FILE – In this June 11, 1950, file photo, Ben Hogan, center, smiles over a crowd and poses with his wife, Valerie, left, as he receives the U.S. Open Golf Championship trophy from James D. Standish, Jr., Detroit president of the United States Golf Association, in Ardmore, Pa. (AP Photo/File)
OAKMONT, Pa. (AP) — A look at some of the anniversaries this year at the U.S. Open:
100 years ago (1925)
Site: Worcester Country Club
Winner: Willie MacFarlane
Runner-up: Bobby Jones
Score: 74-67-72-78-291
Margin: Playoff (MacFarlane 147, Jones 148)
Winner’s share: $500
Noteworthy: Jones felt his club moved the ball in the rough on the 11th hole of the first round. Officials were unable to confirm this and left it to Jones to make a ruling. He called a one-shot penalty on himself. Praised for his sportsman ship, Jones famously replied, “You might as well praise me for not robbing a bank.”
AP story: Willie MacFarlane, “finest of men and a great golfer,” in the words of America’s greatest amateur, little Bobby Jones of Atlanta, tonight is the open champion of the United States, a victory by a single stroke today ending the greatest tournament in history. The final score was 72 to 73 at the end of the second 18 holes of a playoff to decide the deadlocked tourney. Jones’ opinion of the victory is of weight, for he was was — national amateur and former open champion — who fell before the other’s prowess in a history-making playoff. Only after a throng of several thousand had boiled in the terrific heat through 36 holes did the end come, and then it was at the final green.
75 years ago (1950)
Site: Merion Golf Club
Winner: Ben Hogan
Runner-up: Lloyd Mangum and George Fazio
Score: 72-69-72-74-287
Margin: Playoff (Hogan 69, Mangrum 73, Fazio 75)
Winner’s share: $4,000
Noteworthy: Hogan hit 1-iron to the 18th in the final round, leading to one of golf’s most iconic photos. When he played the 18th during the third round earlier that morning, he hit 6-iron to the green. It was an example of how much fatigue he had from his battered legs.
AP story: Ben Hogan’s legs held out today like stanchions of steel, and the game little man from Texas smashed Lloyd Mangrum and George Fazio with strokes to spare in their 18-hole playoff for the National Open Golf Championship. In winning his second Open title within three years, Hogan climaxed gloriously the most remarkable comeback in the history of sports. 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 motor car collision near Van Horn, Texas.
50 years ago (1975)
Site: Medinah Country Club
Winner: Lou Graham
Runner-up: John Mahaffey
Score: 74-72-68-73-287
Margin: Playoff (Graham 71, Mahaffey 73)
Winner’s share: $40,000
Noteworthy: One year after Tom Watson had the 54-hole lead and shot 79, he had a 36-hole lead and shot 76-77. Watson won the first of his eight majors a month later at Carnoustie.
AP story: Lou Graham, a 12-year-old tour veteran, wore down ambitious John Mahaffey and ended a career of golfing obscurity with a two-stroke victory Monday in the 18-hole payoff for the U.S. Open crown. “It’s the dream of a lifetime,” the 37-year-old Graham said in his soft, Tennessee drawl. He won it with a 71, even par on the 7,032 yards of gently rolling, heavily wooded countryside that makes up the Medinah Country Club course The bitterly disappointed Mahaffey, now a runner-up seven times since his lone tour title, didn’t make a birdie in the hot and humid playoff and had a score of 73.
25 years ago (2000)
Site: Pebble Beach Golf Links
Winner: Tiger Woods
Runners-up: Ernie Els, Miguel Angel Jimenez
Score: 65-69-71-67-272
Margin: 15 shots
Winner’s share: $800,000
Noteworthy: Jack Nicklaus played in his final U.S. Open. In each of the four majors he played for the last time, Woods was the winner.
