The Rich Conwell Show - June 15, 2024

Rich explains the allure and grandure behind the U.S. Open, and ranks his top 10 U.S. Open moments and players.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to the Rich Komal Golf Show. Since it is US Open week,
I decided to forego a guest thisweek and just do an entire show focused
on the United States Open. Andthis is airing on Saturday of US Open

(00:22):
Week, so I'm not going todo a preview. I'm going to do
a look backwards and I'm going totalk about how important the US Open is,
and it is. It is absolutelythe most awesome major golf championship in

(00:45):
the world. Yes, the BritishOpen they call it the Open now is
older, and I get all that, and the Masters is really cool.
Masters is the coolest, and thePGA of America has the hardest feel,
but the US Open is the hardestone to win. The US Open is
what you were watching when you watchUS Open, You're watching the nation's championship,

(01:06):
you know. I I've mentioned JohnnyPalmer on this show several times,
and I'll mention him throughout a coupleof times in this uh this episode.
But Johnny won the Mexico Open,and he won the Canadian Open, and

(01:26):
he said that to him, winninga nation's championship is the ultimate thing for
that player. David Ferdy, whois famous for a lot of different things.
And he's on live on Live Golfnow he's a broadcaster or a commentator

(01:49):
on Live Golf. One. He'sfrom Ireland. Won the Irish Open.
I would tell you that that isthe that is the ULTI played that.
He played in several opens, hehad a couple of top tens in majors
I think, and he had,you know, played in a Ryder Cup.
But that win because it was theIrish Open. It was his home

(02:12):
country. And so that's why theUS Open is so cool. You are
the best player in the United Statesfor a year, you're the best golf
in the United States. You know, the British Open says the champion golfer
of the year. That's what itis when you win the US Open too,

(02:34):
I can't take it from you now. You can rank champions and and
things like that, and I'll dothat later, because that's just this.
I love the US Open and ithas a lot of fun too, and
a lot of really cool things.But but you have to know that the

(02:58):
other really cool thing about the UnitedStates Open is a throwback to an earlier
era. You can qualify, youcan you pay your money if you're an
amateur, you have to have acertain handicap. If you're a professional,
it doesn't matter what your handicap is. And you go play two stage of
qualifiers to qualifying stages, and ifyou make it through those, you're in
the US Open. It doesn't youdon't have to be a card carrying member

(03:23):
the PGA Tour. You don't haveto be a blue blood from you know,
the I'm just picking names here,the Rockepher lineage, any of that.
You can qualify to open to anyone. And it is also a throwback
to an era when state opens werereally, really really important. I mean

(03:50):
really important if you want to stayopen in the nineteen fifties, nineteen sixties,
forties, thirties before that, youknow, right around those times,
I just say thirty to seventy,thirty to eight. They are absolutely they
were absolutely major major in any player'scareer. I mean, we talked to
Chris Smith a couple of weeks agohe won the Ohio Open. He makes

(04:13):
sure he mentions that because it's astate open, they're that important. The
United States Open incredibly important. It'sthe hardest one to win. Now go
back to the state opens, whichhearkens back to a time long ago,
because now you know, like theTri State PGA, we have the Tri

(04:36):
State Open, there is the PennsylvaniaOpen, there's the West penn Open.
But the State Open is vital tovital to anybody's career. That's why Chris
mentions the Ohio Open. You know, I Sam Snead won the West Virginia

(04:57):
Open numerous times and stated it onhis resume for his entire career, his
entire life. He was proud towin his state Open. Now imagine the
pride to win the US Open.I cannot talk to Sam seen anymore.
He's passed away. But he alsonever won the US Open, so I

(05:20):
couldn't tell you how he did,how he felt, how he felt about
it. I do know, guysthat I've been fortunate enough to talk to
US Open winners and they would tellyou without a doubt, you know,
it's it's the hardest one to win, and it's the one you carry with

(05:41):
you forever. So the reason isthe hardest one to win. The golf
course is the hardest golf course inthe world. For those ten that week,
hardest one in the world. Imean, if you look at if
you look at the golf courses thatthey've played on. I mean, like,

(06:03):
okay, I'm in West Virginia now, so a close one is Oakmont
in Pittsburgh. That is incredibly,incredibly hard golf course. And then it
gets harder the US Open week Marionin Philadelphia really hard. Where they're playing

