Championships At Oakmont

It is the oldest golf championship in the United States , a mere one day older than the U.S. Open. The U.S. Amateur, first played in 1895 when the USGA initiated its first championship at the Newport (R.I.) Golf Club, is inarguably the most coveted of all amateur titles.

The legendary Bob Jones has the distinction of winning the most Amateur championships, with five. Other well-known players, many of whom went on to enjoy successful professional careers, have also secured the Havemeyer Cup. The likes of Gene Littler, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus , Bruce Fleisher , Lanny Wadkins, Craig Stadler , Mark O'Meara , Billy Mayfair , Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods have all won. In the history of the Amateur, only Woods has won three in a row.

If the U.S. Amateur is steeped in tradition, then so is Oakmont Country Club, site of this year's championship. In all, the storied Oakmont course has been host to 12 USGA championships, dating to its first one with the U.S. Amateur in 1919. The Amateur has visited Oakmont four times.

Following are highlights from each championship:

U.S. Amateur

1919: Suspended for two years because of World War I, the U.S. Amateur was revived at Oakmont, the first time the club hosted the event. Twenty-year-old S. Davidson Herron became one of the few to win on his home course, beating the famed Bobby Jones, then just 17 years old, 5 and 4. (Carol Semple Thompson has actually won on her home course twice, taking the U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur in 1990 and Senior Women's Amateur in 2001 at Allegheny Country Club in Sewickley, Pa.).

It was the first time Jones, who would win five National Amateurs, had advanced to the championship match. Herron had little trouble in his 36-hole matches leading to the final, beating W.J. Thompson, 7 and 6, and J. Wood Platt, 8 and 7, in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively. 

1925: Jones successfully defended his title by defeating protégé and friend, Watts Gunn, 8 and 7. It was the only time both finalists represented the same club, East Lake in Atlanta .

A new system was tried where 16 players qualified for match play, and each match was 36 holes. It proved to be unpopular.

1938: Willie P. Turnesa won despite playing out of 13 bunkers in 29 holes of the final. He beat B. Patrick Abbott , 8 and 7. Five of eight Walker Cup players were dispatched in the first two rounds of match play. ( Rick Chapman sinks the winning putt on 17 th green to defeat defending champion John ny Goodman 2 and 1)

1969: In the fifth year of stroke-play format, 22-year-old Steve Melnyk of Brunswick , Ga. , played four rounds in 286 strokes, only three shots higher than Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer when they tied for the 1962 Open at Oakmont, and Ben Hogan in 1953 on the same course.

Melnyk won by five strokes over Vinny Giles III of Lynchburg , Va. , who finished with a 291. It was the third straight year in which Giles finished second.

Melnyk led every round and was the only player in the field to card under Oakmont's par 71. Oakmont was so tough that only four rounds were played under par and six had equaled par.

The championship was changed to stroke-play format in 1965, reverting back to match play in 1973.

U.S. Open (Seven)

1927: Recently turned professional, the Scottish Tommy Armour holed a 10-foot birdie on the final green to tie Harry Cooper.

Cooper had three-putted the 71 st green but still seemed to have the championship in hand, until Armour's birdie.

Their scores of 13-over 301 were the highest of the modern times, more of a testament to the terrors of the course. Armour eventually won the playoff by three strokes.

1935: It was a homecoming of sorts for Sam Parks, who won with a 77-73-73-76--299. The Pittsburgh native outlasted Jim my Thompson , who had been tied with him for the lead going into the final round, fell two strokes behind.

Although a comparatively recent convert from college and amateur ranks and little-known nationally, Parks, a professional at nearby South Hills Country Club, was the only player to negotiate Oakmont's furrowed bunkers and shaved greens in less than 300.

None of the top 20 leaders in the final round was able to break 75.

1953: Ben Hogan came back to win his fourth U.S. Open and match the records of Willie Anderson and Bob Jones . He won in convincing fashion, too, by leading at the end of every round. His scores were 67-72-73-71--283.

A par and two birdies at the finish put him 5 under and gave him a six-stroke lead over Sam Snead , who was the runner-up for the fourth time.

Hogan was the first to go wire to wire since 1921, and the margin was the widest since 1938.

A revised form was tested in this championship and subsequently abandoned. After the sectional qualifying rounds, 299 qualifiers and exempt players competed in a second qualifying round over two courses to determine the 150 starters for the championship proper.

1962:   In his first year as a professional, 22-year-old Jack Nicklaus won the 62 nd U.S. Open by outlasting Arnold Palmer in a playoff.

Not since the days of Bob Jones had the same person been latest winner of both the Open and U.S. Amateur. The Open was decided by the 18-hole playoff after both tied at 1-under 283.

