Warren Montgomery
One of the most famous upsets in golf took place at The Olympic Club but that wasn’t the only one in US Open history. And it might not have been the biggest. Here are five of the biggest upsets in golf that ensure the US Open often lives up to its name.
5. STEVE JONES
Having had his career derailed for three seasons following a dirt-bike accident, Jones qualified for the 1996 US Open at Oakland Hills.
He opened with a 74, seven shots behind the leaders, then rallied with a 66 to get back into the hunt. Tom Lehman had a tournament-best 65 in the third round to take the outright lead, and Jones joined him in the last group with Davis Love III making a move on the last day.
Love bogeyed the 17th and left a 20-foot birdie putt three feet short on 18, missing that for another bogey and a 69. Lehman, tied for the lead on the 18th, saw his tee shot take a funny hop into the bunker, leaving him no chance to reach the green. Jones two-putted for par and Lehman missed a 15-foot par putt to force a play-off, making Jones the first US Open champion to come through qualifying since Jerry Pate in 1976.
4. SAM PARKS JNR
A club pro from a nearby club who had never won a PGA Tour event, Parks practiced every day for a month at Oakmont to prepare for the 1935 Open.
Oakmont was as severe as ever, and Jimmy Thomson opened with 73-73 to take the lead. Parks holed a 60ft eagle chip in the third round and shot 73 to tie for the lead, with 42-year-old Walter Hagen three shots back. The weather worsened for the last round and none of the leading 20 players broke 75. Parks closed with a 76, to finish the only player to break 300 for a two-shot win over Thomson.
3. ORVILLE MOODY
Known as “Sarge”, he won the Korean Open three times whilst in the army. On home soil, though, his best chance came early in 1969 when he lost in a play-off at the Greater Greensboro Open.
That year’s US Open saw Moody go through local and sectional qualifying just to tee off aand he trailed Miller Barber by three shots going into the final round. Barber, though, closed with a 78 and Moody shot 72 to hold off Deane Beman, Bob Rosburg and Al Geiberger for his only PGA Tour win.
2. JACK FLECK
Ben Hogan appeared to have won his record-setting fifth US Open when he closed with a 70 at The Olympic Club in 1955. NBC went off the air and proclaimed him the winner but still on the golf course was straight-hitting Jack Fleck from a little-known club pro from Iowa.
Fleck birdied 15, parred the next two holes and then hit 7-iron from a good lie in the rough over the bunker to eight feet on the 18th. He made the birdie for a 67 to catch Hogan and force an 18-hole play-off.
Fleck – playing Hogan irons — never flinched against his idol, building a three-shot lead around the turn. That was down to one coming to 18 but Hogan, needing birdie to extend the play-off, hooked his drive into the rough. Fleck won by three for his first victory. It was an epic upset but no fluke. Of the just seven rounds in the 60s that week, Fleck had three of them.
1. FRANCIS OUIMET
Francis Ouimet put golf on US newspaper front pages by beating two giants of the game at Brookline.
The 1913 US Open had been moved from June to September so Harry Vardon and Ted Ray could compete. Also in the field was Ouimet, the 20-year-old Massachusetts Amateur champion who lived across the street from The Country Club’s 17th hole and was playing his first major. Six shots behind after round one, Ouimet posted 74-74 to share the 54-hole lead with Vardon and Ray, and all three shot closing 79s to force an 18-hole play-off.
In the tough conditions Ouimet played his best golf, shooting 72, to Vardon’s 78 and Ray’s 79 as America hailed a famous upset.
Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/4R4lAavq0jo/post.aspx
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