If there was one single tournament, one championship you could identify as the World Championship of Golf it is the United States Open Golf Championship. It has the largest field and the most structured qualifying system with arguably the most global field in golf competing on a course set up to test every single facet of the game. The United States Open is the second of golf's four majors each year, played some nine weeks following The Masters and concluding on Father's Day and it is in many ways the ultimate, and my favourite major of the grand slam. It is known for being played on a very hard golf course set up with thick rough lining the fairways and surrounding the greens, which are lightning fast and rock hard. The winning score is usually around level par and in some cases over par for 72 holes and the championship invariably comes to a dramatic conclusion on Father's Day.
Throughout my 18 years of playing and watching golf I can recall more dramatic moments from the U.S. Open than any other championship, whether it is Pinehurst 1999 when Payne Stewart holed for par on the 72nd hole to edge out Phil Mickelson in a battle between Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh, Phil Mickelson and Stewart on the final day of Pinehurst's first U.S. Open. Or Pebble Beach in 2000 when Tiger Woods destroyed the field by fifteen shots on a golf course which the next best players could not score any better than 3-over-par. Or Southern Hills in 2001 when Retief Goosen missed from a yard to set up and 18-hole play-off on the Monday with Mark Brooks, or 2002 when Bethpage State Park became the first municipally owned golf course to stage the championship. There are many incredible U.S. Open's that I will recall in this introduction to the U.S. Open on HooperstarGolfer.blogspot.co.uk and set the scene for my series on golf's second major, which will tell the tale of the U.S. Open through its many 18-hole play-offs and the incredible head-to-heads which could have happened down the years. I will also provide an extensive preview to the 113th U.S. Open and provide a destination guide to the host state Pennsylvania, as well as holding a Google+ hangout #TuesdayTeeTime for St. Andrews Golf Magazine featuring Stephanie Wei on Tuesday 4 April previewing Merion 2013.
The first U.S. Open I vividly remember was the 1999 U.S. Open at Pinehurst, I listened to the final round on BBC Radio 5 Live and it was one of those championships I will always rank among the best in history. I have watched the championship back on Sky and YouTube several times in the last fourteen years and it still stirs the passion and emotion; four of the best players in the world all in contention for the U.S. Open Championship and the dramatic and emotion-filled conclusion on the 72nd hole. Payne Stewart had won the 1989 PGA Championship and 1991 U.S. Open, the latter in an 18-hole play-off against 1987 champion Scott Simpson at Hazeltine National, but he was coming to Pinehurst a year after a crushing and devastating loss at the Olympic Club to Lee Janzen. The images are now iconic and part of golfing folklore. Stewart in his waterproof top he has cut with scissors punching the air with his right foot stretching out behind him. It is an image which ranks alongside that of Seve at St Andrews in 1984 following his winning putt in The Open Championship to deny Tom Watson a record-equalling sixth Claret Jug.
This putt denied Phil Mickelson a first major championship and the class in which both Mickelson and Stewart handled the situation was commendable and has become a symbol of this epic and memorable United States Open. The 1999 edition was tough and tight with just one player finishing under par and the leading four contenders covered by two strokes. If 1999 was tough it was followed by an even more brutal test at Pebble Beach in 2000. The occasion of the 100th United States Open was a sad one following the shocking death of the champion Payne Stewart in an aeroplane crash the past October, the week began with a number of players in the field firing balls off the 18th fairway into the pacific ocean in a ceremony to mark the passing of the defending champion. In many ways though it could also be seen as a ceremony to mark the beginning of an era of golf which the like had not been seen before.
Pebble Beach was set up like a true U.S. Open, with thick rough, narrow fairways and bone hard greens, but rain and mist made it play somewhat easier on the first day with many players breaking par in a round which was played across Thursday and Friday due to fog rolling in off the Pacific. It did not affect Tiger Woods though, he strolled to a serene 65 on the first morning and held a one stroke lead over Miguel Angel Jimenez going into the second round. The second round also stretched into a second day but nothing was going to derail Tiger from his quest to claim a first U.S. Open and move closer to the career grand slam. A 69 in the second round moved him to 8-under and into a six shot lead and by now only five players remained under par. The round included the now iconic second shot on the par five sixth which will go down as one of golf's greatest ever shots. Following a pushed drive Woods found deep rough on the right side of the hole, facing a blind shot of over 200 yards he muscled a six iron out of the buried lie and up onto the front edge of the green. It was a shot only someone with the immense strength of Woods could pull off.
The 2000 U.S. Open is memorable for me also because it was the first I stayed up to watch the entirety of. Its location on the West Coast of the US meant live coverage continued until 3am in the morning and I sat up watching what would turn out to be one of the all-time sporting events. The third round is, in my opinion, one of the greatest rounds ever played by an individual. A level par round of 71 on a day when only one player shot under par. The conditions were blustery and dry, combined with the thick rough it made for a truly terrifying test of golf and in the hands of almost anyone else Tiger would have shot 80 and blown the championship wide open. He did take a triple bogey at the third hole but the courage and fighting spirit he showed got him back to level par for the round and extended his lead to a then record ten strokes after 54 holes. The championship was over.
The only issues which remained was the number of strokes under par Woods would reach and the winning margin. A final round 67 stretched his lead to an incredible record 15 strokes over Ernie Els and Miguel Angel Jimenez in second place, and took him to 12 strokes under par, both were records and both completely mindblowing. Woods went on to win The Open by 8, the USPGA in a play-off and The Masters of 2001 by 2 strokes to complete an unprecedented four consecutive major championship wins.
In 2001 at Southern Hills Woods was going for five in a row, but he never contended finishing in a tie for 12th place, seven shots behind the leaders. The championship was to be a classic, with asd many as six players in contention on the final day and following the 71st hole Retief Goosen, Mark Brooks and Stewart Cink were tied for the lead on 5-under-par. Cink would take four putts on the final hole to make a double bogey and finish at 3-under, and Brooks would make bogey leaving Goosen with a two foot putt to claim his first major title. Remarkably the South Afican would miss the hole and make bogey to set up an 18-hole play-off. It was the first play-off in a U.S. Open in the time I had been watching golf and it was a classic duel between two players searching for a first major title. Brooks took an early lead with a birdie at the third hole before Goosen drew level with a birdie at the sixth. Following a bogey from Brooks at the 7th Goosen never trailed or even tied again during the round and at one point held a five stroke lead and eventually won by two.
2002 and 2009 were played at the Black Course in Bethpage State Park, the first truly municipal course to host a U.S. Open Championship. Both championships were defined by the weather, with several delays in each year. In 2002 Tiger Woods saw off the challenge of Sergio Garcia and Phil Mickelson, finishing as the only player under par for a second time in three years. And in 2009 the weather pushed the event into the Monday. This championship was one of the most compelling with up to 8 players in contention on the back nine, and no clue as to who was going to win over the final three holes. Lucas Glover eventually won by two strokes from Ricky Barnes and a championship which had long threatened to be low scoring saw only five players break par.
2003 was pretty forgettable in my opinion with Jim Furyk winning by three shots from Stephen Leaney and seven from Kenny Perry and Mike Weir at Olympia Fields just outside Chicago. 2004 saw the championship return to the historic site of Shinnecock Hills on Long Island, and the championship would provide a compelling set of storylines culminating in a final round battle between the Masters champion Phil Mickelson and 2001 US Open champion Retief Goosen. I was caddying at Royal County Down during that summer and watched the final round in the Anchor Bar in Newcastle, Northern Ireland with friends. The talk all week was about the controversial seventh hole, the "Redan" green angled from left to right, being left to go so dry and so fast that the ball would not stop on the green. The USGA had to siringe the surface on Sunday to make it playable for the contenders, a controversial but necessary move. Goosen edged out Mickelson by two shots with a succession of stunning one-putt greens on a hot and dry day on the links style layout.
In 2005 Goosen had another chance for a win in the U.S. Open but faltered with a final day 81 and Kiwi Michael Campbell stepped in to win by two shots from Tiger Woods. In 2006 I was back in Newcastle, County Down caddying and had to listen to the U.S. Open on the radio, it was super-dramatic, even not being able to see the excitement unfold. In the American media it is known as the major Mickelson lost but in reality there were several players who could or should have walked away with the trophy that afternoon, chief among them Colin Montgomerie. Following a sensational seventy-foot birdie putt at the 71st hole the Scot, runner-up in 1994 and 1997, hit the drive of his life into perfect position on the daunting 18th before changing club from 6 to 7 iron and pushing his approach into the thick greenside rough, ending his challenge with a double-bogey six and contributing to the unlikely victory of Australia's Geoff Ogilvy. The scoring was brutal that week, with Tiger missing the cut at +12 and Ogilvy winning with a 5-over-par total of 285.
