U.S. Open Championship - USGA

12 U.S. Open
Championship History
Open
On Oct. 4, 1895, the first U.S. Open Championship was
conducted by the United States Golf Associa tion on the
nine-hole course of Newport (R.I.) Golf and Country Club.
The first U.S. Open was considered something of a sideshow
to the first U.S. Amateur, which was played on the
same course and during the same week. Both championships
had been scheduled for September but were
postponed because of a conflict with a more established
Newport sports spectacle,
the America’s Cup yacht
races.
Ten professionals and
one amateur started in
the 36-hole competition,
which was four trips
around the Newport
course in one day. The surprise
winner was Horace
Rawlins, 21, an English
professional who was
the assistant at the host
course. Rawlins scored
91-82—173 with the guttapercha
ball.
Prize money totaled $335,
of which Rawlins won the
$150 first prize. He also
received a gold medal
and custody of the Open
Championship Trophy for
his club for one year.
Fans braved the
elements to gather
around the famed
warning sign that
resides on the first
tee at Bethpage.
In its first decade, the U.S. Open was conducted for
amateurs and the largely British wave of immigrant golf
professionals coming to the United States.
As American players began to dominate the game, the
U.S. Open evolved into an important world golf championship.
Young John J. McDermott became the first
native-born American winner in 1911 and repeated as
champion in 1912.
In 1913, the U.S. Open really took off when Francis
Ouimet, a 20-year-old American amateur, stunned the
golf world by defeating the famous English professionals
Harry Vardon and Ted Ray in a playoff.
Another surge in the championship’s popularity coincided
with the amazing career of Georgia amateur Robert T.
Jones Jr., who won the U.S. Open four times (1923, 1926,
1929, 1930). Spectator tickets were sold for the first time
in 1922 and a boom in entries caused the USGA to introduce
sectional qualifying in 1924.
In 1933, John Goodman became the fifth and last amateur
to win the U.S. Open. The others were Ouimet,
Jerome D. Travers (1915), Charles Evans Jr. (1916) and
Jones.
In each era, the world’s greatest players have been identified
by surviving the rigorous examination provided by
the U.S. Open. Ben Hogan’s steely determination boosted
him to four victories (1948, 1950, 1951, 1953). Arnold
Palmer’s record comeback
win in 1960, when he fired a
final-round 65 to come from
seven strokes off the lead,
cemented his dashing image.
Jack Nicklaus’ historic assault
on the professional record
book began when he won
the first of his four U.S. Open
Championships in 1962, his
rookie season as a professional.
Nicklaus, who also won in
1967, 1972 and 1980, is one of
only four golfers to capture
four U.S. Open titles. The others
are Willie Anderson (1901,
1903, 1904, 1905), Jones and
Hogan.
In 1954, the U.S. Open course
was roped from tee to green
for the first time. That year
also marked the first national
television coverage. Coverage was expanded by ABC
Sports in 1977 so that all 18 holes of the final two
rounds were broadcast live. In 1982, the first two rounds
were broadcast live for the first time on ESPN. NBC
began televising the U.S. Open in 1995.
The format of the U.S. Open has changed several times.
The USGA extended the championship to 72 holes in
1898, with 36 holes played on each of two days. In 1926,
the format was changed to 18 holes played each of two
days, then 36 holes on the third day. In 1965, the present
format of four 18-hole daily rounds was implemented for
the first time.
In 2002, a two-tee (No. 1 and No. 10) start was used for
the first and second rounds. In addition, Bethpage State
Park’s Black Course in Farmingdale, N.Y., became the
first facility owned by the public to host a U.S. Open.
International qualifying sites were added in 2005 and
the champion at Pinehurst (N.C.) Resort was Michael
Campbell, who qualified in England.