The 2013 U.S. Open at Merion - History on the Tee by 21st Century Newspapers PA

THE 2013 U.S. OPEN

CREDITS

Friday, June 7, 2013

TABLE OF CONTENTS The history of the U.S. Open is a long and winding story with many twists and turns. Another chapter is set to be written at Merion. By Don Seeley / E4 Tom McNichol will be covering this year’s U.S. Open. 32 years ago, he was part of history at Merion Golf Club. By Tom McNichol / E6

Cover design by Larry Heron Cover photo by Eric Hartline

Merion is considered too short and too small to test today’s pros. It’s also a perfect U.S. Open host. By Don Seeley / E10 Pennsylvania’s long U.S. Open history adds another tale this month. / E18 Legendary course designer Tom Fazio had one task: Update a golf landmark, but don’t take away its mystique. By Tony Leodora / E20 From Horace Rawlins to Webb Simpson, a complete list of U.S. Open Champions. / E24-25

Section layout and design by Steven Moore Photos by the Associated Press and United States Golf Association

Buddy Marucci lives next to Merion. This month, the U.S. Open comes home. By Neil Geoghegan / E26 Tiger Woods is the favorite, of course. But will an unfamiliar course cost him? By Tom McNichol / E30

Friday, June 7, 2013

THE 2013 U.S. OPEN

Friday, June 7, 2013

THE 2013 U.S. OPEN

FROM A POOR SON OF IMMIGRANTS

BROOKLINE, TO A TIGER AT PEBBLE BEACH, THE U.S. OPEN IN

WILL WRITE ITS

113

CHAPTER

MERION Photos by the Associated Press

At left, six U.S. Open champions. Top row, from left: Francis Ouimet (1913), Bobby Jones (1923, 1926, 1929, 1930) and Ben Hogan (1948, 1950, 1951, 1953). Bottom, from left: Jack Nicklaus (1962, 1967, 1972, 1980), Tiger Woods (2000, 2002, 2008) and Webb Simpson (2012).

AP Photo

American golfer Francis B. Ouimet, center, shakes hands with Harry Vardon, left, and Ted Ray at the U.S. Open Golf Championship at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., in this 1913 photo. Ouimet defeated the pair to become the new champion. Ouimet’s victory was hailed as one of the biggest upsets in sports history.

By Don Seeley 21st Century Media Arthur and Mary Ellen Ouimet had a clear view of The Country Club’s 17th hole when they purchased their first home on Clyde Street in suburban Brookline, Mass., in 1897. But for the French-Canadian and Irish immigrants, it may as well have been nothing more than a peek at a distant world. Golf was reserved for the well-to-do, the wealthy. The Ouimets were anything but, just a very poor working-class family. Despite their economic woes, youngest son Francis

— just 4 years old when his father, mother and older brother moved into the house — became quite fond of golf. He began caddying at The Country Club when he was 9, and handed over most if not all his earnings to his parents to help support the family. He also taught himself how to play the game, using balls he’d found on the course and one very old club given to him by his brother Wilfred. The boys soon built three makeshift holes in their backyard, which featured a brook, swamp, gravel pit and small area of long grass, and used empty tomato cans as cups for each hole. Please see STORY on E36

Friday, June 7, 2013

THE 2013 U.S. OPEN

May I carry your bag?

These days, Tom McNichol writes about U.S. Opens. 32 years ago, he was a part of one.

Photo courtesy Tom McNichol

Tom McNichol puts Jay Cudd’s putter back in his bag while caddying for Cudd in the 1981 U.S. Open at Merion.

t’s been 42 years since a 16-year-old kid trudged to his post as a forecaddie on hole No. 6 at Merion Golf Club’s historic East Course early on June 17 of 1971 for Day 1 of the U.S. Open. Ten years later, I was back with my swan song as a Merion looper in the biggest tournament in the world. I had a bag in the 1981 U.S. Open. It would be among the most intense and fun weeks of my life. I got an inkling that this Merion place was something special in the early 1960s when word TOM spread through the neighborhood that Bob C NICHOL M Hope and Dwight D. Eisenhower were playing golf at Merion. We raced the four blocks up to ON THE the golf course and peered through the cyclone U.S. OPEN fence to see two of the biggest names in America playing golf. I would be the second of four brothers who looped it at Merion. The oldest, Patrick, got a bag in the 1966 U.S. Amateur. Jack Lewis had a nice finish and went on to a pro career and eventually became the golf coach at his alma mater, Wake Forest. By the summer of 1969, I was a fledgling looper at Merion. And then in the middle of June two years later, there I was with a front-row seat to the National Open. Well, at least the sixth hole. But the sixth, a 400-yardish par-4, was a perfect hole to get. Everybody teed off No. 1 in those days, so once the last group had passed by my post, I was free to watch the rest of the tournament. I learned what a U.S. Open roar sounds like. It’s a little more intense, a little throatier than what erupts at a regular PGA Tour stop. Hours might go by with only friends and family following some groups. But then streaming up the fifth hole and heading in my direction came the “Army.” Never has a nickname been more appropriate than the “Arnie’s Army” pinned on Arnold Palmer’s gallery. They came to watch their man and they marched right by in lock step. Please see MCNICHOL on E8

THE 2013 U.S. OPEN

Friday, June 7, 2013

MCNICHOL From E7

There was one thing I learned to look forward to every day, the sweet swing of 1961 U.S. Open champion Gene Littler. There isn’t much I’d sell my soul for, but that swing — well, I’d have to think about it. On Day 1, tour journeyman Larry Hinson, whose left arm was slightly withered by a bout of boyhood polio, got it to 5-under heading to the East Course’s tough “Back Five.” He went bogey, bogey, bogey, double bogey, bogey and finished at 1-over par. He went on to earn a tie for ninth. But even with the Trevino-Nicklaus playoff, which I managed to brown-nose my way into as a forecaddie, my most abiding memory of the ’71 remains “The Kid,” Jim Simons, the 21-year-old native of Butler, Pa. and an amateur who had just completed his junior year at Wake Forest. Playing with Lee Trevino in the third round, Simons surged to a two-shot lead after 54 holes with a brilliant 5-under 65. When he died in 2005, his Wake Forest teammate Lanny Wadkins recalled Simons as one of the best players he ever saw at managing his game and managing the golf course. You see, Merion doesn’t play favorites. Jim Simons taught me that in 1971. If you think your way around Merion, you can score. Simons would finally succumb to the Open pressure — he was paired with Jack Nicklaus in the final round, for crying out loud. But his 72-hole score of 283 remains the best 72-hole total by an amateur at the U.S. Open, just a shot higher than the 282 a young Nicklaus posted in the midst of Palmer’s heroic charge to the 1960 Open title at Cherry Hills Country Club. I extended my Open experience in ’71 by a day and was assigned to forecaddie on the even holes. So I missed Trevino’s snake routine on the first hole. But there I was inside the ropes for a playoff between two of the greats of the game. Pretty heady stuff for a 16-year-old kid. I saw Nicklaus leave one in the bunker at the par-5 second. I heard the groan when he again left one in the bunker on the par-3 third. Then came a cloudburst at my hole all week, No. 6. When play resumed, Trevino went right at the pins.

The iconic wicker baskets at Merion Golf Club are something players — and caddies — will never forget about the course.

His approach at the eighth would have been over the green any other day, but he stuck it next to the pin and made birdie. He did the same thing at 12 and the “Merry Mex” was on his way to his second U.S. Open victory. By 1981, my career as a sportswriter was into its fifth year. But breaking into the newspaper business wasn’t exactly lucrative, so I remained at least a part-time Merion caddy. I had developed a reputation as one of the more knowledgeable caddies when it came to yardages and reading the treacherous putting surfaces at the East Course. And besides, another U.S. Open was coming. And wouldn’t it be cool to snag what I knew would be one of the few bags available to the Merion caddies. Between 1971 and 1981, the USGA had finally relented and let the tour pros bring their regular caddies to the Open. Jay Cudd, a 25-year-old assistant pro at Scioto Country Club in Columbus, Ohio — the course Nicklaus had played growing up — earned medalist honors

at the sectional qualifier in Cincinnati. He had a friend in the Merion pro shop in assistant pro Brad Benson. I got the recommendation and thus became one of just 19 Merion caddies to get a bag for the Open. Jay Cudd could really play. He had had some success on the mini-tours in Florida and he had big dreams of making it on the PGA Tour. Sometimes I wonder how good you have to be to make it if a Jay Cudd never did. He was that good. Cudd was a native of Augusta, Ga. — the place where that other major tournament is held every year. He lined up a couple of other “southern boys” for practice rounds and it was like being in the middle of a Dan Jenkins novel. Ralph Landrum, who had reached the semifinals of the U.S. Amateur at Aronimink Golf Club in 1977, Ken Krieger and James “Bubba” Clements were Cudd’s playing partners in the first two practice rounds. One of them would hit a putt that would die a foot short of the hole and say of the remaining putt, “I think I could

make this putt, even in the U.S. Open.” Cudd, with an excited wife and parents wishing him luck, teed off in the 81st U.S. Open at 10:55 a.m. that Thursday, June 18. You could feel the tension and the pressure on that first tee at Merion, which adjoins a patio that is an extension of the dining room in summer. Cudd’s playing partners were Tom Inskeep, who was built like a linebacker, and Roy Biancalana, an amateur who was a collegiate standout at LSU. Jay never could get it going that day. He was 4-over by the turn and made two more bogeys before finally rolling in a putt at the short, par-3 for his first U.S. Open birdie. But there was a moment of magic in what would turn into an opening-round 78 for my man. Nobody in the group was lighting it up when we arrived at the par4 16th hole, the first of the East Course’s three finishing holes to cross the quarry. Please see MCNICHOL on E9

Friday, June 7, 2013

THE 2013 U.S. OPEN

David Graham celebrates after making a putt at the 1981 U.S. Open at Merion. Graham went on to win the tournament.

