Past winners of U.S. Opens at Oakmont include several of golf's biggest names
Past winners of U.S. Opens at Oakmont include several of golf's biggest names
Oakmont Country Club near Pittsburgh will host its 10th U.S. Open on June 12-15, and it has produced several big-name winners in past tournaments including Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus and Dustin Johnson.
Originally designed by Henry Fownes and opened in 1903, the private Oakmont has seen numerous renovations over the decades, most recently by Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner in 2023. Oakmont was rated in 2024 by Golfweek's Best as No. 6 among all classic courses in the United States. It is widely considered to be among the most difficult golf courses in the world, with green speeds that sometimes have to be slowed down for a U.S. Open.
The total par at Oakmont has changed over the years, and that is reflected in the winning scores in the previous nine U.S. Opens there. Never a pushover, it's still one of the few courses in the world where a winning score can be over par, especially when the course plays firm and fast.
Besides the U.S. Open, Oakmont also hosted three PGA Championships (1922 won by Gene Sarazen, 1951 won by Sam Snead and 1978 won by John Mahaffey). It hosted the U.S. Women's Open twice (1992 won by Patty Sheehan and 2010 won by Paula Creamer) as well as six U.S. Amateurs.
Keep scrolling to see each of the winners of previous U.S. Opens at Oakmont.
U.S. Open 1927 winner Tommy Armour
Winning score: 78-71-76-76–301 (+13)
Second place: Harry Cooper 301 (+13)
18-hole playoff: Armour 76, Cooper 79
Winner's prize: $500
Of note: Armour made a 10-foot birdie putt on the final hole of regulation to force a playoff, then birdied the first hole of a playoff that was fought tooth and nail for 15 holes until Cooper made double-bogey on the par-3 16th to give Armour a two-shot lead that he wouldn't relinquish.
U.S. Open 1935 winner Sam Parks Jr.
Winning score: 77-73-73-76–299 (+11)
Second place: Jimmy Thomson 301 (+13)
Winner's prize: $1,000
Of note: Parks was a 25-year-old club pro at nearby South Hills Country Club with no prior professional wins. Parks played a practice round at Oakmont every day for a month in preparation. Parks led after three rounds and tied for the lowest round of the final day among the top contenders.
U.S. Open 1953 winner Ben Hogan
Winning score: 67-72-73-71–283 (-5)
Second place: Sam Snead 289 (+1)
Winner's prize: $5,000
Of note: Hogan led by three shots after the opening round and maintained the lead after both the second and third rounds. Hogan led Snead by a shot entering the final round, but Snead couldn't keep pace and closed in 76. It was Hogan's fourth and final U.S. Open title. Hogan had won the Masters earlier that year, and he added the British Open later that summer to become the only man to have won all three titles in one year. Hogan skipped the PGA Championship that year because it conflicted with the British Open on the calendar, preventing Hogan an opportunity at the modern professional Grand Slam.
U.S. Open 1962 winner Jack Nicklaus
Winning score: 72-70-72-69–283 (-1)
Second place: Arnold Palmer 283 (-1)
18-hole playoff: Nicklaus 71, Palmer 74
Winner's prize: $17,500
Of note: This Open marked a seismic shift in the game, with a young titan unseating the King. The 22-year-old Nicklaus was the underdog, and the Pennsylvania-born Palmer had a strong local following. Palmer bogeyed the first in the 18-hole playoff and couldn't keep pace on the front nine, falling three shots behind at the turn and unable to mount a charge on the back nine.
U.S. Open 1973 winner Johnny Miller
Winning score: 71-69-76-63–279 (-5)
Second place: John Schlee 280 (-4)
Winner's prize: $35,000
Of note: Miller started the final round six shots back of a four-way tie for first that included Arnold Palmer, Julius Boros, Schlee and Jerry Heard. Also in front of him was Tom Weiskopf, Lee Trevino, Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus, among others. Miller's closing 63 set a tournament scoring record that was matched half a dozen times but not surpassed until Rickie Fowler shot a 62 at Los Angeles Country Club in 2023 that was matched later that same day by Xander Schauffele.
U.S. Open 1983 winner Larry Nelson
Winning score: 75-73-65-67–280 (-4)
Second place: Tom Watson 281 (-3)
Winner's prize: $72,000
Of note: Nelson charged into contention in the third round, playing his final 14 holes Saturday in 7 under par to get within a shot of co-leaders Watson and Seve Ballesteros. Ballesteros faltered midway through the final round, playing the closing 12 holes in 5 over. Watson held a three-shot lead at -6 at the turn in the final round, but he played the back nine in 3 over while Nelson came home in 1 under par on the back nine to grab the title.
