PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – We’ve never seen a finish quite like Sunday at the Masters, but with the US Open returning to Oakmont Country Club in two months, a look at some of the great finishes there, including a historic one between a king and a bear.
As great as yesterday was, imagine 1962. There is his hot-shot kid from Ohio who grew up playing country clubs coming to Pittsburgh to battle against the kid who grew up working at country clubs 30 minutes Oakmont Country Club. If the Jack Nicklaus-Arnold Palmer battle would have happened in 2025, imagine the attention.
At the time, Palmer was the big man on tour, Nicklaus, for all of his potential, had yet to win. Arnie jumped into a tie for the lead after the second round and was a co-leader again after the third round with Nicklaus two shots back. At the sixth hole, Palmer had a five-shot lead on Nicklaus. By the turn, after a pair of Nicklaus birdies and a Palmer bogey, the lead was two. Jack birdied 11 to cut the lead to one and a bogey on 13 tied it up. The two would finish the tournament tied at one-under leading to a Monday, 18-hole playoff.
The crowd directly behind Arnie, Palmer would bogey the first hole and number six, while Nicklaus birdied four and six and by the start of the back nine had a three-shot lead. Palmer birdied 11 and 12 to pull within one, but bogeyed 13. It would remain a two-shot deficit on 18, but even though Nicklaus bogeyed, Arnie doubled. It was the first of a record 18 major championships and an amazing weekend at Oakmont.
The greatest round
Hall of Famer Gary Player set the course record with a 67 in the opening round and led after the second round as well in 1973. Arnold Palmer jumped up and tied for the lead after the third round. Johnny Miller was coming off a 76 on Saturday, impacted by him leaving his yardage book in his hotel. The 26-year-old trailed by six shots, with Palmer back in the lead in Pittsburgh. Also ahead of him were Tom Weiskopf, Lee Trevino, Nicklaus, Player, Julius Boros, Bob Charles and Gene Littler.
Miller would put together the greatest comeback in US Open history, starting with birdies on the first four holes. Even with a bogey on the eighth, he shot 32 on the front nine. Miller would birdie 11, 12, 13 and 15 to move within one shot of Palmer. Miller lipped out on 18 four what could have been a 62. He finished with a 63 while the leaders were still on 12. Imagine the drama as the leaders fell back one-by-one and it was Miller’s eight-under round on one of the most difficult golf courses in the world vaulting him to the US Open Championship.
Veteran pride
Tom Watson was the best player in the game in 1983 and was leading the championship after a 31 on the front nine of the final round. That’s when the storms rolled in and didn’t relent. When Watson returned Monday for the back nine, he didn’t have it. Watson shot a 38 and Vietnam veteran Larry Nelson took advantage, after a 65 on Saturday, he would birdie 14 and a 45-footer on 16 to shoot 67 and beat Watson by a shot.
3-way
Nicklaus, now 54, was tied for the lead after the second round, but it was young South African Ernie Els in control heading into Sunday in a week of 90-plus degree temperatures. Imagine this with today’s social media, Els first tee shot was in trouble, but he got a ruling for a drop because an extendable arm of a broadcast crane was in his line of sight. It was deemed immovable, yet it was very movable. How much that would have been debated today? Els would slip with a final round 73 and join Loren Roberts and Colin Montgomerie for an 18-hole playoff on Monday.
Montgomerie, likely impacted by the heat, shot a 78 while Els and Roberts went back-and-forth. Roberts birdied 16 to take the lead, then Els birdied 17 to tie and they finished the 18 holes still tied after 74s. Els would win on the third sudden-death hole after three consecutive pars.
Tiger appearance
The anticipation for Tiger Woods’ first major at Oakmont in 2007 was felt for months. Yet after two rounds it was an unknown Argentine Angel Cabrera leading. The 35-year-old would stumble for a 76 on Saturday and Woods, after a 74 on Friday, shot a two-under, 69 on Saturday. He had the momentum, the pedigree, and if not him, then Jim Furyk, who’s family is from Uniontown and is a big Steelers fan, was also right there. Tiger would double number three and while Furyk would tie for the lead on 16, he would give it right back on 17 leading to the most unlikely Oakmont US Open Champion since Sam Parks.
2016
· Dustin Johnson would win his first major with four rounds of par or better finishing with a steady four-under, 276 and three shots clear of Furyk and Shane Lowry, who held the third-round lead after a 65 on Saturday.
1927
· Scotland’s Tommy Armour birdied the 18th hole to force a playoff with Harry Cooper and then Armour won the playoff.
1935
· Even with legends Walter Hagen and Gene Sarazen contending, it was a Bellevue native and the head pro at South Hills Country Club Sam Parks. He shot a 77 in the first round and played a stretch of 9-holes at one-under through the win and rain which built up enough of a lead that he could bogey 15, 16 and 18 to win by two shots. A graduate of Pitt he helped create the school’s first golf team and was the only golfer to break 300 (299) for the tournament.
1953
· After suffering life threatening injuries in a car accident in 1949, Ben Hogan was playing a light schedule at age 41. Winning the Masters, Hogan led after day one of the US Open with a 72 and would hold off all charges, including from Sam Snead, to win. He would go on to win the Open Championship as well. He played in six events in 1953, Hogan won five.