U.S. Open: Past and present Champions Tour players
By Lauren Deason, PGATOUR.com Editorial Coordinator
Mark O'Meara won both the Masters Tournament and the British Open in 1998 to complete two legs of the Grand Slam race. However, he's still missing that U.S. Open trophy and the PGA Championship trophy from the mantelpiece.
Not to worry. O'Meara, currently a member of the Champions Tour, still has a chance at U.S. Open glory since he qualified for the 2008 event. The 51-year-old O'Meara played his way in through sectional qualifying, something Jay Haas also tried but failed to do.
When O'Meara tees it up on Thursday, he'll be competing in a place with lots of memories for him. Having grown up in Southern California and won the 1997 Buick Invitational, the PGA TOUR's annual event at Torrey Pines, his 24th trip to the U.S. Open might be his most memorable one yet.
In a unique twist, O'Meara will play the first two rounds with last week's winner Justin Leonard and Jeff Quinney. Why is that unusual? All three are former U.S. Amateur champions, with O'Meara earning the prestigious title in 1979, Leonard in 1992 and Quinney in 2000.
O'Meara won't be the only familiar Champions Tour face in the field. Brad Bryant, who joins his brother Bart Bryant at the event, made his way into the tournament by way of a win at the 2007 U.S. Senior Open.
While those two will generate news in 2008, players currently on the Champions Tour have been making waves in the U.S. Open over the past half century. Some played through death threats, others beat the man who was always a threat in major championships -- Jack Nicklaus.
Take a look at these memorable men and moments in U.S. Open history:
| The philanthropist | ||
| Gary Player | ||
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When 29-year-old South African Gary Player captured the U.S. Open trophy, he became the first International player to perform the feat since 1920. Player almost didn't win, however. Kel Nagle, 44, tied him on the final three holes in regulation, and the pair signed their scorecards with a 72-hole score of 282, or 2-over for the week. The pair had to go to an 18-hole playoff, where Player quickly built up a five-shot lead after eight holes and won with 71 to Nagle's 74. After his victory, Player donated $25,000 of his $26,000 winner's check back to the USGA, stipulating that $5,000 go towards cancer relief work and $20,000 towards junior golf.
| The Nicklaus beater | ||
| Lee Trevino | ||
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Trevino didn't settle for just one U.S. Open title. Instead, the crowd favorite won twice -- once in 1968, once in 1971. In 1968, after shooting 69-68-69-69, then 28-year-old Trevino won by a four strokes over defending champion Jack Nicklaus. The Texan -- or "Merry Mex", as some refer to him due to his Mexican-American heritage -- became the first U.S. Open player ever to log four rounds in regulation under par and in the 60s.
It was a different course and a different year in 1971, but Trevino had Nicklaus' number again. This time, the pair shot 280 over 72 holes and had to take it to a playoff, where Trevino beat Nicklaus with a score of 68 to 71 over 18 holes. It was a week of missed opportunities for both. Trevino should have ended it on the 72nd hole but missed his 6-footer for par -- and the win -- when a spectator fell from a bulletin board and made a loud, distracting noise. Nicklaus, too, missed his 14-foot putt for birdie on No. 18 and had to settle for par and a playoff. Once in the extra holes, he left shots in bunkers two times on the first three holes to hand Trevino the lead and eventually the win.
| The three-time champ | ||
| Hale Irwin | ||
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You'll find the name "Hale Irwin" etched upon the U.S. Open trophy in three different years: 1974, 1979 and 1990. At age 29, Irwin won the first of his titles by two strokes over Forrest Fezler. Irwin's 7-over par score of 287 was the highest score relative to par since 1963, but he was just happy to walk away with the win since his previous best finish in an Open was a tie for 19th in 1971. Irwin made long and difficult putts on Nos. 16 and 17 to save par and give him a two-stroke cushion heading into the final hole, which he then parred for the win. One noteworthy item: 23-year-old Tom Watson led after 54 holes but shot 41 on the back nine and watched his chance at U.S. Open glory disappear until 1982.
In 1979, 34-year-old Irwin became the 14th golfer to win the U.S. Open more than once. This time, he defeated Gary Player and Jerry Pate, both former champions, by two strokes. Irwin didn't take the lead until a 67 on the third day gave him a 54-hole total of 209. With a comfy three-stroke lead, Irwin could rest easy on Saturday night. He extended that margin quickly on Sunday, as Pate, Tom Purtzer and Tom Weiskopf charged, but Irwin answered back and built up a five-stroke lead. On the final few holes, Irwin made double bogey on No. 17 and a bogey on No. 18 but still managed to win by two.