U.S. Open 1994 winner Ernie Els
Winner's score: 69-71-66-73–279 (-5)
Second place: Colin Montgomerie, Loren Roberts 279 (-5)
Winner's prize: $320,000
Playoff: Els 74, Roberts 74, Montgomerie 78
Of note: In sudden death – just the second sudden death playoff in U.S. Open history – Els and Roberts both parred the first hole (No. 10), then Els parred the second (No. 11) and Roberts made bogey from a greenside bunker. Els was just 24 years old for this victory, his first of four in major championships and also his first of 19 victories on the PGA Tour.
U.S. Open 2007 winner Angel Cabrera
Winning score: 69-71-76-69–285 (+5)
Second place: Jim Furyk, Tiger Woods +6 286
Winner's prize: $1,260,000
Of note: Tied with Woods for the lead halfway through the final round, Cabrera shot even par on the back nine with two birdies against two bogeys to hold off Woods and Furyk. Woods, in particular, ran a bit cold in the final round, making just one birdie in shooting a 2-over 72.
U.S. Open 2016 winner Dustin Johnson
Winning score: 67-69-71-69–276 (-4)
Second place: Jim Furyk, Shane Lowry, Scott Piercy 279 (-1)
Winner's prize: $1,800,000
Of note: Johnson entered the final round four shots behind Lowry, but Lowry made seven bogeys in the final round and Johnson passed him midway through the back nine. After several close calls in major championships, this was Johnson's first victory on one of the game's biggest stages. The victory wasn't without some controversy, however, as Johnson was the recipient of a favorable ruling on No. 5 in the final round – he had approached his ball to putt and the ball moved, but Johnson told the rules official he had not addressed the shot and was allowed to continue without penalty.
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The Stimpmeter was developed after the inventor read about Gene Sarazen hitting a putt into a bunker at Oakmont. Schauffele still hasn't figured out the winning part of it, at least not at the U.S. Open. Despite his top 10s, he has yet to seriously challenge in the final hour. This year presents a different test for the 31-year-old Californian, who broke through last year in the biggest events by winning the PGA Championship and the British Open . He is still trying to find his groove after missing two months with a rib injury that significantly slowed the start of his season. That was a serious challenge — sitting at home, resting, doing next to nothing. 'I felt like I was playing at a pretty high level. Then I got hurt,' he said. 'My expectations of what I knew I could do to where I was were different. And accepting that was tough. I think that was sort of the biggest wake-up call for me coming back.' So a U.S. Open at Oakmont — fun, he calls it — might be a good measure of where he is. Most of the 156 players, and even a few alternates, made their way out to the course on a relatively dry day that should stay that way at least until the weekend. Justin Thomas was among those who came to Oakmont a few weeks ago to get in some serious study, knowing practice rounds can be the biggest grind because they take so long. Everyone is trying to figure out what to do from the rough, where to miss, how to avoid mistakes. Dustin Johnson played nine holes, his first time back at Oakmont since he won his first major nine years ago . He played the final seven holes not knowing if the USGA was going to penalize him for his golf ball moving on the fifth green. That's some serious mental toughness. There have been a few changes, including even fewer trees. 'The course is just as hard as I remember, if not harder,' Johnson said. The USGA likes to test every part of the game, and that includes the mental side of it. Jack Nicklaus, a four-time U.S. Open champion, said he used to listen to players complain in the days leading up to the Open and figure he could rule them out. 'I hope it psyches a lot of players out,' Thomas said. 'I understand this place is hard. I don't need to read articles, or I don't need to hear horror stories. I've played it. I know it's difficult. I also have faith that if I go play well and I'm driving the ball well and I'm hitting my irons like I know I can, I'm going to have a lot of birdie opportunities.' Thomas also mentioned the need to have a good attitude. The definition is different for each player. For him, it's being committed over every shot on every hole and accepting the outcome. 'I think once I start second-guessing myself or not trusting my instincts is kind of where I get myself in trouble,' Thomas said. 'Then when I do that, I naturally am pretty pissed off if it doesn't work out. It wasn't because of the shot, it was more from the lack of commitment. That's where it starts for me generally.' With Schauffele, it can be hard to tell when he loses his cool. And he's not a big believer that anyone throwing a club is costing himself shots. Tiger Woods, who won the U.S. Open three times, was among the best at putting any anger behind him before he settled over his next shot. 'I think I look pretty level-headed when I play, but internally I might be absolutely just thrashing myself,' Schauffele said. 'I think truly having a good attitude is just sort of accepting what happened and allowing yourself to be pretty much at zero to hit the next shot.' It's not just the U.S. Open where Schauffele has shown remarkable consistency. He rallied down the stretch at Quail Hollow to make the cut, and his cut streak is at 65 tournaments going into Oakmont. That's the longest streak since Woods made 142 cuts in a row that ended in 2005. He has game, clearly. And he has the right head for the U.S. Open. 'Part of my attitude thing is we're all playing the same course, and it's going to be hard,' he said. 'You may think something's unfair, but it doesn't really matter at the end of the day. Whoever can deal with it the best is going to play well. That's the attitude I've had — look at it as a fun challenge versus feeling like you're living in a nightmare.' ___ AP golf:
