper’s clutch putts for pars in 1959, Hale Irwin’s two-iron shot in 1974, Fuzzy Zoeller’s white towel waving at Greg Norman in 1984, and Phil Mickelson’s mind-boggling gift to Geoff Ogilvy in 2006. One way or another, it’s a finishing hole that’s had something to say about the winner of every Open at Winged Foot.
Worst Finishing Hole
It’s understandable why no one has written a poem about Lucas Glover playing Bethpage Black’s par-4 18th with a six-iron and a nine-iron in 2009. It wasn’t exactly Hogan at Merion.
The Trouble with Pebble’s 17th
Take away two shots—Nicklaus’s one-iron stiff in 1972 and Tom Watson’s holed-out chip in 1982—and what have you got? A par-3 hole that’s long, hard, and dull.
Last Dress Shirt and Necktie to Win Open
Ralph Guldahl’s attire when he won at Oakland Hills in 1937, and again at Cherry Hills in 1938.
Clubhouse That Looks the Most Haunted
Baltusrol in Springfield, New Jersey.
Clubhouse That Looks Most Like a Mansion Where I’d Like to Live
Winged Foot in Westchester County.
Clubhouse That Looks Least Like a Place Where You Would Hold an Open
Champions, which is almost near Houston.
Merion, Oakmont, Oakland Hills, Winged Foot. Jack Nicklaus might as well have been talking about the four of them when he said of Winged Foot in ’74, “It’s like playing miniature golf without sideboards.”
Best (or Worst) Rough
Toss-up. Olympic in 1955, where it was damp, clinging, and creeping up the calves. Oakland Hills in 1951, where Sam Snead said, “These fairways are so narrow, you have to walk sideways to keep the rough from snagging your pants.”
Even the Greatest Can Give Them Away
1928 Bobby Jones held a five-shot lead going into the final 18 at Olympia Fields but stumbled to a six-over 77, allowing Johnny Farrell to tie him. “I finished like a yellow dog,” said Jones. Farrell won the 36-hole playoff by one stroke.
1939 Sam Snead’s famous 8 on the last hole of the Spring Mill course at Philadelphia Country Club. A par 5 would have won, a bogey 6 would have tied, but Sam thought he needed a birdie. He drove wildly into deep rough, took four more to get out of weeds and sand to reach the green, then three-putted.
1946 Byron Nelson suffered a penalty stroke in the morning 18 at Canterbury when his caddie accidentally moved his ball while stepping under the ropes, yet he still had a two-stroke lead on the field in the afternoon with only two holes to play. Uncharacteristically, he bogeyed both with a three-putt and a poor chip, and ultimately lost a 36-hole playoff by a shot to Lloyd Mangrum. Afterward in a radio interview with Bill Stern, whose show was sponsored by a razor-blade company, Byron said, “Bill, if you’ll just give me one of those things you’re advertising, I’ll cut my throat.”
1966 Arnold Palmer in the last round at Olympic held a seven-stroke lead over Billy Casper with only nine to play, but he somehow frittered all of them away, and then had to make a clutch putt on 18 to tie. In the playoff, Arnold blew a three-shot lead, but this Open was destined to belong to Casper.
Best Shots
1950 Hogan’s two-iron from 189 yards to the 18th at Merion to secure a par and a tie with Lloyd Mangrum and George Fazio, and put himself on track to complete the All-Time Comeback in Sports History.
1958 Tommy Bolt’s 200-yard, uphill four-wood to the last green at Southern Hills for an easy two-putt par, permitting him to dodge one last chance to explode. “Ain’t this something?” I heard him say as I was walking with him inside the ropes. “I done Ben Hogan-ed it. Old Tom is gonna win hisself a U.S. of Open.”
1960 Arnold Palmer’s 346-yard drive onto the 1st green at Cherry Hills, the shot that propelled him to his historic 65. Fifty years later I asked Arnold if the hole would be a par-5 for him now. He said, “No, but it would be three shots.”
1972 Jack Nicklaus’s one-iron from 218 yards to two inches of the cup at Pebble Beach’s par-3 17th hole.
1976 Jerry Pate’s five-iron second shot out of the rough and over the water to within two feet of the flag on the last hole to win at Atlanta Athletic Club. His reaction: “How ’bout that, sports fans?”
1982 Tom Watson’s chip-in for a birdie at Pebble Beach’s par-3 17th to hold off Jack Nicklaus.
Most Stunning Putts
1951 Hogan’s 18-footer for birdie on the last green at Oakland Hills for his shocking 67 that brought “the monster” to his, her, or its knees.
1983 Larry Nelson’s 60-footer at Oakmont’s 16th on the weather-delayed Monday. The putt went in for a birdie and sank Tom Watson with it.
1990 Hale Irwin’s 45-foot birdie on the 72nd green—and his victory lap that followed. It gave him a tie with Mike Donald, whom he would beat in the playoff.
Best Parking Spot
The one I had for more than forty years next to the clubhouse before the USGA took it away from me and gave it to some corporate slug who would only be there for the shrimp puffs in a hospitality tent.