Just when you thought Hale Irwin was finished racking up the U.S. Open victories, he became the oldest champion with a win in 1990. At the time, the 45-year-old also joined an elite list of players -- he became the fifth -- with three or more U.S. Opens. Irwin and Mike Donald battled through 72 holes in regulation and then 19 holes in a playoff before Irwin was crowned the winner. When he holed an 8-footer for birdie on the 19th hole -- immediately after Donald had bogeyed No. 18 to lose his one-stroke advantage -- Irwin had capped off a special week. In fact, Irwin received a special exemption from the USGA in order to play in the event he wound up winning.
| The lake jumper | ||
| Jerry Pate | ||
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A very young Jerry Pate (at the time he was only 22) made a very nice shot on the final hole to take the title in two strokes. Using a 5-iron, Pate stuck his second shot on No. 18 to within two feet of the pin. That's impressive in and of itself, but it's even more noteworthy when you recall that he had to hit that shot from the rough and over a lake in front of the 460-yard, par-4 hole. John Mahaffey, who had held the lead for much of the tournament, hit his second shot into that lake and finished in fourth place. Pate, on the other hand, began his day on a bad note -- he was four over after four holes -- but made three birdies and an eagle to close with a 69 for a two-stroke victory over Al Geiberger and Tom Weiskopf. After his ball jumped the lake for his U.S. Open win, Pate himself later jumped into a lake after capturing THE PLAYERS Championship in 1982.
| The death threat survivor | ||
| Hubert Green | ||
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How hard is it to win a U.S. Open when there's a death threat against you? Just ask Hubert Green. While leading by a stroke on the final day, Green was stopped by officials on the 15th tee and warned that an anonymous caller had informed them that three men were going to shoot him on the 15th green. Green opted to play instead of suspend the round until the following day. When he approached his putt on the 15th green, Green felt a sudden sensation -- like "I was going to be shot at any second," Green said later. "As soon as I hit it, I knew I'd left it short. I also knew that I hadn't heard a gunshot. I said out loud, 'Chicken', and I wasn't talking about leaving the putt short." He made par there, then followed it up with a birdie and bogey to win the championship.
| The two-time winner | ||
| Andy North | ||
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Andy North likes to talk about golf as a television commentator now, but back in the late '70s and early '80s, the commentators were talking about him. As a 28-year-old, North won the first of his two U.S. Open titles over Dave Stockton and J.C. Snead. Though the par-71 course had a long par-4 finishing hole, North didn't have much trouble with it. In fact, he sank a 30-foot birdie putt on Friday, a 45-foot putt on Saturday and made a bogey -- good under the circumstances since he found the rough twice and a bunker once on No. 18 before landing on the green -- to win the championship.
North, 35, became the 15th player to win two or more U.S. Open titles when he won in 1985. He shot 74 in the final round but still beat Tze-Chung Chen, Denis Watson and Dave Barr by one stroke. Chen, who recorded the first double-eagle in Open history during the first round, led for the first three days and part of the final round. But he shot an eight on the par-4 fifth hole on Sunday and watched his lead evaporate quickly. North, Chen and Barr shared the lead until North took a two-stroke lead late into the 18th hole. Though he bogeyed the hole, North still won the tournament. Little did he know at the time, that would be his last professional victory until the 2008 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf on the Champions Tour.
| The shotmaker | ||
| Tom Watson | ||
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Who can forget the U.S. Open in 1982? The characters: Jack Nicklaus vs. Tom Watson. The setting: Gorgeous yet challenging Pebble Beach Golf Links. The plot: Watson and Nicklaus trade the lead on the final day until the 17th hole. The climax: One of the most memorable shots in golf history, Watson makes birdie from the rough on the par-3 17th when his pitch shot runs into the hole. His 20-foot birdie on No. 18 rolled in as well, which secured his first U.S. Open title and sent Nicklaus to the runner-up spot for the fourth time, which tied a record set by Sam Snead, Bob Jones and Arnold Palmer.