(06:28):
now, Pinehurst Number two in Pinehurst, North Carolina, really hard. There
is not one golf course that theyplay they've played a US Open on that
is not considered to be the hardestin the world for that week. The
rough is thick, the roughest high, the greens are fast, the fairways
are narrow, and the golf courseis long and hard. And when you

(06:55):
qualify for the US Open, andI've talked to guys who've qualified to the
US Open, it takes a lotof good golf to qualify. But when
you get on the golf course,is it's different. That golf course becomes
harder. I mean, I meanyou see something, you see holes you've
never seen before. I mean,you go to wing foot for the first

(07:17):
time in ma Marinick, New York. There might be dog legs you can't
reach. You're in the US Open, you qualify to play, they just
made it that much harder. Youcan obviously play a little bit, but
now it's that hard. The otherreason that it makes it so hard is

(07:38):
because it's one week. I mean, it's that moment in time, that
moment in time, and you're you'rea desire to win. Is it an
all time high? So if youhave a chance, it's in an all
time high. And then so thepressure is overwhelming. And then the history

(08:03):
of it, the history of theUS Open is a daunting thing to try
to link your name to. Imean, it is hard to link your
name to it. Now it's equallyas hard, not equally as hard.
It's very hard to link your nameto the people who've won the Masters.
You know, it's not as hardto link your name to the people won

(08:26):
the PGA because the PJ is theleast well known major and the British Open
is not or the Open is notan American thing, so we don't link
up to that really. Well,you know, a guy named Peter Thompson
from Australia won five British Opens,and you'd be hard pressed to even though
ever to hear his name in thiscountry. And I would make an argument

(08:52):
that Tom Watson who's won five BritishOpens four five five five British Opens would
not be held as in a highregard as a high regard, will not
be held in the highest regard thathe is right now without winning the United

(09:18):
States Open in nineteen eighty two.You know people historians will tell you,
yeah, Peter Thompson one of thoseBritish Opens. He never win the US
Open. So you have to beconsidered, my opinion, top ten player
of all time. You have towin at least one US Open, have
to. You also have to winevery major, in my opinion. It's

(09:46):
my opinion, but I think it'spretty it's a pretty valid point. You
have to win all four majors,but you really have to win the US
Open. Now you can make anargument. Now I can make an argument.
There are top ten players. BobbyJones is one of them who did
not win all four majors. Hewon all the four majors that he played
that were presented to him, buthe couldn't have won the Masters because he
was retired by that. He startedthe Masters, he wasn't gonna play in

(10:11):
it. He did play in ittwice, but that's a different story.
But go back to the US Open, the history of it, anybody who
is anybody won the US Open.Think about this for a minute. I
talked about golf courses before, rightOakmont. Who's wonted Oakmont? Bobby Jones,

(10:31):
Jack Nicholas, Ben Hogan. That'sjust sreen names right there. Ernie
Els has also won there. Imean so that the history of it,
the names that have won it.Yeah, you have some scattered ones in
there that you know, Steve Joneswon a US Open, you know,

(10:54):
sort of, Orval Moody. Iunderstand all that, but by and large,
the history of the United States Openis so overwhelming. There's enough to
crush people. The golf course isso hard, it's enough to crush people.

(11:16):
And the pressure is so great,it's enough to crush people. I've
seen it do it. I've seenit on TV. I've seen it in
person. I've seen it in person. I've seen you know, I won't
tell you who because it would callhim out. But I've seen mouths.

(11:39):
I saw a mouth go dry ofa player playing in the US Open,
Logemont on the practice range the daybefore the tournament. Now, obviously he
eliminated himself from it because when you'rethat overwhelmed with emotion twenty four hours before
the flag goes up. I thinkwe we have a problem. But interestingly,

(12:03):
enough, of all the emotions thatcome with playing golf and championship golf,
and I've done a decent amount ofreading and talking to people who are
way more knowledgeable about it than Iam, the one emotion nerves always there,
Excitement there, But the one emotionthat comes up more often in the

(12:26):
US Open than any other major golftournament is fear, which consumes you.
Fear just freezes you, activates fightor flight. Obviously, you're not gonna
run from a golf tournament. You'regonna try to fight. But fear is

(12:50):
the one that I've heard more withthe US Open than any other major.
Now, you know, do theyjust pay it lip service? And maybe
by saying it out loud it's better. I don't know, but they say
it. They don't say anything anyother major. You know. Then then

(13:16):
you hear the occasional I'm not afraid. I mean, what's there to be
afraid of? You're playing golf.I understand that, but I'm talking about
being afraid to play golf. Idon't mean to stand there and swing and
play because they've been doing it theirwhole life, afraid of measuring up to
that golf course, that pressure,that history. It's a cauldron that you're

(13:41):
in and you're doing it on thehardest golf course in the world. So
now, I mean, at thatpoint, you know, the famous saying
rises up. You don't win theUS Open. The US Open wins you.

