SAN FRANCISCO, CA – On the eve of the Open, let’s just mellow out and remember some great U.S. Open memories.
JAY’S TOP 10 U.S. OPEN MEMORIES OF THE LAST 50 YEARS
10. 1973 – Johnny Miller’s 63 – Oakmont was not its usual brutish self that entire week. It was completely waterlogged, so competitors could play lawn darts instead of golf. How do you think Jerry Heard and John Schlee were in contention? They didn’t have to tiptoe around the usual minefield of unexploded double bogeys. Still, Miller played the course as he found it and played it like Corelli in C Major, cruising to the best final round in Open history, streaking past a dozen shell-shocked competitors, and driving off with a screech of tires and wave before the cops can haul him in for felony robbery.
The tire marks were especially rough on Arnold Palmer. “Who the hell is 5-under?” he asked incredulously, visibly shaken as he realized he wasn’t in the lead like he thought he was.
Miller,” replied laying partner John Schlee. “Didn’t you know?”
“I didn’t even know Miller made the cut,” added Tom Weiskopf.
9. 1972 – Jack’s 1-iron hits the stick at Pebble Beach’s iconic 17th
– The defining moment of the tournament, it secured Nicklaus his third U.S. Open and kept hopes of the Grand Slam alive. In the end, though, Pebble really won the tournament. After posting 2-over as the winning score, Nicklaus asked the U.S.G.A., “What did you do with all the grass?”
8. 2000 – With golf shots indistinguishable from magic, Tiger pounds the mudshark out of both Pebble Beach and the entire field – If it was a fight, they would have stopped it. Woods won by a gargantuan 15 shots and shattered a host of records including several biggies like aggregate scoring record, score-to-par record, and largest margin of victory. “Dominant,” admitted Dustin Johnson, “Absolutely dominant.”
7. 2008 – Nevertheless, I think Woods’s last six holes in round three at Torrey Pines were better still: three scorched-earth lightning strikes.
“Every time I’ve won, there has been a nine-hole stretch where I was able to make a big move,” he explained. In this case he holed a 66 fot putt for an eagle on 13, slam-dunked a pitch from a patch of the deepest spinach on the course at 17, then rolled in a twisting 45-footer at 18 to take the outright lead. As I sat working on a story with Art Spander, Golf Magazine writer Cam Morfit walked by with a shell-shocked expression and asked, “Have you ever seen anything like this?”
Spander and I laconically, (and testily), replied, “Yes. We have.”
6. 1999 – The Tour players favorite – Payne Stewart’s gutsy up and down at the 72nd hole to edge Phil by one at stately old Pinehurst – A quintessential U.S. Open moment, Payne forever in triumph, fist pumping, legs churning. Four months later a plane crash would take him from us. We had him all to ourselves and now we don’t have him at all.
5. 1962 – Jack spoils the party at Oakmont – Palmer was the national hero at the time, and Jack was the villain, because he beat the hometown boy and ruined the feel-good story. That resentment lasted for a while, and Palmer’s diehard fans even called him “Fat Jack” for more than ten years after. I know one man who went so far as to call him “Nick-lousy” for the rest of his playing career.
4. 2006 – Phalling Phlat in Phorty Minutes – Phil Mickelson horrifyingly collapses on the 72nd hole at Winged Foot and leaves Geoff Ogilvy as the accidental winner. The shock of recognition of his colossal blunder washing over him on the 72nd green is nothing short of heartbreaking, beautiful and terrible to watch, mesmerizing theatre with its tragic catharsis.
Did you know that in practice rounds, he played 15, 16, 17, and 18 over and over again, trying to finish par-par-par-par? He even did it with Amy and the kids, (he pulled them in a wagon around the course). The Mamaroneck city fathers even gave hm the key to the city, and all greater New York City adopted him as their favorite son. For goodness sake, the day before was even his birthday…
…And then his fall made Icarus’ look like a stumble.
“It was surreal,” Ogilvy confided.