The scoring was equally as difficult at the intimidating Oakmont Country Club in 2007 as Angel Cabrera walked away the champion. I was working at Gleneagles at the time and watched the majority of the final round in the staff bar before it closed and I listened to the remainder of the action on the radio. 12 months later came the epic championship at Torrey Pines featuring the walking wounded Tiger Woods, Lee Westwood and the journeyman Rocco Mediate in a classic U.S. Open which concluded in an 18-hole play-off won by Woods over Mediate in extra holes. 91 holes on a broken leg for the 13-time Major Champion did not deny him making it 14.
2010 and 2011 were historic for Northern Irish golf, with Graeme McDowell becoming the first European winner of a U.S. Open since Tony Jacklin in 1970, ending a 40-year-wait with a 1 shot win over Gregory Havret at Pebble Beach. The following year his countryman Rory McIlroy blew the field away, breaking Tiger's 12-under-par record by a staggering four shots and winning by a mammoth eight. Along the way he broke or tied 10 U.S. Open or Major records and banished the demons of his collapse at Augusta in the most recent major to fulfil his potential as a Major champion in style.
2012 saw Webb Simpson deny McDowell a second U.S. Open at the Olympic Club in, my opinion, a largely forgettable U.S. Open.
So, these are my memories of the United States Open Championship. The 113th championship is sure to provide many more and the U.S. Open on HooperstarGolfer.blogspot.co.uk will provide an unrivalled build-up and coverage of the year's second major including a special Google+ hangout for St. Andrews Golf Magazine this Tuesday at 10pm BST 5pm Eastern.
This putt denied Phil Mickelson a first major championship and the class in which both Mickelson and Stewart handled the situation was commendable and has become a symbol of this epic and memorable United States Open. The 1999 edition was tough and tight with just one player finishing under par and the leading four contenders covered by two strokes. If 1999 was tough it was followed by an even more brutal test at Pebble Beach in 2000. The occasion of the 100th United States Open was a sad one following the shocking death of the champion Payne Stewart in an aeroplane crash the past October, the week began with a number of players in the field firing balls off the 18th fairway into the pacific ocean in a ceremony to mark the passing of the defending champion. In many ways though it could also be seen as a ceremony to mark the beginning of an era of golf which the like had not been seen before.
Pebble Beach was set up like a true U.S. Open, with thick rough, narrow fairways and bone hard greens, but rain and mist made it play somewhat easier on the first day with many players breaking par in a round which was played across Thursday and Friday due to fog rolling in off the Pacific. It did not affect Tiger Woods though, he strolled to a serene 65 on the first morning and held a one stroke lead over Miguel Angel Jimenez going into the second round. The second round also stretched into a second day but nothing was going to derail Tiger from his quest to claim a first U.S. Open and move closer to the career grand slam. A 69 in the second round moved him to 8-under and into a six shot lead and by now only five players remained under par. The round included the now iconic second shot on the par five sixth which will go down as one of golf's greatest ever shots. Following a pushed drive Woods found deep rough on the right side of the hole, facing a blind shot of over 200 yards he muscled a six iron out of the buried lie and up onto the front edge of the green. It was a shot only someone with the immense strength of Woods could pull off.
The 2000 U.S. Open is memorable for me also because it was the first I stayed up to watch the entirety of. Its location on the West Coast of the US meant live coverage continued until 3am in the morning and I sat up watching what would turn out to be one of the all-time sporting events. The third round is, in my opinion, one of the greatest rounds ever played by an individual. A level par round of 71 on a day when only one player shot under par. The conditions were blustery and dry, combined with the thick rough it made for a truly terrifying test of golf and in the hands of almost anyone else Tiger would have shot 80 and blown the championship wide open. He did take a triple bogey at the third hole but the courage and fighting spirit he showed got him back to level par for the round and extended his lead to a then record ten strokes after 54 holes. The championship was over.
The only issues which remained was the number of strokes under par Woods would reach and the winning margin. A final round 67 stretched his lead to an incredible record 15 strokes over Ernie Els and Miguel Angel Jimenez in second place, and took him to 12 strokes under par, both were records and both completely mindblowing. Woods went on to win The Open by 8, the USPGA in a play-off and The Masters of 2001 by 2 strokes to complete an unprecedented four consecutive major championship wins.
In 2001 at Southern Hills Woods was going for five in a row, but he never contended finishing in a tie for 12th place, seven shots behind the leaders. The championship was to be a classic, with asd many as six players in contention on the final day and following the 71st hole Retief Goosen, Mark Brooks and Stewart Cink were tied for the lead on 5-under-par. Cink would take four putts on the final hole to make a double bogey and finish at 3-under, and Brooks would make bogey leaving Goosen with a two foot putt to claim his first major title. Remarkably the South Afican would miss the hole and make bogey to set up an 18-hole play-off. It was the first play-off in a U.S. Open in the time I had been watching golf and it was a classic duel between two players searching for a first major title. Brooks took an early lead with a birdie at the third hole before Goosen drew level with a birdie at the sixth. Following a bogey from Brooks at the 7th Goosen never trailed or even tied again during the round and at one point held a five stroke lead and eventually won by two.