AP story: Standing on the 18th fairway, Tiger Woods turned his back on Pebble Beach and looked out over Carmel Bay in the final moments of the most monumental U.S. Open victory ever. He was all alone, playing for himself — and for history. No one was close to catching him. No one is close in the game. “We’ve been talking about him for two years. I guess we’ll be talking about him for the next 20. When he’s on, we don’t have much of a chance,” Ernie Els said. While the rest of the field was playing for second, Woods took aim at the record books. When the final putt fell, Woods owned his third major championship, along with the kind of records no one imagined possible.
20 years ago (2005)
Site: Pinehurst No. 2
Winner: Michael Campbell
Runner-up: Tiger Woods
Score: 71-69-71-69-280
Margin: 2 shots
Winner’s share: $1,170,000
Noteworthy: Retief Goosen and Jason Gore played in the final group and combined to take 165 strokes. Goosen shot 81, Gore shot 84.
AP story: Michael Campbell answered every challenge Tiger Woods threw his way Sunday until a U.S. Open full of surprises got the biggest one of all. Woods blinked first. Ten years after being touted as a rising star, Campbell finally delivered a major championship no one expected with clutch par saves and a 20-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole that proved to be the knockout punch. The only drama at the end was whether Campbell would beat Pinehurst No. 2. He missed a 3-foot par putt on the final hole for a 1-under 69 to finish the tournament at even par. It was good enough for a two-shot victory over Woods, who charged along the back nine until missing an 8-foot par putt on the 16th hole, then three-putting from 25 feet on the par-3 17th, the same hole that doomed his chances at Pinehurst six years ago.
10 years ago (2015)
Site: Chambers Bay Golf Club
Winner: Jordan Spieth
Runners-up: Dustin Johnson, Louis Oosthuizen
Score: 68-67-71-69-275
Margin: 1 shot
Winner’s share: $1,800,000
Noteworthy: This was the first U.S. Open televised by Fox Sports in a 12-year deal. It gave up the rights after five years.
AP story: Jordan Spieth is halfway home to the Grand Slam, a prize only three of the biggest names in modern golf have ever chased. And he still can’t believe how he got there. Spieth won the U.S. Open in a heart-stopper Sunday with a turn of events even more wild than the terrain at Chambers Bay. He thought he had it won with a 25-foot birdie putt on the 16th hole. He threw away a three-shot lead one hole later. He made birdie on the final hole. And then he thought it was over as Dustin Johnson settled in over a 12-foot eagle putt for the victory. Three putts later, Spieth was the U.S. Open champion. Spieth joined Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods in getting the first two legs of the modern slam that Palmer created on his way to St. Andrews in 1960. That’s the next stop for the 21-year-old Texan whose two major championships could not be any more different. A wire-to-wire runaway at Augusta National. A nail-biter on the edge of Puget Sound. And another major heartache for Johnson.
5 years ago (2020)
Site: Winged Foot Golf Club
Winner: Bryson DeChambeau
Runner-up: Matthew Wolff
Score: 69-68-70-67-274
Margin: 6 shots
Winner’s share: $2,250,000
Noteworthy: It was the first U.S. Open in September since 1913.
AP story: Call him a mad scientist in a tam o’shanter cap. Call him a game-changer in golf. Any description of Bryson DeChambeau now starts with U.S. Open champion. In a breathtaking performance Sunday at Winged Foot, on a course so demanding no one else broke par, DeChambeau blasted away with his driver and had short irons from the ankle-deep rough on his way to a 3-under 67. When his 7-foot par putt fell on the 18th, DeChambeau thrust those two powerful arms into the air. This was validation that his idea to add 40 pounds of mass, to produce an incredible amount of speed and power, would lead to moments like this. Two shots behind Matthew Wolff going into the final round, he passed him in five holes, pulled away to start the back nine and wound up winning by six shots. Wolff, trying to become the first player since Francis Ouimet in 1913 to win the U.S. Open in his debut, closed with a 75.
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