(14:01):
I don't know, it might betrue. At won Steve Jones,
you know, probably won, OrivileeMoody and what it can do for you,
you're forever and ever and ever.That guy, you know, Lee

(14:24):
Jansen, Lee Jansen won the USOpen. I saw him at PGA Tour
event at the Greenbrier when it wasa regular tour event, wasn't very well
attended. It was a really baddate and he was there and you know,

(14:45):
he's just he wasn't doing well andit was kind of later in his
career on the PGA Tour. Andhe walked by and I went, that
guy won the US Open. Thatguy won the US Open. I mean
literally, that guy won the USOpen. Can't take it from you.
You know, my father used totell the story about going to the offices

(15:05):
of the Pittsburgh Steelers at the RooseveltHotel when the Pittsburgh Cultural District Art Rooney
Senior had an office in the firstfloor of the Roosevelt Hotel. That was
the ticket office, and that waseverything for the Steelers. So you went
and picked up your tickets down there, said in nineteen fifty something, I'm
sure maybe later, maybe early sixties, my dad knocked on the door,

(15:26):
open up and Billy Consent in there, light heavyweight champion of the world,
not currently he wasn't. You cannever take away from him when you win
the US Open. You can't takeit away from you never. You'll always
be that, You'll always be ableto get extra endorsements as the US Open
winner. You'll always be viewed differentlyas the US Open winner, and you

(15:52):
should be. To the nation's championship. You're the champion golfer of the United
States America for a year, andyou win it in spite of or despite
the history of it, the pressureof it, and the golf course you're

(16:15):
playing. When we come back,we're going to talk about some of the
top ten moments in US Open history, top ten players in US Open history.
This is a rich combo Golf Show. Welcome back to the Rich Combo
Golf Show. This is this episodeor this show is completely dedicated to the

(16:36):
United States Open. Not in theway that we're going to talk about what
pioneers number two looks like today andor you know, which holes playing hardest
or easiest or not there's any easyhole at the US Open, you know,
and who's playing the best in thisand that? Not from its current
standpoint. We're looking at the USOpen in general, okay, in history.

(16:57):
I mean, it is, asI said before, the nation's championship,
and it is really really really importantthat we remember how important the US
Open is. And it is thenation's champion. You're the champion golfer.

(17:19):
So sitting around, not around today, but sitting around and doing some research,
I wanted to go back and sayto myself that let's talk about let's
do some top tens with the USOpen. I mean, let's talk about
from the beginning, you know,I mean it started a long, long,

(17:44):
long time ago. That sounds reallylike crazy, like eighteen ninety five,
eighteen ninety five. Okay, Sowe missed some for the war,
we miss some two wars, misssome for the pandemic. But in eighteen
ninety five, Horace Rawlins went toNewport Country Club and won. He shot

(18:11):
one seventy three. It was tworounds, but that's when it started,
that long ago. It's one hundredand twenty fourth US Open this year.
Now, we missed a couple ofWorld War two, World War two,
world War one, missed a pandemicyear. Top I mean, the hardest

(18:37):
major to win. So I wantto talk about the top ten US Open
players in reverse. Ten to oneand seven, eight, nine, and
ten are in no particular order andno particular order, and that's gonna shock
some people. Anybody listening. It'sgonna shock some people. My top my

(18:59):
top five, I will shock theorder that they're in. I put them
in order. Best is number one, tenth, best US Open player number
ten, so seven, eight,nine, and ten are all kind of
combined so that this is in noparticular order. Number ten is Brooks Koepka.
He's top ten because he won backto back championships twenty seventeen, twenty