MCNICHOL

The scores that first day had been low and Jay had his work cut out for him if he was to play on the weekend. This U.S. Open caddying was tough From E8 stuff. It was as much mentally draining Jay got it on in two, about 35 feet as it was physically. Things didn’t get any from the hole, and Inskeep was just better with a 3:30 p.m. starting time on inside him on the same line. Biancalana Day 2. A couple of early double bogeys was on the fringe to the left of the pin ended any hope of making the cut and Jay about 20 feet away. The crowd in the struggled to get to the house with an 82. grandstand, probably the largest we had Throughout it all, Jay was pure class. seen all day, seemed bored. When he holed on 18 with a 36-hole total But Jay got a rise out of them when of 160, he said simply, “I enjoyed it,” and his 35-foot bomb found the hole for a offered me his hand. I had enjoyed it, birdie. Inskeep was next and his 30-footer too. hit the hole dead center, popped up in I guess it hit both of us midway the air and back in the cup for a second through that second round when Nickbirdie. Another roar from the crowd. laus’ name went up on a leaderboard. You can see where this is headed. The “J.W. Nicklaus,” Jay said wistfully of a putt from the fringe by Biancalana, the guy who was an icon in golf, especially young college kid, well, that too disapin Columbus where Cudd was working at peared into the hole. Three birdies. We the time. certainly left the crowd buzzing with that The point was he was playing and I display. was caddying in the same tournament as

Nicklaus, as Johnny Miller, as eventual champion David Graham. I felt much more a part of it than I ever have covering a tournament. It’s been 32 years since that week in June of 1981. If I know anything about golf, it’s because I was a Merion caddy. To caddy at Merion is to get a chance to carry Jay Sigel’s bag in a practice round for U.S. Amateur qualifying accompanied by Buddy Marucci carrying his University of Maryland bag and shooting the breeze about golf (just two U.S. Amateurs, three U.S. Mid-Amateurs, a U.S. Senior Amateur and several Walker Cups, as player and captain, between those two guys). To caddy at Merion is to carry Laura Lecker’s bag as she takes on Carol Semple Thompson as Semple Thompson wins one of her 22 Pennsylvania Amateur titles. To caddy at Merion is to be in a foursome in a Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia better-ball event at the West Course

that featured Dorothy Porter and Helen Sigel Wilson, two of the great American amateur players ever. To caddy at Merion is to have the Big Red Machine come to town and be out on the golf course with Hall of Famers Johnny Bench and Tom Seaver. To caddy at Merion is to help Bill Ginn Jr. win a club championship (which stands at the very top of my list of Merion memories). And to caddy at Merion is to get a chance to caddy in a U.S. Open. My mind will drift to all of those days and many others when the best players in the world arrive for the 2013 U.S. Open. Too bad my vantage point won’t be as good it was in 1971 and 1981. Tom McNichol is a sports copy editor at the Delaware County Daily Times. He covers golf at every level, from high school to the U.S. Open, in his weekly golf notebook in the summer and in his blog TMac Tees Off, which can be found at delcotimes.com

E10

THE 2013 U.S. OPEN

Photos by the Associated Press (Merion sign) and Courtesy the USGA (background)

Friday, June 7, 2013

E12

THE 2013 U.S. OPEN

Friday, June 7, 2013

Ben Hogan and wife Valerie (center and left) pose with the U.S. Open Trophy at Merion Golf Club in 1950.

MERION From E11

“His legs simply were not strong enough to carry his heart any longer,” Rice said. Five months later at Merion, Hogan proved to Rice – and to every other re-

maining skeptic – that he was indeed back by defeating Lloyd Mangrum and George Fazio in an 18-hole playoff. “In winning his second Open title within three years, Hogan climaxed gloriously the most remarkable comeback in sports history,” reported The Associated Press. “This time a year ago it was doubted that he ever would play golf again after barely escaping with his life from a head-on automobile col-

lision… A rushing, tearing crowd of some 10,000 cheered his triumph.” Hogan, thanks to his infamous approach on the 72nd hole – a 1-iron from more than 200 yards out followed by two putts for a par – tied Mangrum and Fazio with an identical card of 7-over 287 to get into the playoff. Mangrum took the initial lead with a birdie on the second hole, Hogan took it away with a birdie on the seventh, but both

were tied at even-par 36 and Fazio was one back going out. Hogan would post eight straight pars; Mangrum would falter – getting assessed a disastrous two-stroke penalty when he lifted his ball without marking it to blow an insect off of it on the 16th green; and Fazio would drop out of contention with bogies on four of the final five holes. Please see MERION on E13

Friday, June 7, 2013

THE 2013 U.S. OPEN

E13

MERION From E12

“Mangrum had pulled one of the major boners in Open golf history,” the AP wrote. And Hogan – who was the head professional at Hershey Country Club in 1941 and won the 1948 Reading Open at Berkshire C.C. – had pulled off what was billed as the “Miracle at Merion.” * * * Olin Dutra pulled off an improbable win of his own when the U.S. Open came to then Merion Cricket Club for the first time in 1934. Months earlier, Dutra was diagnosed with amoebic dysentery – a very uncomfortable and often painful intestinal infection – but had handled the illness well. However, soon after he left Los Angeles for the long trip to Merion, during a stop in the Detroit area to meet his brother, he became very ill and had to be hospitalized. After being released, Dutra spent three more days in his hotel room. The imposing 6-3 Dutra, who played out of Brentwood C.C. in California, had lost nearly 20 pounds. No one was sure if he’d be able to finish the trip east let alone tee it up for the first round of the Open. Sure enough, he did … but he was eight Copyright Unknown/Courtesy USGA Archives

Bobby Jones receives the Havemeyer Cup after winning the 1930 U.S. Amateur Championship at Merion Cricket Club, (East Course). Newsprint attached to back of photo reads: “Bobby Jones Defeats Gene Homans 8 and 7 to Win U.S. Amateur Title, His Fourth Major Crown of the Year. A general view showing the cup being awarded to Bobby Jones by Findlay S. Douglas, president of the U.S. Golf Association, after Jones had defeated Gene Homans in the inal by the overwhelming score of 8 up and 7 to play.”

shots out of the lead and in 18th place going into the grueling 36-hole final day of golf. If that wasn’t enough of a challenge, a sudden bout with dysentery was. But Dutra snacked on sugar cubes throughout the last day, shot 71-72, and held off 54-hole leader Gene Sarazen by a stroke for the win. The eight-shot comeback after 36 holes was the largest in U.S. Open history until Arnold Palmer equaled it in 1960. Dutra – winner of the 1932 PGA Championship – trailed second-place Copyright Unknown/Courtesy USGA Archives Bobby Cruickshank (the first-round leadOlin Dutra holds the trophy after win- er) and Sarazen gong into Saturday afterning the 1934 U.S. Open Championship noon’s final round. But when both Saraat Merion Cricket Club, (East Course). zen and Cruickshank slipped on the back

nine, Dutra responded with birdies at the Labron Harris, Jr. grabbed the first-round 10th and 15th to finish at 293 for the vic- lead with a 3-under 67 – one shot in front tory and the winner’s $1,000 paycheck. of amateur Lanny Wadkins and veteran pros Bob Goalby and Doug Sanders – a * * * long list of PGA Tour stars began making their own moves. Among them were prior Hogan actually made his U.S. Open U.S. Open champions Julius Boros, Gene debut at Merion in 1934, as did Byron Littler, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, OrNelson … and both missed the cut. That ville Moody, Jack Nicklaus and Lee Trevicertainly wasn’t the case when the Open no. Harris slipped back in the field and Jim – and Hogan – returned in 1950. Colbert and Bob Erickson shared the secBut the national championship ond-round lead. Amateur Jim Simons – by wouldn’t return to the Main Line layout virtue of a blistering 5-under 65 – took over again until 1971 … and the leaderboard the lead after three rounds with Nicklaus looked very much like a billboard reveal- two back and Bobby Nichols three back. ing Who’s Who of American Golf. Please see MERION on E14 After 1962 U.S. Amateur champion

E14

THE 2013 U.S. OPEN

Friday, June 7, 2013

MERION From E13

Then Trevino made his move. While many struggled on the final day, Trevino closed with a 1-under 69 to tie Nicklaus and force a playoff. When the two returned the following day for the 18-hole showdown, Trevino and Nicklaus staged a little tomfoolery on the first tee. Trevino tossed a rubber snake at Nicklaus, who picked it up, laughed along with the crowd, and threw it back at Trevino. Nicklaus took a quick lead with a par on the first hole, but a doublebogey at the third enabled Trevino to go in front … and he never relinquished the advantage the rest of the way, finishing with a 2-under 68 and three-shot margin of victory over Nicklaus, good enough for the $30,000 first-place check. The win at Merion also ignited an incredible 20-day run for Trevino. Two weeks later, he won the first of his three Canadian Open titles and, the following week, won the British Open – becoming the first player to win all three events in the same year. The 30-year-old Trevino was later presented the Hickok Belt as the top professional athlete of 1971; was recognized as Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year; and then named ABC’s Wide World of Sports’ Athlete of the Year. * ** Trevino’s win was also the first of 10 straight U.S. Open victories by American golfers. Nicklaus (1972 and 1980) and Hale Irwin (1974 and 1979) would both win two in that stretch. But when the national championship returned to Merion for the fourth time in 1981, the streak ended when David Graham became the first Australian to win the event. Graham was only two shots out of the lead after the first round, when Jim Thorpe made history by becoming the first African-American since 1896 to lead a U.S. Open. Please see MERION on E15

Copright Unknown/Courtesy USGA Archives

Lee Trevino throws his hat after winning the 1971 U.S. Open Championship at Merion Golf Club.

Friday, June 7, 2013

THE 2013 U.S. OPEN

E15

Above, members of the United States team celebrate after winning the 2009 Walker Cup held at Merion Golf Club. At left, David Graham holds the U.S. Open trophy after the conclusion of the inal round of the 1981 U.S. Open.

MERION From E14

However, the 35-year-old Graham was in contention through the next two rounds, never falling behind by more than three shots. He went into the final round at 4-under and, after missing just one fairway and hitting every green in regulation – and taking the lead for good with consecutive birdies at 14 and 15 – he closed at 7-under 273 to defeat George Burns and Bill Rogers, who tied for second at 276. Graham’s ability to put together one of the most precise 18 holes in any major, and on the hallowed grounds of Mer-

ion, is still remembered as one of the greatest final rounds in golf. “You know, you think about winning something like the U.S. Open, and it’s incredibly rewarding,” Graham told freelance writer Dave Shedloski for a series he penned about every USGA championship and international team competition held at Merion. “You’re never sure in your whole life if you’re good enough or if it’s meant to happen until it does. “And then you add the reputation of Merion to it, and that takes it to an even higher level. It validates everything you’ve worked for, everything you’ve tried to become as a golfer.” Please see MERION on E16

E16

THE 2013 U.S. OPEN

Friday, June 7, 2013

Fans are seen at the 1934 National Open Championship at Merion Cricket Club, as the inal day gallery follows the Dutra and W. Little Jr. pairing from the 13th hole to the 14th tee.