During the playoff, Nicklaus went ahead by one stroke on the first hole. He led by four strokes after six holes and eventually won by three shots. It was the first professional victory for Nicklaus , who had won the Amateur in 1959 and 1961.

In the third round, Nicklaus and Palmer staged a class duel. On the 72 nd hole, Nicklaus missed a 15-footer for birdie and then watched Palmer, playing in one group behind, fail to sink his 20-footer for the outright win.

Nicklaus , renowned for his long driving, also had the putter going. He three-putted just once in 90 holes on the testy Oakmont greens.

Ben Hogan , who was not exempt from qualifying for the first time since 1941, was prevented by bursitis in a shoulder from trying to qualify sectionally.

1973: Called a round for the ages, 26-year-old John ny Miller shot a 63 in the final round and won with a 279 to beat John Schlee by one stroke. Miller's 279 was only the 10 th score under 280 in a U.S. Open. He shot rounds of 71, 69, 76 and the fabled 63.

The 63 broke the mark by one stroke, which was shared by Lee Mackey , Jr. (1950), Tommy Jacobs (1964) and Rives McBee (1966). Miller's 279 was also the lowest 72-hole score in five Opens at Oakmont.

This year marks the 30 th anniversary of Miller's victory.

1983: Thirty-five-year-old Larry Nelson played the last 36 holes in 132 strokes -- 10 under par -- and won by one stroke over Tom Watson , the 1982 champion. Nelson shot 75-73-65-67--280, 4 under.

Nelson 's 65 and 67 were the two lowest rounds that week. His 132 broke the former 36-hole record of 136, set by Gene Sarazen in 1932. It had been matched six times.

Gil Morgan , the only other player to break par during the championship, shot 73-72-70-68--283.

Nelson 's opening round 75 left him six shots off the lead. Second-round play was interrupted two-and-a-half hours by a severe electrical storm in the early afternoon. Two spectators, struck by lightning near the second green, were taken to a hospital and later released.

Sixty-nine professionals and two amateurs made the 36-hole cut, at 151, 9 over par. With a 148, Nelson made the cut by three strokes. As the third round began, Nelson dropped to 7 over with a bogey on the third hole. After a par 5 on the fourth hole, Nelson played the next 14 holes at 7 under en route to the 65. Over his final 32 holes, he recorded 114 strokes, which equated to 11 under.

By shooting a 65 in the third round, he passed all but three players on the leader board -- Seve Ballesteros , Calvin Peete and Watson .

On 16 of the last 32 holes, Nelson 's approaches were all within 15 feet of the hole.

As an aside, Arnold Palmer played in his 31 st consecutive Open, dating back to 1953. It was significant because he tied Sarazen for most Opens played in a row. It also marked the fourth Open Palmer played at Oakmont, his first in 1953.

1994: Ernie Els had just won his ninth event in less than three years as a professional, and at 24 he was the youngest U.S. Open winner since Jerry Pate in 1975. He defeated Loren Roberts and Colin Montgomerie in a three-way playoff after the trio was tied at 5-under 279 through 72 holes. It was the first three-man playoff since 1963, when Julius Boros defeated Arnold Palmer and Jack y Cupit.

But Els didn't need the history lesson on playoff Monday. After a slow start in which he was 4 over after two holes, he needed to regroup and shot 1 under golf the rest of the way. It was good enough to catch Roberts , who never trailed in the playoff until the 20 th and final hole. Montgomerie was eliminated after shooting 78 for 18 holes, four strokes off the pace, succumbing to terrible chipping in making three double bogeys.

On the decisive 378-yard, par 4 (hole No. 11), Roberts found a greenside bunker with his approach shot, while Els landed his approach on the green, some 18 feet from the hole. Roberts ' difficult sand blast came to rest 30 feet beyond the hole, and his long putt touched the lip of the hole but had too much steam. He would settle for bogey, leaving Els to two-putt for the win. Els managed his two-putt, but needed to make a nervy 4-footer in the end.

"It's great, just unbelievable," said Els. It was a dream come true for Els, who had become only the fourth foreign-born golfer to win the Open in 67 years. Scotland native Tommy Armour won at Oakmont in 1927.

Women's Open (One)

1992: Patty Sheehan made a remarkable rally to force an 18-hole playoff before defeating Juli Inkster by two strokes in a playoff.

The victory was sweet redemption for the 35-year-old Sheehan, who had finished second in three previous Women's Opens.

Sheehan was among the leaders throughout the championship.

Heavy rain and lightning forced the conclusion of the second round into Saturday, but when 36 holes were completed Scotland 's Pam Wright was 3-under 139, one stroke ahead of Inkster and two ahead of Sheehan. Inkster had a second round 68, and Wright a 69, as only three players managed to break 70.

Source: USGA Record Book. Compiled by Ken Klavon, USGA.