U.S. Open at Oakmont

June 14 - 17, 2007
Oakmont Country Club
Oakmont, PA
Par: 70 / Yardage: 7,230
Purse: $6.8 million with $1.225 million going to the winner
Defending Champion: Geoff Ogilvy

List of Champions & Scores

Results & Scores 2006 U.S. Open

Box Score of 2006 U.S. Open

Tournament facts:

Tournament information:

Photo: © Sam Greenwood/Getty Images Geoff Ogilvy just after he was presented with the U.S. Open trophy at Winged Foot.

The inaugural U.S. Open was slated for September of 1895; however the Open, as well as the inaugural U.S. Amateur, were delayed due to a scheduling conflict with the more popular sporting event, the America's Cup yacht races. Finally, the first U.S. Open was played on October 4, 1895, on the nine-hole course at the Newport Golf and Country Club in Newport, Rhode Island. The first U.S. Open was somewhat over-shadowed by the first U.S. Amateur tournament, which was played concurrently at the Newport Golf and Country Club. Its meager field consisted of just ten professionals and one amateur. Horace Rawlins, the assistant at Newport Golf and Country Club, captured the first U.S. Open. The format for the tournament was 36 holes squeezed into one day, four trips around the nine-hole course in Newport.

In 1898, the U.S. Open switched to a 72-hole format, two days of 36-holes. For the first few years, the field was routinely riddled with amateurs as British and Scottish professionals. Popularity for the event dwindled until Americans began to dominate the event, starting with John McDermott in 1911. The U.S. Open experienced a dramatic jump in popularity in 1913 when Francis Ouimet, a 20-year-old American amateur, defeated famed British professionals, Harry Vardon and Ted Ray, in a playoff. Popularity for the U.S. Open began to soar even higher in the early 1920s. In 1922, the U.S. Open sold tickets to the event for the first time. A year later, Bobby Jones, an amateur golfer from Georgia won his first of four U.S. Opens. By 1924, an enormous influx of applicants to compete in the U.S. Open forced the USGA to hold sectional qualifying to determine who would receive entry into the field.

In 1926, the format for the tournament was again switched. Players would play 72 holes; 18 holes on each of the first two days, followed by 36 holes on the third and final day. The changes to the U.S. Open format were paralleled by an almost systematic phase-out of the amateur player. Though amateur players still compete annually, John Goodman was the last amateur to win the U.S. Open, taking the 1933 crown at the North Shore Country Club in Glenview, Illinois. Jack Nicklaus's second-place finish at the 1960 U.S. Open is the best finish by an amateur since Goodman's victory in 1933.

The U.S. Open saw relatively few changes to the event between 1935 and 1954. In 1954, the course was roped off from tee to green for the first time, as well as broadcast on national television. Arnold Palmer's historic comeback victory in the 1960 U.S. Open further boosted the tournament's popularity. But it was the 1962 U.S. Open, in which Jack Nicklaus defeated Arnold Palmer in a Monday playoff that would catapult "America's Championship" to the forefront of the golf world.

Over the next 18 years, from 1962 to 1980, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer combined to win four U.S. Opens. Fans flocked to the U.S. Open in droves to see the budding rivalry. In 1965, in an effort to accommodate the growing fan base, the U.S. Open switched from the 3-day, 72-hole format to the current, four-day, 72-hole format.

In 1971, Lee Trevino's victory at the U.S. Open was the catalyst as he went on to play, arguably, the three greatest weeks of golf. Trevino, after winning the U.S. Open, went on to capture the Canadian Open crown, followed by the British Open crown. A feat that, to this day, has not been matched. Trevino, as well as the already well established Nicklaus and Palmer, created a trio that further launched the event into the American limelight. In 1977, ABC began live coverage of the final two rounds of U.S. Open play. By 1982, upstart cable channel ESPN was broadcasting the Thursday and Friday rounds as well.

In 1994, the U.S. Open at Oakmont was the venue for Ernie Els first victory in America. Els and Loren Roberts both shot 74, while Colin Montgomerie shot a 78. Els claimed the title by defeating Loren Roberts on the second sudden-death playoff hole. Ernie Els, and a slew of other foreign champions, paved the way for the first qualifying tournaments held outside the United States. But for the masses nothing will compare to Tiger Woods victory in 2000 at Pebble Beach. First of all it was the 100th U.S. Open that was was held on one of the great courses in the world that comprised the beauty of an ocean side course that stunned the viewers and fans but on a tough course in which wind played an important factor. It was also perfect timing for Tiger Woods to win his first Open title in a dominating way, first of all by 12 under to be the first champion in double digits but by 15 strokes over Ernie Els and Miguel Angel Jimenez. There was no too ways about this win that it brought the U.S. Open into a different focus on it's start of a second decade of play.