MERION From E15

MERION MEMORY BYTES Established in 1896, Merion has hosted more USGA championships – this month’s U.S. Open will be its 18th overall – than any other club in America … The current East Course, opened in 1912 on just 126 acres, was de-

signed by Merion member Hugh Wilson … While the head pro at Brentwood Country Club. in Los Angeles, Dutra gave Olympic legend Babe Didrikson a two-minute lesson before her round of golf. Her drive off the first tee was measured at 240 yards. Dutra died in 1983 at the age of 82 … Hogan’s win in 1950 was the start of his record seven consecutive top-10 finishes in the Open. He died in 1997, less than a month before his 85th birthday … Trevino is the only golfer to win the Open at Merion and then the British Open … Simons’ 65 during the third

round of the 1971 Open at Merion is still tied for the lowest score posted by an amateur. His final score of 283 that year is the second-lowest by an amateur, trailing only the 282 carded by Nicklaus during the 1960 Open at Cherry Hills Country Club in Colorado … Merion played to 6,528 yards in both 1971 and 1981 – the shortest layout for a U.S. Open since World War II … Graham’s 283 is still the third-lowest score posted in any U.S. Open … There has never been a hole-in-one in any of the four U.S. Opens at Merion.

Friday, June 7, 2013

THE 2013 U.S. OPEN

E21

AP Photo

In this photo provided by Hasentree Corporation, golf course designer Tom Fazio poses for a photograph in 2007 at a course he designed in North Carolina.

Tom Fazio’s job: Update a classic, but maintain the Merion mystique

By Tony Leodora 21st Century Media Ever since Tom Fazio’s boyhood days in Norristown, he was immersed in the game of golf. He really had no choice. His uncle, George Fazio, was one of the most famous golfers in the world. At age 5, Tom Fazio was barely aware enough to realize that the entire world watched as Uncle George battled eventual champion Ben Hogan and Lloyd Mangrum in a historic playoff for the U.S. Open Championship at the heralded Merion Golf Club’s East Course. Little did the young Fazio know, at that tender age, his uncle’s loss in the playoff might prove to be the most significant event in his life.

“If Uncle George had won that playoff instead of Hogan winning it, his career would have been elevated to a different level,” Tom is quick to admit. “Maybe he doesn’t get into golf course design. You never know. He might have continued playing instead of designing golf courses. And maybe I never would have gotten into the design business.” That would have been a huge loss for the golf world because Tom Fazio has risen to the rank of greatest living golf course architect. And with that rank comes the incredible responsibility of taking care of the very course where Hogan made golf history, battling against his uncle in 1950. He has been charged with renovating, tweaking and polishing Merion, so that the course Please see FAZIO on E22

E22

FAZIO From E21

continues to produce moments of magic when the greatest players in the world attack the gem on Ardmore Avenue during the 2013 U.S. Open Championship. Ever since original designer Hugh Wilson turned a charming piece of Philadelphia suburban real estate into one of the world’s greatest golf courses, Merion’s East Course has been working its own special brand of magic. That’s the only way to accurately describe the events that have taken place at Merion over the past 83 years. There is something absolutely magical about the place ... and it translates into the extraordinary stories that have come about every time a major championship takes place there. Any doubts, just take a quick walk along its path to golf history. The U.S. Amateur Championship is not considered a major championship of golf today but in 1930 -- during the pre-Masters era -- it was. And it was during that 1930 U.S. Amateur that the legendary Bobby Jones crafted one of the most magical stories in golf history. His 8 & 7 defeat of Eugene Homans for the Amateur Championship was not only one of the soundest drubbings in finals history, it also completed his fabled sweep of the then-Grand Slam. Jones punctuated the accomplishment by making it the final competitive round of golf in his illustrious career. No wonder a plaque commemorating the achievement exists on Merion’s 11th tee. In 1950, when the Open returned to Merion, Hogan put on one of the most courageous

THE 2013 U.S. OPEN

Friday, June 7, 2013

performances in the history of any sport. Only 16 months removed from a near-fatal automobile crash the still-gimp Hogan -- his legs wrapped in bandages -- overcame the heat, and the grueling 36-hole final day challenge to get into a three-way 18-hole playoff and eventually emerge with the trophy. The 1971 U.S. Open at Merion saw one of the greatest playoff matchups in golf history -- after 72 holes again produced a tie. A fearless Lee Trevino, at the zenith of his career, faced the world’s greatest golfer, Jack Nicklaus. The 18-hole playoff was electric -from the time Trevino pulled a rubber snake from his bag and jokingly tossed it to Nicklaus on the first tee, to the final stroke of Trevino’s pristine 68 that won the championship by three shots. And 1981, the last time the U.S. Open was played at Merion, produced another magical round. David Graham’s victorious final round has been called a “perfect round,” as the Australian hit every fairway and every green in regulation. Actually some records claim he missed the first fairway by one inch but that could be the ultimate case of picking fly droppings out of pepper. Graham finished with a 67, on a day when everyone else struggled, and came from behind to win by three shots. Trying to follow that kind of act, no wonder the USGA was extremely pragmatic before returning to Merion for a fifth U.S. Open. During the 32-year wait between Opens, Merion was placed under the microscope over and over, then dissected and inspected by every imaginable authority. Could the little antique of a golf course possibly stand up to today’s long bombers? Could it handle the crowds? Could the area handle the traffic?

AP Photo

Please see FAZIO on E23

The U.S. Open Trophy is shown in front of one of Merion’s iconic wicker baskets in April. Course designer Tom Fazio was charged with updating the legendary course for today’s players.

Friday, June 7, 2013

THE 2013 U.S. OPEN

E23

FAZIO From E22

Photo copyright USGA/John Mummert (above); photo by the Associated Press (below)

Above, the fourth hole of Merion Golf Club as seen last June. Below, in this photo provided by Hasentree Corporation, golf course designer Tom Fazio poses for a photograph in 2007 at a course he designed in North Carolina.

Teams of experts have been working diligently to deal with the crowds and traffic. But only one man was entrusted with making sure the course would stand worthy. That was Tom Fazio. After years of nipping and tucking, reconstructing and renovating, adding and adjusting, what does the master architect say about Merion’s readiness to handle the Open? “The magic continues, and will continue to continue,” says Fazio, with a strikingly positive tone of confidence. “I believe it is that kind of a special place. “All the special moments of golf that happened at Merion were not a coincidence. And I firmly believe we will be living the new special moments of golf at Merion this June.” Throughout all of Fazio’s lengthy and detailed analysis of Merion’s readiness to host another major championship, there is no talk of score. No pressure to bring in a winner around even-par. No concern about a barrage of birdies that will make the event seem more like the shootouts in Scottsdale than a U.S. Open. He firmly believes that, no matter what happens, it will be memorable. “Our main focus was to make sure that Merion continued to offer the challenge and the uniqueness that the course always tended to provide,” Fazio stresses. The man who also has been entrusted with the daunting duty of making changes and modernizations to a pair of the world’s other gems -- Pine Valley and Augusta -- took his job at Merion very seriously. “I like to refer to what we did at Merion as not necessarily a renovation project. It was more like restoring,” explains Fazio. “Technology of the golf ball, clubs and strength of players has had an impact on all golf courses. You have to accept that. The only real changes to the course was the addition of length to some of the holes. We didn’t want to change the playability characteristics of the course.” Maintaining the characteristics that made Merion famous, so the magic could continue to happen, Fazio stressed that theme over and over throughout a lengthy conversation about everything he recalled since first stepping on the course as a teenager. “When the players come there, they are going to be playing basically the same golf course that all those past champions have played,” he predicts. “That makes it a very special and very unique place. I honestly believe it will be one of the most unique U.S. Open venues of maybe an entire generation. “Just like everyone else in the Philadelphia area, I’m looking forward to it so much. I am certain it will be a very special event.”

E24

THE 2013 U.S. OPEN

Webb Simpson poses for pictures with the US Open trophy and the inal scoreboard after the 2012 U.S. Open at The Olympic Club.

Friday, June 7, 2013

U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONS YEAR CHAMPION COURSE 2012..... Webb Simpson, U.S. ................................ Olympic Club, Calif. 2011..... Rory McIlroy, Northern Ireland .........Congressional C.C., Md. 2010..... Graeme McDowell, Nor. Ireland ......Pebble Beach G.L., Calif. 2009..... Lucas Glover, U.S. ......................... Bethpage State Park, N.Y. 2008..... Tiger Woods, U.S. ..............................Torrey Pines G.C., Calif. 2007..... Angel Cabrera, Argentina .......................... Oakmont C.C., Pa. 2006..... Geoff Ogilvy, Australia ........................ Winged Foot G.C., N.Y. 2005..... Michael Campbell, New Zealand ........ Pinehurst Resort, N.C. 2004..... Retief Goosen, South Africa .........Shinnecock Hills G.C., N.Y. 2003..... Jim Furyk, U.S. ....................................Olympia Fields C.C., Ill. 2002..... Tiger Woods, U.S. .......................... Bethpage State Park, N.Y. 2001..... Retief Goosen, South Africa ........... Southern Hills C.C., Okla. 2000..... Tiger Woods, U.S. ............................Pebble Beach G.L., Calif. 1999..... Payne Stewart, U.S. ............................ Pinehurst Resort, N.C. 1998..... Lee Janzen, U.S. ...................................... Olympic Club, Calif. 1997..... Ernie Els, South Africa ......................Congressional C.C., Md. 1996..... Steve Jones, U.S..............................Oakland Hills C.C., Mich. 1995..... Corey Pavin, U.S. .........................Shinnecock Hills G.C., N.Y.

YEAR CHAMPION COURSE 1994..... Ernie Els, South Africa ............................... Oakmont C.C., Pa. 1993..... Lee Janzen, U.S. ........................................Baltusrol G.C., N.J. 1992..... Tom Kite, U.S. ..................................Pebble Beach G.L., Calif. 1991..... Payne Stewart, U.S. ................ Hazeltine National G.C., Minn. 1990..... Hale Irwin, U.S...............................................Medinah C.C., Ill. 1989..... Curtis Strange, U.S. .................................... Oak Hill C.C., N.Y. 1988..... Curtis Strange, U.S. ......................... The Country Club, Mass. 1987..... Scott Simpson, U.S.................................. Olympic Club, Calif. 1986..... Raymond Floyd, U.S. ....................Shinnecock Hills G.C., N.Y. 1985..... Andy North, U.S. ..............................Oakland Hills C.C., Mich. 1984..... Fuzzy Zoeller, U.S. .............................. Winged Foot G.C., N.Y. 1983..... Larry Nelson, U.S. ...................................... Oakmont C.C., Pa. 1982..... Tom Watson, U.S. ............................Pebble Beach G.L., Calif. 1981..... David Graham, U.S. .......................................Merion G.C., Pa. 1980..... Jack Nicklaus, U.S. ....................................Baltusrol G.C., N.J. 1979..... Hale Irwin, U.S.........................................Inverness Club, Ohio 1978..... Andy North, U.S. ................................. Cherry Hills C.C., Colo. 1977..... Hubert Green, U.S. .......................... Southern Hills C.C., Okla.