| The record setter | ||
| Larry Nelson | ||
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Defending champion Tom Watson gave it a valiant effort, but how can you beat Larry Nelson when he plays the weekend at a U.S. Open 10 strokes under par? The 35-year-old Nelson shot 65 and 67 in his final two rounds, the lowest single rounds in the tournament, and his 36-hole 132 crushed Gene Sarazen's previous record-low of 136 over two rounds. Watson was one stroke back with a 72-hole score of 281. While Nelson caught lightning in a bottle on the weekend, two spectators were injured and taken to the hospital after being struck by lightning during a severe thunderstorm that occurred in the second round. On Sunday, thunderstorms halted play again, and Nelson didn't complete his round until Monday morning.
| The eight-stroke winner | ||
| Fuzzy Zoeller | ||
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A whole slew of current Champions Tour players were in the running in 1984, including Jim Thorpe, Jay Sigel and Curtis Strange. But it all came down to Greg Norman and Fuzzy Zoeller. Zoeller, then 32, shot 67 in a playoff with Norman, who made double bogey as early as the second hole in the 18-hole playoff and watched Zoeller, who had just birdied, take a three-stroke lead. Zoeller ended up winning by eight strokes after the extra holes and added the second major to his resume after a win at the 1979 Masters Tournament.
| The veteran | ||
| Raymond Floyd | ||
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He was 43 years old, but Raymond Floyd could still compete with the young guns. He defeated Lanny Wadkins and Chip Beck after a 66 in the final round propelled him into the lead late on Sunday. It looked like Payne Stewart was going to be the victor after he birdied Nos. 11 and 12 to take a two-shot lead. But he made bogey on No. 13 while Floyd made his birdie to tie Stewart. With a birdie at No. 16, Floyd went ahead for good and used pars on Nos. 17 and 18 to capture the trophy.
| The clutch performer | ||
| Scott Simpson | ||
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How do you beat Tom Watson, one of the best players in history? By making birdies on the 14th, 15th and 16th holes in the final round, of course. When Simpson did that, he overtook Watson and eventually beat him by a stroke. With a 3-under 277 total after four rounds, Simpson finished the tournament under par (Watson was the only other player in the field to do so). If not for his 15-foot birdie putt finding the hole on 16, however, Simpson and Watson might have battled in a playoff for the '87 title.
| The repeater | ||
| Curtis Strange | ||
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Believe it or not, Strange was the last player to win back-to-back titles at the U.S. Open. In 1988, the 33-year-old defeated Nick Faldo in an 18-hole playoff for his first major victory. Of course, it was only natural that the tournament -- held that year at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass. -- go to extra holes. That was the third time a U.S. Open took place at that particular venue and the third time a playoff was needed to decide the winner. Strange joined Francis Ouimet (who defeated Harry Vardon and Ted Ray in 1913 in one of the most memorable moments in Open history) and Julius Boros (who bested Jacky Cupit and Arnold Palmer in 1963) as winners from The Country Club.
The next year, defending champion Strange headed to Rochester, N.Y., and hoped to do something no man had done in 38 years -- win a consecutive title at the U.S. Open. An extreme downpour on Friday night could have delayed the third round, but the Oak Hill grounds crew and the fire department in Pittsford, N.Y., managed to dry the course enough so that play could continue on Saturday. Strange, however, wasn't in the lead on that day or even the first part of Sunday. It wasn't until the 10th hole of the final round that the defending champ -- playing solid and steady golf by shooting all pars in his first 15 holes -- took the lead. He wound up winning by one stroke over Mark McCumber, Chip Beck and Ian Woosnam.
| The weather man | ||
| Tom Kite | ||
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Mother Nature didn't cooperate on Sunday at Pebble Beach Golf Links, but Tom Kite didn't seem to mind. While wind gusts reached as high as 40 miles per hour, players struggled to finish under par. In fact, only five players had sub-par rounds on Sunday, and 20 couldn't break 80. But Kite stayed steady all day and wound up shooting an even-par 72 in the final round to finish 3-under for the tournament. He defeated Jeff Sluman by two strokes, but it was Gil Morgan who was really remembered for the loss. Morgan held the lead after the first and second days -- he even set a U.S. Open record by making it to 10-under par during the third round -- but shot 77 and 81 on the weekend to give up his hopes of winning the U.S. Open. On a happier note, Morgan finally exorcised the Pebble Beach demons when he captured the title at the Wal-Mart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach in 2007.
- The Daily Wrap-up: Final round
- WGC-HSBC Champions: Round 4 notebook
- What they said: Tiger Woods
- What they said: Phil Mickelson
| Player | Events | Money |
 Tiger Woods
|
17 | $10,508,163 |
| Steve Stricker
|
22 | $6,332,636 |
| Phil Mickelson
|
18 | $5,332,755 |
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