Oakmont History:

Major Championships held at Oakmont:
1919 U.S. Amateur won by Davidson Herron
1922 PGA Championship won by Gene Sarazen
1925 U.S. Amateur won by Bobby Jones
1927 U.S. Open won by Tommy Armour
1935 U.S. Open won by Sam Parks
1938 U.S. Amateur won by William Turnesa
1951 PGA Championship won by Sam Snead
1953 U.S. Open won by Ben Hogan
1962 U.S. Open won by Jack Nicklaus
1969 U.S. Amateur won by Steve Melnyk
1973 U.S. Open won by Johnny Miller
1978 PGA Championship won by John Mahaffey
1983 U.S. Open won by Larry Nelson
1992 U.S. Womens Open won by Patty Sheelan
1994 U.S. Open won by Ernie Els
2003 U.S. Amateur won by Nick Flanagan

With 14 USGA events held here only Merion (with 17), Baltusrol (15) and The Country Club (15) have had more in USGA history.

Oakmont may be the quintessential U.S. Open course. The club will hold it's eight Open, one more than Baltusrol except that club has used three courses, the eight held at Oakmont were on the same course. Oakland Hills has held 6 U.S. Open's, the second most of any one course.

Oakmont has played host to eight U.S. Opens, five U.S. Amateurs, three PGA Championships and one U.S. Women's Open. The 12 total professional majors are more than any other course in America, save for Augusta National.

The golf course itself was the vision and creation of Henry Fownes, the founder of Oakmont Country club. Construction on the course began in September of 1903. A team of around 150 men and two dozen mules worked tirelessly in an effort to complete the course before winter. However, six weeks later, with twelve holes finished, construction ceased for the winter. The other six holes were finished in the spring of 1904, with the course opening for play that summer.

Fownes' goal from the outset was to design a course that would withstand the evolution of golf throughout the ages. When the course finally opened, Henry Fownes believed he had achieved perfection in his first attempt as a golf course designer. Consequently, he never built another golf course. To this day, Oakmont remains relatively unchanged, a point of pride among the membership of Oakmont. The only major alteration to the course came in 1951 when the 8th hole green was moved 10 yards to make way for the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

Photo: © Sam Greenwood/Getty Images The 9th Hole of the Oakmont Country Club, as greenskeepers get it ready for play.

The only other significant change to occur at Oakmont took place in the 1960s. A massive tree-planting operation turned what was once an open, links-style course, into a woodland course that forced the golfer to frequently hit blind shots. The changes at Oakmont were undid a few decades later. After the completion of the 1994 U.S. Open at Oakmont, the course was stripped of over 5,000 trees over a decades time. Initially, the decision to remove the trees was met with hostility; so much so, that the first trees were actually taken down at night. This marks the most drastic change to the golf course from the last U.S. Open at Oakmont to this one. Other, minor changes have been made including a 284-yard lengthening and some new bunkers on the 2nd hole. The hole most affected by the lengthening is the Par 3 Number 8. It could play as long as 288 yards. As for the bunkers, which reside on the right-hand side of the fairway, they have effectively trimmed the already small landing area.

One of the biggest impacts of Oakmont is the bunkering which has been one of the reasons for it be as famous as it is. When Henry Fownes was dreaming and planning the course he wanted to build a Scottish links course, even though Oakmont was 300 miles from the sea. One of the items he couldn't duplicate at Oakmont were the pot bunkers of Scotland because of the poor subsurface drainage in the clay soil. Oakmont's bunkers had to be shallow, and Fownes adjusted to this deficiency by having the bunkers dragged with a rake that gouged deep furrows into the sand. When a ball landed into a bunker, a player found it nearly impossible to get the ball out because the furrow bunkers gave it the same effect as a buried golf shot, which meant that there was nothing to do but explode it out to a safe lie and sacrifice a stroke. There hasn't been a professional that has ever talked kindly about the way Oakmont's bunkers were raked and, in all of the championships that have been played at Oakmont with the forrow bunkers, Willie Turnesa is the only person to have any success with them. In the 36-hole finals of the 1938 Amateur, Turnesa was able to get up and down 14 of 16 times he visited the sand, gaining the name "Willie the Wedge" for his efforts. These rakes were last used in U.S. Open competition in 1962 and eliminated from the club in 1964.