Friday, June 7, 2013

THE 2013 U.S. OPEN

E25

U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONS YEAR CHAMPION COURSE 1976..... Jerry Pate, U.S. ..............................................Atlanta A.C., Ga. 1975..... Lou Graham, U.S...........................................Medinah C.C., Ill. 1974..... Hale Irwin, U.S..................................... Winged Foot G.C., N.Y. 1973..... Johnny Miller, U.S. ..................................... Oakmont C.C., Pa. 1972..... Jack Nicklaus, U.S. ..........................Pebble Beach G.L., Calif. 1971..... Lee Trevino, U.S. ...........................................Merion G.C., Pa., 1970..... Tony Jacklin, England .............. Hazeltine National G.C., Calif. 1969..... Orville Moody, U.S. ............................... Champions G.C., Tex. 1968..... Lee Trevino, U.S. ......................................... Oak Hill C.C., N.Y. 1967..... Jack Nicklaus, U.S. ....................................Baltusrol G.C., N.J. 1966..... Billy Casper, U.S. ..................................... Olympic Club, Calif. 1965..... Gary Player, South Africa .......................... Bellerive C.C., Mo. 1964..... Ken Venturi, U.S. ...............................Congressional C.C., Md. 1963..... Julius Boros, U.S. ............................ The Country Club, Mass. 1962..... Jack Nicklaus, U.S. .................................... Oakmont C.C., Pa. 1961..... Gene Littler, U.S. ..............................Oakland Hills C.C., Mich. 1960..... Arnold Palmer, U.S. ............................. Cherry Hills C.C., Colo. 1959..... Billy Casper, U.S. ................................ Winged Foot G.C., N.Y. 1958..... Tommy Bolt, U.S. ............................ Southern Hills C.C., Okla. 1957..... Dick Mayer, U.S.......................................Inverness Club, Ohio 1956..... Cary Middlecoff, U.S................................Oak Hill C.C., N.Y.C. 1955..... Jack Fleck, U.S. ....................................... Olympic Club, Calif. 1954..... Ed Furgol, U.S. ...........................................Baltusrol G.C., N.J. 1953..... Ben Hogan, U.S. ........................................ Oakmont C.C., Pa. 1952..... Julius Boros, U.S. ................................. Northwood Club, Tex. 1951..... Ben Hogan, U.S. ..............................Oakland Hills C.C., Mich. 1950..... Ben Hogan, U.S. ............................................Merion G.C., Pa. 1949..... Cary Middlecoff, U.S.....................................Medinah C.C., Ill. 1948..... Ben Hogan, U.S. ......................................... Riviera C.C., Calif. 1947..... Lew Worsham, U.S. ................................... St. Louis C.C., Mo. 1946..... Lloyd Mangrum, U.S. ........................... Canterbury G.C., Ohio 1945......................................................... Cancelled due to World War II 1944......................................................... Cancelled due to World War II 1943......................................................... Cancelled due to World War II 1942......................................................... Cancelled due to World War II 1941..... Craig Wood, U.S. ........................................Colonial C.C., Tex. 1940..... Lawson Little, U.S. ............................... Canterbury G.C., Ohio 1939..... Byron Nelson, U.S. ................................ Philadelphia C.C., Pa. 1938..... Ralph Guldahl, U.S.............................. Cherry Hills C.C., Colo. 1937..... Ralph Guldahl, U.S...........................Oakland Hills C.C., Mich. 1936..... Tony Manero, U.S.......................................Baltusrol G.C., N.J. 1935..... Sam Parks Jr., U.S. .................................... Oakmont C.C., Pa. 1934..... Olin Dutra, U.S. ..............................................Merion G.C., Pa. 1933..... Johnny Goodman, U.S.* ......................... North Shore C.C., Ill. 1932..... Gene Sarazen, U.S. ..........................Fresh Meadow C.C., N.Y. 1931..... Billy Burke, U.S. .....................................Inverness Club, Ohio. 1930..... Bobby Jones, U.S.* ............................. Interlachen C.C., Minn. 1929..... Bobby Jones, U.S.* ............................. Winged Foot G.C., N.Y. 1928..... Johnny Farrell, U.S..............................Olympia Fields C.C., Ill. 1927..... Tommy Armour, U.S. .................................. Oakmont C.C., Pa.

AP Photo

Jack Nicklaus, left, walks off the 18th green at Pebble Beach with Lee Trevino, the man he defeated as U.S. Open champion, moments after the inal putt on June 18, 1972. Trevino had won the 1971 U.S. Open at Merion Golf Club.

YEAR CHAMPION COURSE 1926..... Bobby Jones, U.S.* ...................................... Scioto C.C., Ohio 1925..... Willie MacFarlane, Scotland ................ Worcester C.C., Mass. 1924..... Cyril Walker, England .......................Oakland Hills C.C., Mich. 1923..... Bobby Jones, U.S.* ...................................... Inwood C.C., N.Y. 1922..... Gene Sarazen, U.S. .......................................... Skokie C.C., Ill. 1921..... Jim Barnes, England.................................Columbia C.C., Md. 1920..... Ted Ray, United Kingdom .......................Inverness Club, Ohio 1919..... Walter Hagen, U.S................................ Brae Burn C.C., Mass. 1918..........................................................Cancelled due to World War I 1917..........................................................Cancelled due to World War I 1916..... Chick Evans, U.S.* ........................The Minikahda Club, Minn. 1915..... Jerome Travers, U.S.* ................................Baltusrol G.C., N.J. 1914..... Walter Hagen, U.S......................................Midlothian C.C., Ill. 1913..... Francis Ouimet, U.S.* ...................... The Country Club, Mass. 1912..... John McDermott, U.S. .............. Country Club of Buffalo, N.Y. 1911..... John McDermott, U.S. .................................. Chicago G.C., Ill. 1910..... Alex Smith, Scotland ...............Philadelphia Cricket Club, Pa. 1909..... George Sargent, England ......................Englewood G.C., N.J. 1908..... Fred McLeod, Scotland .................. Myopia Hunt Club, Mass. 1907..... Alex Ross, Scotland.................Philadelphia Cricket Club, Pa. 1906..... Alex Smith, Scotland ................................ Onwentsia Club, Ill. 1905..... Willie Anderson, Scotland .............. Myopia Hunt Club, Mass. 1904..... Willie Anderson, Scotland ......................... Glen View Club, Ill. 1903..... Willie Anderson, Scotland .........................Baltusrol G.C., N.J. 1902..... Laurie Auchterlonie, Scotland ............. Garden City G.C., N.Y. 1901..... Willie Anderson, Scotland .............. Myopia Hunt Club, Mass. 1900..... Harry Vardon, United Kingdom .................... Chicago G.C., Ill. 1899..... Willie Smith, Scotland ...............................Baltimore C.C., Md. 1898..... Fred Herd, Scotland........................ Myopia Hunt Club, Mass. 1897..... Joe Lloyd, England ....................................... Chicago G.C., Ill. 1896..... James Foulis, Scotland ...............Shinnecock Hills G.C., N.Y. 1895..... Horace Rawlins, England ........................... Newport C.C., R.I. *-competing as an amateur

Friday, June 7, 2013

THE 2013 U.S. OPEN

E27

AP Photo

The clubhouse at Merion Golf Club is seen as it stood in 2005. Not long before then, the thought of another U.S. Open at Merion was nothing but a pipe dream.

Buddy Marucci’s dream is nearly reality as U.S. Open returns home to Merion By Neil Geoghegan ngeoghegan@21st-centurymedia.com HAVERFORD — To say George “Buddy” Marucci grew up amidst the lush grasses at Merion Golf Club’s East Course isn’t just hyperbole. The son of a certified public accountant, Marucci’s childhood home was located on East Golf View Road, which is an errant iron from Merion’s eighth hole.

When the U.S. Open returns to Merion for the fifth time on June 13-16, it represents the continuation of a partnership between the private club and the USGA that extends back 97 years and includes 18 championship tournaments — more than any other venue. And nobody has more of history with these two venerable institutions than Marucci. A longtime Merion member, Marucci culminated his playing career by winning the 2008 U.S. Senior Amateur, his first and only USGA championship. He also

captained two U.S. Walker Cup teams to a victory, including an emotional triumph at Merion in 2009. But it was a round of golf in 2002 at Merion with USGA Executive Director Mike Davis that got the ball rolling on discussions that eventually led to what most just assumed was impossible: The U.S. Open returning to Merion for the first time since 1981. Please see MARUCCI on E28

E28

THE 2013 U.S. OPEN

Friday, June 7, 2013

MARUCCI From E27

“I always thought it would eventually come back here, but I might have been the only one,” Marucci said with a laugh. Eleven years after first broaching the issue, Marucci is now heavily involved in making sure the 113th U.S. Open is a success, devoting countless hours for many years as the Vice Chair of the event. “I haven’t really measured it, but I have spent a lot of time on it. All of us here (at Merion) have spent as much time as is needed. Whatever is needed, I do. “It’s been a lot of fun. We are very excited about it. It’s kind of a labor of love.” According to Marucci, his initial discussion with Davis centered on whether the USGA would even be interested, assuming the massive logistical problems of holding an event of this scope on a cramped 111-acre site could be satisfactorily addressed. Davis was cautiously optimistic, and Merion began to study the issue in earnest. Not long after the East Course drew rave reviews as the venue for the 2005 U.S. Amateur, the USGA made the announcement that stunned most, and validated Marucci’s foresight. “It’s been nice to be able to see both sides of it,” he said. “I’ve tried to kind of bring (Merion and the USGA) together. That’s, maybe, what I have been able to bring to the table. But both sides have done a great job.” A star at the University of Maryland in the mid-1970s, Marucci followed the lead of Jay Sigel and chose the business world over professional golf. For more than a decade, he was the second most celebrated amateur golfer living in Berwyn, but Marucci was introduced to a national audience in 1995 when, at the age of 45, he battled 19-year-old prodigy named Tiger Woods in the final of the U.S. Amateur. A four-time Pennsylvania Amateur champion, Marucci had Woods 3-down through 12 holes and 2-down after 19, but could not hold on and fell on the 36th and final hole. Undaunted, Marucci proceeded to raise his profile by going 4-1-1 as a participant for the U.S. in the 1995 and 1997 Walker Cup. A longtime co-owner of a luxury car dealership in West Chester, Marucci sold his interest in order to focus on his duties as the captain of the 2007 U.S. Walker Cup team. The U.S. prevailed narrowly, and then won again, this time more convincingly, two years later at Merion. Please see MARUCCI on E29

AP Photo

Buddy Marucci, here watching his drive on the irst hole during the opening round of the 2006 U.S. Senior Open at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kan., will see his dream come true this week as the U.S. Open returns to his “home” course at Merion.