2002 and 2009 were played at the Black Course in Bethpage State Park, the first truly municipal course to host a U.S. Open Championship. Both championships were defined by the weather, with several delays in each year. In 2002 Tiger Woods saw off the challenge of Sergio Garcia and Phil Mickelson, finishing as the only player under par for a second time in three years. And in 2009 the weather pushed the event into the Monday. This championship was one of the most compelling with up to 8 players in contention on the back nine, and no clue as to who was going to win over the final three holes. Lucas Glover eventually won by two strokes from Ricky Barnes and a championship which had long threatened to be low scoring saw only five players break par.
2003 was pretty forgettable in my opinion with Jim Furyk winning by three shots from Stephen Leaney and seven from Kenny Perry and Mike Weir at Olympia Fields just outside Chicago. 2004 saw the championship return to the historic site of Shinnecock Hills on Long Island, and the championship would provide a compelling set of storylines culminating in a final round battle between the Masters champion Phil Mickelson and 2001 US Open champion Retief Goosen. I was caddying at Royal County Down during that summer and watched the final round in the Anchor Bar in Newcastle, Northern Ireland with friends. The talk all week was about the controversial seventh hole, the "Redan" green angled from left to right, being left to go so dry and so fast that the ball would not stop on the green. The USGA had to siringe the surface on Sunday to make it playable for the contenders, a controversial but necessary move. Goosen edged out Mickelson by two shots with a succession of stunning one-putt greens on a hot and dry day on the links style layout.
In 2005 Goosen had another chance for a win in the U.S. Open but faltered with a final day 81 and Kiwi Michael Campbell stepped in to win by two shots from Tiger Woods. In 2006 I was back in Newcastle, County Down caddying and had to listen to the U.S. Open on the radio, it was super-dramatic, even not being able to see the excitement unfold. In the American media it is known as the major Mickelson lost but in reality there were several players who could or should have walked away with the trophy that afternoon, chief among them Colin Montgomerie. Following a sensational seventy-foot birdie putt at the 71st hole the Scot, runner-up in 1994 and 1997, hit the drive of his life into perfect position on the daunting 18th before changing club from 6 to 7 iron and pushing his approach into the thick greenside rough, ending his challenge with a double-bogey six and contributing to the unlikely victory of Australia's Geoff Ogilvy. The scoring was brutal that week, with Tiger missing the cut at +12 and Ogilvy winning with a 5-over-par total of 285.
The scoring was equally as difficult at the intimidating Oakmont Country Club in 2007 as Angel Cabrera walked away the champion. I was working at Gleneagles at the time and watched the majority of the final round in the staff bar before it closed and I listened to the remainder of the action on the radio. 12 months later came the epic championship at Torrey Pines featuring the walking wounded Tiger Woods, Lee Westwood and the journeyman Rocco Mediate in a classic U.S. Open which concluded in an 18-hole play-off won by Woods over Mediate in extra holes. 91 holes on a broken leg for the 13-time Major Champion did not deny him making it 14.
2010 and 2011 were historic for Northern Irish golf, with Graeme McDowell becoming the first European winner of a U.S. Open since Tony Jacklin in 1970, ending a 40-year-wait with a 1 shot win over Gregory Havret at Pebble Beach. The following year his countryman Rory McIlroy blew the field away, breaking Tiger's 12-under-par record by a staggering four shots and winning by a mammoth eight. Along the way he broke or tied 10 U.S. Open or Major records and banished the demons of his collapse at Augusta in the most recent major to fulfil his potential as a Major champion in style.
2012 saw Webb Simpson deny McDowell a second U.S. Open at the Olympic Club in, my opinion, a largely forgettable U.S. Open.
So, these are my memories of the United States Open Championship. The 113th championship is sure to provide many more and the U.S. Open on HooperstarGolfer.blogspot.co.uk will provide an unrivalled build-up and coverage of the year's second major including a special Google+ hangout for St. Andrews Golf Magazine this Tuesday at 10pm BST 5pm Eastern.
Be sure to catch the second blog in the series this Wednesday as I look at the 1913 U.S. Open and the epic play-offs the championship could have had down the years but didn't.
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