A potted history of the US Open
- Monday, 7 July 2008
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Nicklaus/Palmer
The United States Open Championship is the second oldest of the four Majors, having been first contested on October 4 1895. That first tournament was played on the 9-hole course at the Newport Golf and Country Club in Rhode Island. Ten professionals and one amateur took part in the 36-hole event that was completed in just one day. The winner was the young English pro Horace Rawlins. Rawlins picked up the grand sum of $150 for his victory, also receiving a gold medal, and the honour of having custody of the Open Championship Cup for one year.
In its early years, the competitors were largely made up of American amateur golfers and professionals from the United Kingdom. As a result, the first 15 events were all won by Brits, with Scotsman Willie Anderson the most successful with four wins. The first native success came in 1911, when John McDermott of Pennsylvania was victorious at the Chicago Golf Club.
American players began to dominate the game thereafter, and the popularity of the tournament grew accordingly. A major catalyst for this was the Georgian Amateur Bobby Jones, who won the championship four times in the 1920s. The surge in popularity led the tournament organisers to charge spectators an entrance fee for the first time in 1924, and this was also the year that sectional qualifying events were introduced, due to the large number of players that were keen to take part.
Changes to the tournament have been numerous and regular over the years. The USGA extended the tournament to 72 holes, played over two days, in 1896, and then over three days in 1926. It was not until 1965 that the current format was introduced, with 18 holes played each day for four days. Television coverage started in 1954, and has been expanded ever since. A two-tee start was instituted in 2002, and international qualifying sites were introduced for the 2005 US Open, and the winner that year was Michael Campbell, who had entered a sectional qualifier in England.
Unlike the US Masters, where European golfers were to the fore through the 1980s, the US Open has been almost exclusively dominated by American golfers. Indeed, the recent run of four foreign winners is the longest spell without an American victor since the first decade of the 1900s.
The leading players of each era have all performed strongly in the tournament. Ben Hogan won four titles just after the war, and is one of only four golfers to have achieved that number of victories. The only other post-war quadruple champion is Jack Nicklaus, whose remarkable victory in the 1962 Championship at the Oakmont Country Club came in his first season as a professional.
Other multiple winners include Lee Trevino, who won in 1968 and 1971; Ernie Els, victorious in 1994 and 1997, and Tiger Woods, who claimed the title in 2000 and 2002. Woods' victory in 2000 at the Pebble Beach Golf Links was astounding for the number of US Open records that he broke. His 12-under par aggregate score of 272 was the lowest ever score to par in the Championship. He was the only player to break par in the entire tournament and finishing a massive fifteen shots clear of his nearest rivals, Ernie Els and Miguel Angel Jiminez. He broke the record for the largest margin of victory in a Major, which Old Tom Morris had held since 1862.
The US Open has been played at a number of different courses since its inception, with the most frequent venues being the Oakmont Country Club (eight Championships between 1927 and 2007), and the Baltusrol Golf Club (seven Championships between 1903 and 1993). The 2008 tournament, to be held at Torrey Pines, will be only the second event to be played on a public course. The first time had been at Bethpage State Park in 2002.