Friday, June 7, 2013

THE 2013 U.S. OPEN

E29

MARUCCI From E28

Above, members of the United States team pose with the Walker Cup during the trophy presentation on, Sept. 13, 2009, at Merion Golf Club. The USA defeated Great Britian and Ireland for their third straight title, with Buddy Marucci as the team captain. At right, Mike Ries of Pennington, N.J., carries an American lag as he walks along the ith hole during a pairs match at the 2009 Walker Cup matches at Merion. AP Photos

“It was the greatest experience of my life,” Marucci said. “To be the captain, first of all, is phenomenal. And to be able to do it at home was amazing. Put the two together is beyond words.” Marucci now lives in Villanova, and is cofounder of ProsInc, a golf management company. But most of his time is spent preparing for the 2013 U.S. Open. “Buddy Marucci has walked this golf course probably more times … setting up the golf course, than he has playing the golf course,” said Merion General Chairman Rick Ill. Marucci says that most lingering doubts about Merion’s ability to host the U.S. Open were erased following the wildly successful 2005 U.S. Amateur – including his own. “After that, I knew that we could get the golf course where we needed it, and then the 2009 Walker Cup was a fabulous icing on the cake. So I just think the momentum has been building.” During the event’s media day April 29, Davis said that the U.S. Open would not be coming to Merion if not for some out-of-the-box thinking by some key people at Merion. The first person he mentioned was Marucci. “Buddy Marucci … and others said, ‘how can we put this event on?’” Davis recalled. “And to think that you’re going to have a practice range a mile down the road at Merion’s West Course. To think that there are neighbors here that would give up their lawns, their houses, to have different functions in them. “Merion, the club, acquired some property. You’ve got a situation where there’s just so many out-of-the-box things had to happen for this to occur.” Due to the limited space at Merion, championship-round tickets were capped at 25,500 per day and sold out quickly. That bolstered Marucci’s belief that the Delaware Valley is embracing this event. “From what I’ve seen, the area is hungry for this,” he said. “The overwhelming demand for tickets and hospitality is proving that. We don’t have a lot of professional golf events around here and this is as big as it gets. That’s why there has been so much demand.” Marucci understands that the logistical challenges are complex and will be ongoing throughout tournament week. “I think we are there,” he said. “I am confident that logistically we have it under control. Something could come up, but I think everything’s been thought of. “I am optimistic. I believe we can do it, but we’ll see.”

Friday, June 7, 2013

THE 2013 U.S. OPEN

E31

AP Photo

Tiger Woods, left, and Rory McIlroy, right, are two of the favorites at Merion. But neither player has had his best game in recent weeks.

Tiger the target, but Merion’s unknown is wild card By Tom McNichol tmcnichol@21st-centurymedia.com HAVERFORD — A couple of hundred yards west of the intersection of Haverford Road and Ardmore Avenue in the Ardmore section of Haverford Township, you can find the intersection of golf and history. When 25,500 golf fans and another 5,000 or so volunteers descend on the 6,996-yard, par-70 East Course at Merion Golf Club for the 2013 U.S. Open beginning June 13, the golf gods will be looking on with interest. Because it is here where Bobby Jones completed what

was then considered the Grand Slam of golf in the calendar year of 1930 by winning the U.S. Amateur, here where Ben Hogan limped heroically to the 1950 U.S. Open title a little more than a year-and-a-half after his car was hit by a bus on a Texas highway, here where Lee Trevino beat Jack Nicklaus in a playoff to win the 1971 U.S. Open, here where David Graham played the golf equivalent of a perfect game in a final-round 67 to win the 1981 U.S. Open. Four players share the record for most U.S. Open victories with four each. They are Willie Andersen, Jones, Hogan and Nicklaus. One active player has

three and can join that elite foursome. His name is Tiger Woods. Is Merion great because history has been made there, or is it, as the great golf course architect Pete Dye has supposed, history is made there because Merion is great? It is the U.S. Open and it is Merion, so to a certain extent, some golf history is guaranteed when the best players in the world tee it up at Hugh Wilson’s classically designed East Course. Please see PREVIEW on E32

E32

THE 2013 U.S. OPEN

Friday, June 7, 2013

AP Photo

Tiger Woods struggled mightily at The Memorial last weekend, barely making the cut on Friday and completely imploding on Saturday.

PREVIEW From E31

But a Woods win would be extra historical, for so many reasons. He has been stuck on 14 major championships for five years, since that epic playoff win over Greensburg, Pa.’s favorite son, Rocco Mediate. The goal of Nicklaus’ record 18 major professional championships has been Woods’ career Holy Grail. When Woods reached No. 14 in 2008 – albeit on one leg – at one his favorite venues, Torrey Pines, it seemed inevitable he would

catch and surpass the Golden Bear. But so much has happened since then. Letting Y.E. Yang overtake him at the 2009 PGA seems a small crack in retrospect. The breakup of his marriage in spectacular read-all-aboutit-in-People Magazine fashion was a much bigger fracture. But Woods always argued that it was the health of his body, not any perceived loss of focus because of stuff that was going outside the golf course, that was keeping him from being a major championship winner again. And so he arrives at Merion. Three of the four players on that list of four-time U.S. Open champions have significant ties to the historic gem on the Main Line.

Woods’ name flows pretty nicely behind those of Jones, Hogan and Nicklaus when you start talking about greats of the game, particularly in this country. Oddly though, Woods, like many players of his generation, had never laid eyes on the East Course until he teed it up on a rainy day after Memorial Day. One report said his playing partner was his opponent in the 1995 U.S. Amateur final, George “Buddy” Marucci, a Merion member and two-time winning U.S. captain in the Walker Cup Match, including 2009 on his home course. Another said Merion assistant pro Sean Palmer was his playing partner. More importantly, Woods’ cad-

die, Joe LaCava, was taking notes. One can imagine that the ghosts of Jones and Hogan were along, having ordered up a little weather to challenge their natural successor to the legacy of American success in the game imported from Scotland. “From what everyone had said, I did not have an inkling that it was going to be as long as it was,” Woods said on the eve of the Memorial Tournament, the day after his detour to Merion. “It was raining sideways and it was just an ugly day. We played it probably as long as it will ever be played. Please see PREVIEW on E33

Friday, June 7, 2013

THE 2013 U.S. OPEN

E33

PREVIEW From E32

Phil Mickelson has altered his usual schedule this year and is slated to appear in the FedEx St. Jude Classic before heading to Merion.

“In June, obviously the weather won’t be like that. It will be hotter. The ball will be flying. The clubs will be different, but the lines will be the same. It was nice to see and get an understanding of what I need to visualize and my prep next week and get ready for that. I have a nice understanding of where my sight lines are going to be and where I need to land the ball. Obviously, it will be different clubs. It won’t be quite as long as it was playing.” “They’ve already got U.S. Open rough out there,” LaCava said at Muirfield Village of the scouting mission. “It’s going to be a really good test.” For all of Woods’ off-course drama, health issues and swing changes, he has looked a little like his old self in 2013. He owns wins at some favorite stomping grounds, Torrey Pines, Bay Hill and Doral, and a victory at The Players Championship at a course that has not always been one of his favorites. But the one major of the year, the Masters, was a non-threatening fourth. He struggled uncharacteristically at the Memorial, which he won five times on another of his favorites, Muirfield Village. He is 37. He is not old. One sometimes overlooked factor in Woods’ failure to win that elusive 15th major is the talent he faces. The last three U.S. Open winners, Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell in 2010 at Pebble Beach, countryman Rory McIlroy in record-breaking fashion in 2011 at Congressional and defending champion Webb Simpson are proven winners on Open setups. In shedding the dreaded best-player-never-to-win-a-major label at Augusta, Aussie Adam Scott merely fulfilled the potential anybody who ever watched him swing a club knew was there. Anybody in this area who saw Justin Rose and Nick Watney win at Aronimink when it hosted the AT&T National while Congressional prepared for the 2011 Open knows what kind of player each guy is. Rickie Fowler hasn’t quite risen to the star status many have predicted for him, but he’ll have good vibes at Merion, where he unselfishly delayed his pro ambitions to help the U.S. side hoist the Walker Cup in 2009. Much has been made about the USGA’s decision to bring the U.S. Open back to Merion for the first time since 1981. Mike Davis is the man who rose to executive director of the USGA, mostly on the acclaim he gained doing setup work for all of the USGA championships, but the Open most notably. Davis clearly had a ball setting up the East Course for the Walker Cup Match in 2009. The first day, the par-3 third hole played to a longer yardage than the par4 10th hole did the second day. Yet, on media day in late April, Davis made it clear he was only tweaking a layout that he considers a masterpiece of golf course design. AP Photo

Please see PREVIEW on E34

E34

THE 2013 U.S. OPEN

Friday, June 7, 2013

The 16th hole at Merion will likely be the scene for plenty of drama on Sunday of U.S. Open week. Below, Webb Simpson is a name to watch as he tries to become the irst repeat U.S. Open winner since Curtis Strange in 1988 and 1989. Photos Copyright USGA/John Mummert (above) and Jed Jacobsohn (below)

PREVIEW From E33

“Merion is a treasure and architecturally it’s a landmark,” Davis said. “For the good of the game, we can’t not come to a place like this. There’s just too much history, too many significant things have happened here. It always shows up on any list of the great golf courses of the world.” Many thought the USGA would not come back to Merion because the technological advancements in clubs and the golf ball had rendered the course obsolete. Yes, it will the first U.S. Open contested at less than 7,000 yards since

Southern Hills Country Club in 2001. But Davis, and many others, think the East Course will hold its own. “There might be more birdies here than there have been in recent U.S. Open history,” Davis said. “But this course is all about precision. You have to be precise off the tee and precise on the approach shots. It’s why there might be more players who can potentially win this U.S. Open than at most U.S. Open sites.” Simpson, the defending champion, played in the 2005 U.S. Amateur at Merion and he remembers something else about all those “easy” par-4s in the middle of the course. Please see PREVIEW on E35

Friday, June 7, 2013

E35

THE 2013 U.S. OPEN

PREVIEW From E34

“The second you think you have an easy hole is the second you make a mistake,” Simpson said. Anybody who knows anything about Merion has wondered how Woods, the epitome of the power game, would play the East Course. Beginning June 13, golf history class will be in session and we will have our answer. Tom McNichol has a weekly golf notebook in the Delaware County Daily Times in the summer months and covers AP Photo and comments on golf from juniors to high school to college A worker waters the irst tee at Merion Golf Club back in 2005. The course will likely provide the same stiff to the professionals — men, women and seniors — in his blog test as usual, where par will be considered a good score on any hole. Above right, the U.S. Open Trophy sits “T Mac Tees Off,” which can be found at delcotimes.com on a tee at Merion in April of this year.