At the U.S. Open, the Par 70, 7,255 yard course has a course rating of 77.5 and a slope of 147. The course features bent grass on both the tee boxes and fairways. The rough is 4 to 8 inches of Kentucky Blue Grass mixed with perrennial rye grass, and the greens are a miniscule .09 inch cut of Poa Annua grass. This thin cut leads to lightning-quick greens all over the course. In fact, the greens are actually slowed from a 14 on the stimpmeter to a 13.5 for U.S. Open tournament play. Oakmont, over the years, has received critical acclaim from all aspects of golf. It has been routinely recognized as one of the top 10 courses in America since the 1960s. In this years's edition, Oakmont ranks fifth among "America's 100 Greatest Golf Courses", trailing only Pine Valley, Shinnecock, Augusta National, and Pebble Beach. Also, it received special distinction in 1987 when it was the first golf course to become a National Landmark.

No two ways about it the talk of the town is how tough Oakmont is. The touring pros haven't played a course this tough since, hey last year at Winged Foot. What people don't realize is yes, last week at Memphis the TPC Southwind was hard but that was because of high winds. This week at Oakmont it could be completely benign and the winning score could be anywhere from 5 to 8 over par.

Another thing creating "buzz" this week is the possible rivalry of Tiger and Phil. Unfortunely some of the steam has been taken away with Phil's wrist injury but Oakmont has been the site of many rivalry's. Remember the first one in 1927, we had the famous rivalry of Bobby Jones against professional golfers in which Jones was out of the top-ten for the first time ever in his U.S. Open career finishing T11th.
In 1935 we had the rivalry between Gene Sarazen and Walter Hagen, the two of them fought off each other for over a decade and it would turn out to be there last fight in a major at Oakmont, but both had a tough final day finishing behind unknown Sam Parks.
In 1953 we had the great rivalry between Ben Hogan and Sam Snead with Hogan coming out on top.
Then in 1962 we had the first real meeting of Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, with Nicklaus coming out on top. This was the first of many epic Nicklaus/Palmer battles and even today with both not competing they consider each other friendly rivals. In 1973 Palmer and Nicklaus again were in contention on the final day before Johnny Miller on the wings of a 63 put them in the dust and won.
Ten years later in 1983 Larry Nelson may of won but what many don't remember was that Seve Ballesteros and Tom Watson, again rival's from the Masters and British Open went into the final day fighting it out only to see someone fly past them in the form of Larry Nelson.
Finally in 1994 Ernie Els and Colin Montgomerie fought it off, both from the European Tour. Ernie not only got Monty in '94 but three years later at Congressional, the major that Monty should of won saw again Els get the best of Montgomerie.

So with that as a backdrop you would have to think that one big storyline would be Tiger and Phil. Unfortunely Phil's wrist may be more serious than he is telling us. In a talk with one of his coach's Dave Pelz, he painted a positive picture on things but said that the rough could present a problem for Phil and the wrist. When I jokingly said to him, that means Phil has to keep it out of the rough Pelz in a stern look said, "that isn't Phil's game."

Still I think the main story this week will be how tough the course plays. I personally think that on a calm day Oakmont is the hardest course in America to play, with Carnoustie and Winged Foot just behind them. What I see happening is just what happened last year, the leaders just over par but on a brutal final round, all of them backing up just like what happened last year to Mickelson and the rest. Did that produce compelling golf? Who knows in a way it's like watching a wreck at Indy. But I feel that is what the USGA wants. Still I think that there is a lot of interest this year and it will hopefully if the weather holds up with be good theater.

Here are some of the secrets that it will take to play well this week at the U.S. Open:

Photo: © Pete Fontaine/Wire Images The 18th Hole of the Oakmont Country Club, home of the 2007 U.S. Open..

Since 1960 only seven players have made the U.S. Open their first PGA Tour victory, Jack Nicklaus, 1962; Lee Trevino, 1968; Orville Moody, 1969; Jerry Pate, 1976; Ernie Els, 1993, Retief Goosen, 2001 and Michael Campbell in 2005. But look at that list, Jack Nicklaus and Jerry Pate were U.S. Amateur champions, Retief Goosen and Ernie Els had almost a dozen wins around the world before they won the U.S. Open and Lee Trevino became one of the greatest players in the world. Michael Campbell has won a lot around the world, specially in Europe.

Of those you just have Orville Moody, who also won the Senior Open but still wasn't that great of a player. The point here is look for a big name to win the U.S. Open.

There hasnt been a European Tour player winning the Open since Tony Jacklin did it 36 years ago. Can it be done? Lots of talent between the Luke Donald's and Paul Casey's but Europe's chances for glory rests in the hands of Padraig Harrington. Oakmont could be a good course for him, he is a great scrambler and hits lots of greens. Key stat for the winner:
Players have to drive it straight and not, repeat not drive it into bunkers. No course is more penal from fairway sand than Oakmont, for those that drive it into sand look for as low as a 33% return of making par on the hole.

Some other things to ponder, look for a guy that has a combination of good driving accuracy and greens hit stats. Its very important to hit lots of fairways and lots of greens. Look at how well the winners in the last eleven years have done in those stats:

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