The U.S. Open

In 1982, my brother and I took my father to the U.S. Open played at Pebble Beach - The year that Tom Watson beat Jack Nicklaus on the 17 hole with that miraculous chip in. Unfortunately for us we lived in southern California and left the course a hole too early to try to beat some of the traffic. We were absolutely sick the following morning. To have endured the day like we had and to have missed seeing the dramatics as they unfolded was a true regret.

I don’t know how many of you have ever been to Pebble Beach but not only is it one of the truly great golf courses; you have to come prepared for most any type of weather. In a typical 4 ½ hours you can see brilliant sun turn to cold howling wind in a split second. I once walked the course at a Bing Crosby Clam Bake event in a golf shirt since it was in the high eighties when we arrived only to catch pneumonia on the back side.

Last night I was looking up some history on the Open and something caught my eye - The name of Sam Snead. Not because of victories because although he won more tournaments than any other golfer (81 in his career), he did not win the U.S. Open. He was runner up 4 times but did not get to the winners circle at this national Major golf event.

What Sam Snead did do was make it to the weekend in the U.S. Open at the age of 61 in 1973 – the oldest player to ever make the cut. And he ended up tying for 29th that year which is amazing given the typical U.S. Open conditions that usually favor the long accurate hitters coupled with, of course, the things that happen to our golf swings and bodies when we start to reach that ripe old age.

Here are a couple of other facts to get us ready for next weeks event:

The most victories in a U.S. Open is held by 4 golfer: Willie Anderson, Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan and Jack Nicklaus.

The oldest champion is Hale Irwin at the age of 45.

There are 6 active players with 2 or more victories in the U.S. Open: Hale Irwin, (3), Lee Trevino (2), Ernie Els (2), Lee Janzen (2), Tiger Woods (2) and Retief Goosen (2).

Are you ready? Let’s tee it up!!