E36

THE 2013 U.S. OPEN

Friday, June 7, 2013

STORY From E5

It wasn’t long before Dan MacNamara, the caddiemaster at The Country Club, began noticing just how well Ouimet played. Others noticed, too, especially when he was regarded as the best high school golfer in the state as a junior. But his father, who often reminded him he was doing nothing more than chasing an impossible dream, insisted he drop out of school “to do something useful” with his life. Sure enough, the 16-year-old Ouimet, unable to continue caddying because of a then United States Golf Association ruling (anyone caddying after he turned turn 16 lost his amateur status), quit school. He went to work for Wright & Ditson — a sporting goods store in downtown Boston. But he didn’t give up golf, and four years later, Ouimet won the 1913 Massachusetts State Amateur Championship … his first title. Within weeks, he received an invitation to play in the national professional championship — the U.S. Open — which, ironically, was being held at The Country Club. He initially declined because of missing so much work earlier participating in the U.S. Amateur Championship in New York. But thanks to the cooperation of his employer, he agreed to test his skills against the best in the world. And when he stepped up to that first tee — with pint-sized, 10-year-old Eddie Lowery carrying his bag — Ouimet had absolutely no idea that, in just a few days, he would change the perception of the game in this country. After three rounds, he was tied with four-time British Open winner Harry Vardon. After four rounds, thanks to a clutch birdie on the 17th hole — the one right across the street from his home — he

AP Photo

A lithograph of Francis Ouimet winning the U.S. Open in 1913 is from the works by Lealand R. Gustavson.

was atop the leaderboard, right alongside Vardon and reigning British Open champion Ted Ray. When the three returned the following day for the 18-hole playoff, Ouimet was asked to take a more experienced caddy to compete against the British legends. He politely rejected the offers, opting to keep Lowery on his bag, then achieved the unimaginable … carding a 2-under 72

to easily defeat Vardon (77) and Ray (78) and win the U.S. Open. The reaction to Ouimet’s memorable shots echoed throughout a gallery that, at the time, was the largest to watch a golf event in America. He was the first amateur to win the U.S. Open, just the second American to get his hands on the U.S. Open Golf Trophy. And his win put his name on

the front page of nearly every newspaper across the country. He was hailed as American golf’s greatest hero. In the years that followed, Mark Frost would write a book about Ouimet. Hollywood would produce a movie about his breakthrough in Brookline. Please see STORY on E37

Friday, June 7, 2013

THE 2013 U.S. OPEN

STORY

E37

TEEING OFF

From E36

And today, as golf enthusiasts and historians alike celebrate the 100th anniversary of his epic victory, Ouimet is still regarded as the father of amateur golf because he literally changed the game’s landscape. Less than 10 years after his improbable win – after he won the then more prestigious U.S. Amateur Championship at Ekwanok C.C. in neighboring Vermont the following summer — the number of Americans playing golf had tripled. It was no longer considered a game for the rich and famous only.

AP Photo

Francis Ouimet, captain of the American Walker Cup team, drives off the third tee in the doubles competition of the Walker Cup matches at St. Andrews, Scotland, on May 11, 1934.

This month’s U.S. Open at Merion Golf Club’s storied East Course, which celebrated its 100th anniversary last September, will be the 113th renewal of the championship that first teed off in 1895. With the exception of two series of postponements due to World War I (1917-18) and World War II (1942-45), it has been played every year since. The U.S. Open, most agree, was the brainchild of Theodore Havemeyer, whose wealthy family owned the American Sugar Company. Havemeyer had played golf during a trip to the South of France in 1889 and, after returning to his summer home in Newport, R.I., he convinced a few friends from among the summer colony’s very rich to buy the Rocky Farm property and establish a golf club. The group included John Jacob Astor IV, Perry Belmont, Hermann Oelrichs and brothers Cornelius, Frederick and William from the esteemed Vanderbilt family, purchased the 140-acre plot for $80,000. Newport, at the time one of the favorite summer resorts for America’s rich and famous, would open its clubhouse doors and its first tee in 1893. Havemeyer had even bigger plans, though. After Newport hosted a tournament for the country’s best amateurs the following year, Havemeyer arranged a meeting in New York City with men from four other clubs — Shinnecock Hills Golf Club and St. Andrew’s Golf Club in Hastingson-the-Hudson, both in New York; The Country Club in Massachusetts.; and the Chicago Golf Club in Illinois. The representatives agreed to form the Amateur Golf Association, the forefather of the United States Golf Association. Less than 12 months later, the Amateur Golf Association decided Newport Country Club would host the first U.S. Amateur Championship … and then the first U.S. Open.

AP Photo

The irst Open was held in 1895 at Newport Country Club in Rhode Island, seen here during the 2006 U.S. Women’s Open.

The inaugural event was a one-day, two-round tournament at Newport’s 3,100-yard, nine-hole course. There were just 11 entries — 10 professionals and one amateur. Horace Rawlins, a 21-year-old Englishman who had arrived in America just nine months earlier to take a position at the Rhode Island club, bested the small field with a 173. He had a 91 – still the highest opening-round score by an eventual winner — and an 82 to edge Willie Dunn by two strokes. He won $150 out of the $335 purse and a $50 gold medal. Eerily similar scripts unfolded in the ensuing 15 U.S. Opens. All were won by Europeans — 12 from Scotland, two from Rawlins’ homeland in England, and one from Jersey, a small island off the coast of Normandy, France — most of whom had traveled to the U.S. to take up jobs in golf. James Foulis, born in St. Andrews, Scotland, the birthplace of golf, was a

foreman at Old Tom Morris’ club-making business. He became the first golf professional in the western states in 1895 when he arrived at Chicago Golf Club , the first 18-hole course in America. A year later, Foulis — who was said to have driven the ball more than 300 yards despite the primitive clubs used at the time — won the second U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills on Long Island. In 1896, the U.S. Open moved to Foulis’ home course in Wheaton, Ill. Englishman Joe Lloyd carded an eagle on the par-5, 18h hole — the final hole of the tournament — for a one-stroke win over eventual four-time U.S. Open winner Willie Anderson of Scotland. Lloyd, who at 19 years of age became the first golf pro in France, spent the summers of 1895-1909 as the club pro at Essex Country Club in Manchester, Mass. Please see STORY on E38

E38

THE 2013 U.S. OPEN

Friday, June 7, 2013

STORY

1904; and back at Myopia Hunt Club in 1905. Anderson, who suffered from epilepsy, reportedly was a heavy drinker as well and died in Chestnut Hill at the age of 31. He is buried at nearby Ivy Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia. Scotsmen Alex Smith, who worked throughout the U.S. as an adult, won in 1906 at Onwentsia Club in Illinois; Alec Ross, who worked at Brae Burn Country Club near Boston, won in 1907 at Philadelphia Cricket Club; and Fred McLeod, who worked at Rockford C.C. in Illinois, won the following year at Myopia, which hosted its fourth and final U.S. Open. If it wasn’t for England’s George Sargent’s victory in 1909 at Englewood Golf Club in New Jersey, Scotland would have had 10 straight winners of the U.S. Open because Smith captured his second title the next summer at Philadelphia Cricket Club.

From E37

The USGA expanded its national championship to 72 holes in 1897 — a format that remains unchanged to this day. That meant playing eight rounds at the nine-hole Myopia Hunt Club in South Hamilton, Mass. Fred Herd, a native of Scotland who was the pro at Washington Park in Chicago, certainly wasn’t concerned about playing 72 holes and won. The USGA was concerned about Herd, though. Known as a drinker, Herd was not permitted to leave Myopia’s clubhouse with the U.S. Open Trophy until he paid a deposit for fear he’d pawn it to buy drinks. The fifth U.S. Open returned to the East in 1899 at Baltimore Country Club’s Roland Park Course. Scotsman Willie Smith, who worked as a pro at Midlothian Country Club near Chicago, won by 11 shots — a margin that wasn’t bettered until Tiger Woods’ incredible 15-stroke victory 101 years later at picturesque Pebble Beach. Smith, with eight top-10 finishes in the nine U.S. Opens he played in, would later become a pro at Mexico City Country Club. He was severely injured during the Mexican Revolution after refusing to leave the club while the infamous Emiliano Zapata’s troops ransacked the facility. European golfers continued to dominate the U.S. Open in 1900 and throughout the early years of the 20th century. Harry Vardon, from the island Jersey, had already won three of his record six British Opens before teeing it up in 1900 and winning his only U.S. Open at Chicago Golf Club – the first course to host a second national championship. Vardon actually became the game’s first international celebrity that year, playing in more than 80 matches leading up to his victory at Chicago G.C. He is also regarded as the first professional to play in knickerbock-

BREAKTHROUGH

AP Photo

Fred Herd, who won the irst 72-hole U.S. Open in 1897, was not allowed to take the trophy home without leaving a deposit. USGA oficials were concerned Herd would pawn the trophy for money to buy alcohol.

ers, disposing the Englishman’s proper attire of an uncomfortable shirt and tie with a buttoned jacket. Four of the next five U.S. Opens — including an unprecedented three straight (1903-05) were won by Scottish immigrant Willie Anderson. He was 23 when he posted the highest winning score (331) in U.S. Open history at Myopia Hunt Club in 1901. If not for fellow Scotsman

Laurie Auchterlonie’s victory the following year at Garden City Golf Club in New York, Anderson would’ve swept four in a row. Known as a journeyman because of working at 10 different clubs in 14 years, Anderson set the still unmatched U.S. Open for consecutive wins by dominating at Baltusrol Golf Club in New Jersey, in 1903; at Glen View Club in Illinois, in

The U.S. Open was 16 years old and now recognized as the most prestigious golf tournament in America. But no American-born player had won it. Not until June 25, 1911 … not until Philadelphia’s 19-year-old John McDermott Jr. survived an 18-hole playoff with Mike Brady and George Simpson to win at Chicago Golf Club. McDermott was seven shots out of the lead after the opening round, but a 4-under 72 in the second round left him just three back of co-leaders and former U.S. Open winners Ross and McLeod. Ross would fade quickly on Day 3, but McLeod was still three shots in front of McDermott and Gilbert Nicholls. In a rainy final round, Brady and Simpson shot to the top of the leaderboard with closing 1-under 75s, and McDermott joined them when he birdied the 18th hole to force the playoff. Please see STORY on E39

Friday, June 7, 2013

THE 2013 U.S. OPEN

E39

STORY From E38

McDermott had a four-shot advantage at the turn, then three consecutive bogeys left him all square with Brady after 14 holes. But after Brady missed a four-foot par putt on the ensuing hole, McDermott regained the lead, then sealed the championship by lofting his approach to the 18th and final hole within 10 feet. He twoputted for par, finished two ahead of Brady and six in front of Simpson, and at 19 years, 10 months and 12 days became the youngest player to win a U.S. Open — a mark that hasn’t been matched since. The son of a mailman, McDermott was reportedly an excellent student at West JOHN McDERMOTT Philadelphia High School and worked as a caddy at Aronimink Golf Club. But he dropped out of school just before graduation to pursue a career in golf. His first professional job in the game was at the former Merchantville Field Club — now the Merchantville Country Club — in Cherry Hill, N.J. He soon moved to Atlantic City Country Club, then made his U.S. Open debut in 1909 and finished in 49th place. The following year at nearby Philadelphia Cricket Club, he would actually tie brothers Alex and MacDonald Smith for first place after 72 holes, but settled for runnerup honors. McDermott would not only end the drought for American golfers in 1911, he’d make it two in a row when he held off American Tom McNamara at the Country Club of Buffalo in 1912. McDermott won $300 for each of his U.S. Open victories. But he became quite wealthy thanks to clubs being marketed under his name and golf ball endorsements. Suddenly considered one of the world’s top players, McDermott was eighth — four shots behind Quimet, Vardon and Ray — in his attempt to make it a threepeat at the 1913 U.S. Open. And in 1914, he finished in a tie for ninth, well back of champion Walter Hagen at Midlothian Country Club in Illinois. Months later, McDermott traveled to the United

AP Photo

Bobby Jones hits out of a sand trap at the 33rd U.S. Open at Winged Foot Golf Club at Mamaroneck, N.Y., in 1929. Jones defeated Al Espinosa in playoff with a score of 291.

Kingdom to compete in the British Open, but due to travel difficulties he arrived too late to participate. Then tragedy struck the young phenom. On his way home to the U.S., his passenger ship collided with a grain carrier in the mist on the English Channel. The incident reportedly affected him, because after arriving home he blacked out while in the clubhouse at Atlantic City Country Club. Though just 23 years old, he was forced to spend the rest of his life in hospitals and rest homes due to a mental illness. On occasion, McDermott would be part of the galleries at some tournaments. He managed to watch the 1971 U.S. Open at Merion Golf Club, but died six weeks later — 11 days shy of his 80th birthday.

AMERICAN DOMINANCE McDermott’s two wins, followed by Ouimet’s stunning victory in 1913, injected life into American golf. Men and women, rich and poor, began playing the game … and playing it well. The growth could actually be seen by the jump in membership at private clubs and by the masses out on the growing number of public courses. And how well it was being played became evident by the number of professionals appearing on the U.S. Open leaderboard every summer. Please see STORY on E40

E40

THE 2013 U.S. OPEN

Friday, June 7, 2013

STORY

longest-played (six-day) U.S. Open — surviving two 36-hole playoffs with George Von Elm in 1931 at Inverness Club in Ohio — and collect a record $1,000 for the victory; George Goodman, the son of Lithuanian immigrants who was later orphaned at 14, learned the game of golf well enough to win the U.S. Open in 1933; Olin Dutra, who won at Merion in 1934 less than a month after battling serious health issues; Sam Parks, who grew up in the Pittsburgh suburbs and won at neighboring Oakmont in 1935; Anthony Manero, who missed the cut in three of his previous seven Open appearances before winning it in 1936; and Texan Ralph Guldahl, who actually quit the PGA Tour and became a car salesman before coming back and promptly winning back-to-back U.S. Open titles in 1937-38.

From E39

McDermott not only ended the authoritarian Scottish and English reign in 1911, but started a seven-year American run. Walter Hagen, a 21-year-old from Rochester, N.Y., made it four in a row in 1914 — the 20th renewal of the U.S. Open at Midlothian Country Club in Illinois. Jerome Travers and Charles “Chick” Evans — both amateurs from New York and Indiana, respectively — won the following two years before the national championship was cancelled in 1917 and 1918 because of World War I. When the U.S. Open resumed in 1919, though, Hagen — one of the games most notable players in the first half of the 20th century — would add his second title (and second of 11 majors overall). He also pocketed a record $500 for the win. European rivals would win four of the next six U.S. Opens. The two they didn’t win during that stretch belonged to Gene Sarazen (1922) and Bobby Jones (1923). The 5-5 Sarazen was one of the world’s top professionals throughout the 20s and 30s. He is still one of only five golfers in history to win all of the four major professional championships — the Masters, U.S. Open, British Open and PGA — joining Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods in the select group. Bobby Jones, a lawyer, is still regarded as the most successful amateur to compete on the national and international level. He won four U.S. Open titles (1923, 1926, 1929, 1930) and five U.S. Amateur championships (1924, 1925, 1927, 1928, 1930), as well as the British Open three times and British Amateur once. Jones was halfway to achieving his goal of winning the “Grand Slam” — both the U.S. Open and British Open as well as both countries amateur championships — when he teed off in the 1930 U.S. Open at

GOLDEN ERA AP Photo

Bobby Jones, right, putts on the third green while Gene Sarazen stands by at left during the U.S. Open at Oakland Hills Golf Club in Detroit on June 9, 1924.

Interlachen C.C. in Minneapolis, Minn. Clinging to a one-shot lead with just one hole to play, Jones left his approach shot 40 feet short of the pin … only to sink the putt for a two-stroke win over Macdonald Smith. Just over two months later, Jones completed the “Slam” by winning the U.S. Amateur at Merion’s East Course. Ironically, it was the final year of competitive golf for Jones, who retired at the young age of 28. But Americans would continue to embrace their golfers, many whom names were relative unknowns until they hoisted the coveted U.S. Open Trophy. One in particular was Scottish-born Tommy Armour, a World War I hero who lost his sight in a mustard gas explosion. Surgeons inserted a metal plate in his head and left arm. During rehabilitation,

though, he regained sight in his right eye, resumed playing golf, and shocked the European experts when he won the 1920 French Amateur. Soon after, he moved to the U.S. and met Walter Hagen, who gave him a job as the secretary of the Westchester-Biltmore Club in Harrison, N.Y. Armour, known as the Silver Scot, would become a U.S. citizen, turn professional in 1924, and go on to capture the U.S. Open three years later by defeating Harry Cooper by three strokes in a playoff at Oakmont Country Club near Pittsburgh. Among the many other unknowns during 20s and 30s were Joe Farrell, a former caddie who beat Jones in a playoff in 1928; Billy Burke, who despite an unorthodox grip due to the loss of two fingers on his left hand, managed to win the

After Byron Nelson, Lawson Little and Craig Wood wins from 1939 through 1941, Americans didn’t relinquish the U.S. Open Trophy for 16 straight years leading into the three-year postponement due to World War II. They held onto it for another 19 years — or a stretch of 35 consecutive years. And only South Africa’s Gary Player (1965), England’s Tony Jacklin (1970) and Australia’s David Graham (1981) were able to interrupt American golfers’ dominant swing through 1993. The golden era of American golf, as many historians have written, stretched over five-plus decades. Among the giants of the game to win in the 40s were Lloyd Mangrum, Ben Hogan and Cary Middlecoff. The big names in the 50s were Hogan, Julius Boros, Tommy Bolt and Billy Casper — the first to earn a five-figure paycheck ($12,000) for winning the U.S. Open. Please see STORY on E41

Friday, June 7, 2013

THE 2013 U.S. OPEN

E41

STORY From E40

Unquestionably one of the most memorable wins during those two decades, if not in the entire history of the U.S. Open, was Hogan’s victory in 1950 at Merion. Just 16 months after his near-fatal automobile accident, Hogan capped his miracle comeback by tying Mangrum and Norristown native George Fazio after 72 holes. The threesome returned the next day for the playoff and Hogan was hardly challenged, finishing with a 69 to top Mangrum by four shots and Fazio by six. The legendary Arnold Palmer ushered in the 1960s by putting together the greatest comeback in U.S. Open history and winning at Cherry Hills Country Club in Colorado. Born in Latrobe in western Pennsylvania, Palmer learned to play from his father, Milfred Palmer, who had suffered from polio at a young age but later became the greenskeeper and head pro at Latrobe Country Club. And much like his father put a charge into his son’s game, Palmer himself put a charge into his final round at Cherry Hills that no one has yet equaled. Tied for 15th place and seven shots back of leader Mike Souchak after 54 holes, Palmer drove the par-4 first hole and ended up with a birdie; chipped in from 90 feet on the second for a birdie; nearly made an eagle the third before tapping in for another birdie; holed out on the fourth for yet another birdie; then, after a routine par at the fifth, strung together two more birdies at six and seven. It led to a 6-under 65, the lowest final round in U.S. Open history at that point and a two-shot win over a 20-year-old amateur named Jack Nicklaus. It would be Palmer’s only U.S. Open victory, although he was a runnerup four times, with three of the seconds coming in playoffs. Perhaps the most disheartening oc-

AP Photo

Jack Nicklaus, left, and Arnold Palmer are shown in the oficials tent following the inal round of the 67th U.S. Open Golf Championship in Springield, N.J., in 1967. The pair deined the U.S. Open in the 60s and 70s.

curred in 1962 in Palmer’s backyard at Oakmont. Nicklaus had a four-shot lead after six holes and would end up winning the first of his four U.S. Open championships by three shots to defeat Palmer in front of an estimated 10,000 partisan fans who returned for the then Sunday playoff. Gene Littler and Nicklaus — owner of a record 18 career major wins and widely considered the greatest golfer of all time — as well as Boros and Ken Venturi kept the U.S. Open Trophy in American hands

until Player defeated Australia’s Kel Nagle in a playoff at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis for the 1965 title. Venturi outlasted the field as well as blistering temperatures for his 1964 win at Congressional Country Club in Maryland. He carded a third-round 66 Saturday morning to get within two shots of the lead held by Tommy Jacobs, but was advised by doctors not to play the final 18 that afternoon and withdraw from the tournament because he was suffering from dehydration.