3. 1964 – Ken Venturi beats the field and the elements at Congressional – “Come on Ken, hold your head up like the champion you are,” said U.S.G.A. executive Director Joe Dey as Venturi staggered up. He did, and after overcoming heat poisoning and light-headedness cause by too many salt tablets, he sat for his media center interview:
“Good to see you guys,” he said. “Last time I saw you, you were interviewing me at the Masters, and somebody yelled, ‘Palmer,” and all of you all ran out of the room and left me alone with my Coke.”
2. 1982 – Watson stuns Nicklaus…again – Remember the guy who hated Jack Nick-lousy? You had to see the Cheshire Cat grin on his face though when Watson chipped in at Pebble in ’82.
When his tee shot at the diabolical 17th nestled in the high greenside rough, Watson thought, “Uh-oh. Now I’m dead.”
But when he got to the ball and saw he had a good lie, the sun chose that moment to come out.
“I had a good feeling all over,” said Watson, and now that shot is the cornerstone of beloved Pebble’s immortality.
…and Jay’s personal favorite U.S. Open moment…
1980 – Jack is Back! Jack is Back! Jack is Back! – Thought to be beginning the cold December of his career, Jack opens with a 63, then holds off plucky newcomer Isao Aoki, the man who putted with the toe of the club in the air. Jack and Aoki blazed away like guy Fawkes night for 72 holes, Jack needing to birdie the two closing par-5s for the final margin of victory, (8-under to 6-under).
I was just a wee lad enjoying the Our lady of Lourdes grammar school end-of-year field trip when my mom announced to everyone, “Jack Nicklaus shot 63!” and our weekend plans were scrapped to watch the tournament, (after golf, of course.). It was a defining moment in my childhood, watching my hero triumph so gloriously.
As an aside, even though Aoki lost he started a fad, and we all looked silly for one summer. Aoki is still the only guy who cold putt like that. The rest of us looked like dorks.
PROS AND JOES – FAVEORITE MOMENTS OF PLAYERS AND WRITERS
Rory McIlroy – “2000, Tiger at Pebble. He was unbelievable, opening with a 65 and dominating the whole tournament. He was so much better than everyone else. Then Graeme at Pebble as well.”
Graeme McDowell – “Well, Rory. He was so dominant last year. It was great to see. Then Ernie at Congressional. I was just starting out as a pro and he was a big hero to me. I even had parallax irons.”
Ricky Fowler – “Tiger at Pebble. He played pretty well there. I was 11.”
Dustin Johnson – “Agreed, Tiger at Pebble. He won by 37 shots. That’s pretty impressive.”
Webb Simpson – “Payne Stewart in ’99 at Pinehurst. I’m from Raleigh.”
Lucas Glover – “Payne’s putt at Pinehurst. Payne got robbed here, so to watch him win a year later was great. I know his son Aaron and it was great his son got to see Payne win before he died.”
Cybergolf’s Marino Parascenzo – “Arnie saying goodbye at Oakmont in ’94. He was in the media center and he got all choked up he put his head in a towel. And then when he left, he got the only standing ovation from the media I’ve ever seen. That never happens.
My other favorite was when he took five shots to get out of a bunker and took a ten. Well after the round he’s in the locker room and he sees me coming and says, “You [expletive deleted]! I might have known you’d show up!” and I responded, “If you’d quit making tens I wouldn’t show up…”
Geoff Ogilvy – “Hale Irwin in 1990 when he made that monster putt and then ran around the green high-fiving people. He beat Mike Donald in a playoff. Then Watson’s chip-in at Pebble. I was seven, so I didn’t understand the import like I do now. I mean he chipped in on 17 to beat Jack at the U.S. Open! Who does that?! Him and Trevino. And that’s it.”
Beth Major – (You remember Beth? She moderates the interview sessions with the players in the media center after their rounds.) “Watching what Rory did last year was really special. It was great to see a young golfer play so well like that in the national championship.”
Furyk – “Curtis Strange going back to back at Oak Hill in ’89.”
