History of the U.S. Open

    The U.S. Open, is the annual open golf tournament of the United States. It is the second of the four major championships in golf, and is on the official schedule of both the PGA Tour and the European Tour. It is staged by the United States Golf Association (USGA) in mid-June, scheduled so that, if there are no weather delays, the final round is played on the third Sunday, which coincides with Fathers’ Day.

    The US Open was first contested in 1895 at Newport Country Club in Newport, Rhode Island. Horace Rawlins of England won the tournament by 2 strokes over Willie Dunn of Scotland. His 2 round winning score was 173. The first American to win the US Open was John McDermott in 1911 at the Chicago Country Club in Wheaton, Illinois. He won in a playoff over fellow Americans Mike Brady and George Simpson. His 4 round winning score was 307. The tournament was not played from 1942-1945.

    The U.S. Open is staged at a variety of courses, with Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont Pennsylvania having hosted the event the most times at 8. The 2016 event is to be held there this year. Previous US Open champions at Oakmont are; Tommy Armour (1927), Sam Parks Jr., (1935), Ben Hogan (1953), Jack Nicklaus (1962), Johnny Miller (1973), Larry Nelson (1983), Ernie Els (1994) and Angel Cabrera (2007). The 2015 US Open was played at Chambers Bay in University Place, Washington. American Jordan Spieth won by 1 stroke over fellow American Dustin Johnson and Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa. His winning score was 275 and his winners’ purse was 1.8 million dollars. The record for the most U.S. Open victories is four, jointly held by Willie Anderson, Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan and Jack Nicklaus.

    Records

  • Oldest champion: Hale Irwin in 1990 at 45 years, 15 days.
  • Youngest champion: John McDermott in 1911 at 19 years, 315 days.
  • Oldest player to make the cut: Sam Snead in 1973 at 61 years old. He tied for 29th place.
  • Most consecutive victories: 3 by Willie Anderson 1903–05.
  • Most consecutive Opens started: 44 by Jack Nicklaus from 1957 to 2000.
  • Largest margin of victory: 15 strokes by Tiger Woods, 2000. This is the all-time record for all majors.
  • Lowest score for 36 holes: 130 – Martin Kaymer (65–65), rounds 1–2, 2014.
  • Lowest score for 54 holes: 199 – Rory McIlroy (65–66–68), rounds 1–3, 2011; Louis Oosthuizen (66-66-67), rounds 2-4, 2015.
  • Lowest score for 72 holes: 268 – Rory McIlroy (65–66–68–69), rounds 1–4, 2011.
  • Most strokes under par for 72 holes: 16-under (268) by Rory McIlroy, 2011.
  • Most strokes under par at any point in the tournament: 17 by Rory McIlroy, final round, 2011.[11]
  • Lowest score for 18 holes: 63 – Johnny Miller, 4th round, 1973; Jack Nicklaus, 1st, 1980; Tom Weiskopf, 1st, 1980; Vijay Singh, 2nd, 2003.

    • Future sites

    History of the U.S. Open Chart

    This years’ US Open promises to be a can’t miss event to watch, whether you are fortunate enough to attend in person, or have to be satisfied with watching on the television. There is no clear cut favorite, and as we witnessed at this years’ Masters at Augusta National, anything can happen when you are playing an unforgiving golf course. Of course, there is still the possibility that Tiger Woods may be competing as he is, at this time, entered in the event. Whether he is able to be competitive remains to be seen, what with his lengthy time away from competitive golf, but…you never know.