After being treated with tea and salt tablets between rounds, Venturi was again warned by doctors not to play because of the risk of heat stroke. But the 32-year-old Venturi ignored Dr. John Everett’s advice, teed it up and shot a 70 while Jacobs slipped to a 76 to give the San Francisco native his first tour win in four years. His 136 over the final 36 holes that day also set a U.S. Open record. Please see STORY on E42

E42

THE 2013 U.S. OPEN

STORY From E41

Two-time U.S. Open winner Hale Irwin gets a round of high ives from fans surrounding the 18th green after sinking a long putt to earn him a spot in a playoff at the 1990 U.S. Open at Medinah Country Club in Medinah, Ill. Irwin won the championship in the playoff. AP Photo

The 1964 U.S. Open was also the last to be played over three days. Casper and Nicklaus each won their second U.S. Open titles in 1966 and 1967. Lee Trevino picked up the first of his two wins in 1968, and Army veteran Orville “Sarge” Moody followed in 1969. Jacklin ended European golfers’ 46year U.S. Open victory drought in 1970 at wind-blown Hazeltine National G.C. in Chaska, Minn. He carded a 7-under 281, seven shots in front of runner-up Dave Hill of Michigan. The Americans regained the upper hand the next 10 years. Trevino started the run by winning his second U.S. Open in 1971, defeating Nicklaus in a playoff at Merion and igniting his own incredible streak that saw him win both the British Open and Canadian Open over the rest of the summer. Nicklaus clinched his third U.S. Open the following year at Pebble Beach after his memorable 1-iron into the wind at the long and difficult par-3, 17th hit the flagstick and stopped right next to the hole for a tap-in birdie. His four-round total of 290 was the second-highest by a U.S. Open champion since World War II. The American run continued thanks to two wins by Hale Irwin and one each by Johnny Miller, Lou Graham, Jerry Pate, Hubert Green and Andy North. But except for David Graham’s 7-under at Merion in 1981, it was the rest of the golfing world’s last hurrah in a U.S. Open until 1994 — when South African Ernie Els held off Scotland’s Colin Montgomerie and California native Loren Roberts in a playoff at Oakmont for the first of his two titles. In between the Graham and Els victories were American wins by Tom Watson, Larry Nelson, Fuzzy Zoeller,

Friday, June 7, 2013

North, Raymond Floyd, Scott Simpson, rare back-to-back victories by Curtis Strange, one more by Irwin, Payne Stewart, Tom Kite and, finally, Lee Janzen — whose four consecutive sub-par rounds led to a U.S. Open record-tying 272 and denied Stewart a second title at Baltusrol in New Jersey in 1993. Few will ever forget how Watson sealed his victory in 1982 at Pebble Beach. He was tied with Nicklaus as the pair walked to the 17th. Watson’s tee shot didn’t hit the flagstick like Nicklaus’ did 10 years earlier, it landed in the deep rough just left of the green. But his pitch moments later did hit the flagstick and dropped into the hole for an improbable birdie to create a two-shot lead — which he didn’t surrender — with just the final hole to play. Zoeller’s win in 1984 at Winged Foot will long be remembered for him waving a white towel from the fairway as a gesture he was surrendering to Greg Norman after the Austrailian knocked in a long par putt on 18. The two actually tied after 72 holes. The following day, Zoeller carded a 67 in the playoff to humble Norman by eight shots. Irwin provided another rare U.S. Open moment in the waning moments of his 1990 victory at Medinah C.C. Despite trailing by four shots going into the final round, he carded a 5-under 31 on the back nine to win it, and no shot was bigger than his 45-foot birdie putt that sent him circling the green and exchanging high-fives with fans Kite, who won the 1992 BellSouth Classic on Mother’s Day, followed that up a month later by winning the U.S. Open on Father’s Day. And few will forget the shot that helped him claim the victory — his pitch shot from the left of the par-3, 107-yard seventh hole that screamed across the green, hit the flagstick, and dropped into the hole for a birdie. Please see STORY on E43

Friday, June 7, 2013

THE 2013 U.S. OPEN

E43

STORY From E42

NEW CHALLENGE

AP Photo

Tiger Woods celebrates on the 18th green after winning the 100th U.S. Open at the Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, Calif., Sunday, June 18, 2000. Woods won the U.S. Open by a record 15 strokes.

Over the past 20 years, U.S. Open courses have been stretched to well beyond 7,000 yards with the traditional high rough and very fast greens. But it seemed as though the Americans’ most significant challenge in their national championship was the wave of talent from around the world. Els’ two wins — sandwiched around victories by Corey Pavin (1995) and Steve Jones (1996) — appeared to have signaled a change of power in U.S. Open play. But it was premature, because Janzen and Stewart each won for the second time leading up to one very memorable 100th playing of the national championship in 2000. Janzen’s even-par 280 was good enough in 1998, then Stewart won his second U.S. Open title and third major championship by dropping a 15-foot putt for par on the final hole to edge Phil Mickelson by a stroke at Pinehurst in 1999. Few will ever forget how Stewart embraced Mickelson almost immediately after that putt and offered encouragement to the would-be father, whose wife gave birth to their first child the following day. Sadly, the very popular Stewart would never get the opportunity to defend his title because he died in a plane crash five months later. Instead, the 100th playing of the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach belonged to Tiger Woods, who did not card a birdie in his first 22 holes or last 26 holes en route to a 12-under 272 — and record 15-shot victory — for the first of his three victories in the event. In the 12 U.S. Opens played since Woods’ near-flawless performance in 2000, that wave of talent from around the world splashed ashore. Please see STORY on E44

E44

THE 2013 U.S. OPEN

Friday, June 7, 2013

AP Photo

Tiger Woods hits out of the sand trap on the 17th hole at Bethpage Black at the 2002 U.S. Open in Farmingdale, N.Y.

STORY From E43

Retief Goosen (2001 and 2004) joined Els and Player as the only South Africans to win the U.S. Open; Michael Campbell (2005) became the first from New Zealand to win the event; Geoff

Ogilvy (2006) joined David Graham as the lone Australians to win it; Angel Cabrera (2007) became the first golfer from Argentina to capture a U.S. Open title; and Graeme McDowell (2010) and Rory McIlroy (2011) — who shattered Woods’ record with a 16-under 268 at Congressional Country Club in Maryland two years ago — became Northern Ireland’s first two winners of the second of golf’s four majors.

Since Goosen defeated Texan Mark Brooks for the title in 2001 — which also ended Woods’ run of four straight major championship wins — only five Americans have been able to withstand the rest of the world’s charge. In 2002 at Bethpage State Park on Long Island, Woods took an early lead and never relinquished it to finish with a three-shot win over runnerup Mickelson for his second U.S. Open victory and

eighth major overall. In 2003 at Olympia Fields C.C.’s North Course in Ill., West Chester native Jim Furyk shot into a share of the lead after two rounds — right alongside V.J. Singh, who tied the U.S. Open nine-hole record with a 29 on the back nine that day — and held onto it the rest of the way en route to a three-shot win over Australia’s Stephen Leaney. Please see STORY on E45

Friday, June 7, 2013

THE 2013 U.S. OPEN

STORY From E44

AP Photo (above); Photo Copyright USGA/Steve Gibbons (below)

Above, Retief Goosen tips his cap on the 18th green after winning the 2004 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills in New York. Below, Webb Simpson plays his tee shot on the ninth during the 2012 U.S. Open at The Olympic Club in San Francisco, Calif.

Goosen was back in the U.S. Open spotlight in 2004 at Shinnecock Hills Country Club in New York. His second victory was defined by a two-hole stretch on the final day that, due to absolutely brutal weather conditions, saw no one finish their final round under par. Goosen birdied the 16th hole and Mickelson double-bogeyed the 17th after three-putting from five feet. When it was over, Goosen had a two-shot margin of victory over Mickelson. Campbell, who took up golf after his mother refused to allow him to play rugby union, actually missed the cut in his first five tournaments of 2005. But his game was certainly in order by June, when the 36-year-old erased a four-shot deficit in the fourth round to defeat Woods at Pinehurst. Ogilvy didn’t just win the 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot, he survived it with a chip-in par at the 17th hole and an upand-down save at the difficult par-4, 450yard 18th in the final round. They proved to be the decisive shots in his one-stroke victory over Furyk, Mickelson and Colin Montgomerie. Cabrera, like Campbell, overcame a four-shot deficit in the final round to win in 2007 at Oakmont. The 37-year-old Argentine won by a single stroke over Furyk and Woods for his first major championship. Woods broke the Americans’ five-year U.S. Open victory drought in 2008 Torrey Pines G.C. in California — unquestionably one of his favorite layouts. It was an unlikely win for Woods, who had missed a lot of time on the practice range and on the PGA Tour because of an ailing knee. But he worked his way past Lee Westwood and into the lead after three rounds only to finish 72 holes tied with Rocco

E45

Mediate. The two returned the following day and traded the lead three times on the front nine. Mediate rebounded on the back with a string of three birdies to take a one-shot lead before Woods’ incredible downhill putt on the 18th created another tie and a sudden-death playoff. It only took one hole for Woods to win it in what would become his final appearance of the year due to surgery to repair his torn ACL and a broken leg. In 2009 back at Bethpage, Lucas Glover was a shot out of the lead going into the rain-delayed fourth round, which began Sunday evening and finished on Monday. Eventually it was Glover, Rick Barnes, David Duval and Mickelson locked in a four-way battle over the final 18 holes before Glover’s birdie on the 16th and two pars on the final two holes were enough for a two-shot margin of victory over the three. For Mickelson, it was his fifth runnerup finish at the U.S. Open — breaking the previous record of four shared by Sam Snead, Jones, Palmer and Nicklaus. McDowell and McIlroy owned the next two U.S. Opens. In 2010 at Pebble Beach, McDowell overcame a three-shot deficit going into the final round to edge France native Gregory Havret, who was ranked 391st in the world. And in 2011 at Congressional C.C., the 22-year-old McIlroy dominated the field with a U.S. Open record 16-under 268, a whopping eight shots clear of Australia’s Jason Day. Last year at the Olympic Club in San Francisco, North Carolina native Webb Simpson came from four shots off the pace on the final day and finished 1-over in the tournament to edge McDowell and Mike Thompson by one shot. Next week’s 113th playing of the national championship unfolds at Merion’s East Course, which has hosted more USGA events — including five U.S. Opens — than any other course in America. Eleven past U.S. Open champions, who have combined for 13 of the 15 titles, are expected to be in the field.

E48

THE 2013 U.S. OPEN

Friday, June 7, 2013