(19:23):
eighteen. He that guy, unbelievableplayer, Okay, but he gets that
because he's back to back, youhave to separate. Like Andy North won
two US Opens guy on TV onthe Golf Channel one two US Opens,
Lee Jansen, I believe one too. Ernie Els won two, but Kopka

(19:48):
won him back to back, sohe gets into top ten. Same with
Johnny McDermott nineteen eleven, nineteen twelve. I know that nobody was alive,
then I get it, but it'sstill a great history. And he went
back to back US Opens. CurtisStrange. Curtis Strange went back to back

(20:11):
in eighty eight and eighty nine.If I could leave him off the this
list, I would, because hebecame in nineteen eighty nine the first back
to back champion since mister Hogan innineteen fifty and fifty one. And he
sat down at his press conference andmove over Ben, which I thought was
a bit disrespectful of my hero,mister Hogan. But Curtis Strange top ten

(20:36):
back to back US Open winner RalphGoodall in nineteen thirty seven, nineteen thirty
eight. Really cool thing about RalphGoodall, great player, great player,
played at Willen Country Club, playedat Willie Country Club in the nineteen thirty
six Centennial Open. And you'll heara little bit more about that event throughout

(20:56):
today's brought cast because it's it's reallyinteresting some of the older guys in the
US Open their connection to that eventin wheeling. But Ralph Goodall played in
it. Johnny McDermott did not,I know, I said nineteen eleven,
nineteen twelve, because this was nineteenthirty six, so he was done playing

(21:22):
for twenty five years by that forthe most part. Give a take all.
Right, So that's seven, eight, nine and ten Goodall, Strange,
McDermott, and Koepka. So nowlet's rank the top six. The
sixth best US Open player in History'sHeroin three time winner seventy four, seventy
nine, ninety nice length of career, all that fun stuff. Okay,

(21:47):
won three times, wanted the playoffagainst Mike Donald, his last one in
nineteen ninety, seventy four and seventynine. He won at oh I should
know this off top my head,but super hard golf courses. And the
cool thing about howerror when he playedcollege football at University of Colorado. I
don't know if he's friends with Dion. I have no idea. Hellroin's probably

(22:11):
got to be pushing seventy sixty fiveyears old now, but yeah, three
time champion. So he's number six. This is where it gets something's just
a little bit subjective. Number five, fifth best United States Open player of
all time, Tiger Woods fifth threetimes. Can't be top player, top

(22:44):
two, top three if you haven'twon the event the most amount of times.
That's simple. Now, I willtell you this that Tiger Woods is
the only player in history to wintwo of his US Opens. From start
to finish, he was lead.He was leading first, second, third,
fourth round twice twice. And we'regonna talk about one in particular a

(23:06):
little bit later in the show.But I'm telling you that guy back to
back wins the US Open. Unbelievable. The pressure that he goes through for
four rounds and to withstand it,the pressure he goes through with it for
four rounds twice and withstands it.But he only won three times. So

(23:29):
he's the fifth best US Open playerever, fourth best US Open player ever.
It's Jack Nicholas. Now that shouldshake somebody up if you're paying attention.
But the reason why I don't thinkhe's top three is because it took
him. He was sixteen years fromfirst win to last win. Great career,

(23:57):
but it took a long time towin four. Great player. Obviously,
my pick for best player of alltime is Jack Nicholas, But for
US Open he's the fourth best playerin US Open history. He also lost

(24:18):
a playoff. If he had notlost the playoff and won five, he
ultimately would be because nobody's won morethan four. So it's really interesting that

(24:38):
Nicholas, as great a player heis, is in my opinion, the
fourth best player in the US Openhistory. The other thing is is that
he did, as I said,he did lose the playoffs with Lee Trevino,
who is no slouch. I meanLeech Revino a great player, top
twenty five all time, but helost it Mary and and the thing of

(25:00):
it is with that was, tome, that's a obviously, any losses,
you know, in a playoff isa not a bad loss, but
it's an unfortunate loss. But theother thing is is Nicholas hit it so
much farther than Trevino. He hadsuch a great advantage at Marianne, and
he kind of kind of just couldn'tput him away until finally Trevino kind of

(25:25):
had an idea he might win,He could win. And what's that saying?
The underdog, right, you know, don't give him a chance.
They don't let him think they canbeat you, because they will. That's
what he did. Third best USOpen player in history is Bob Jones.
Bobby Jones won four US Opens inseven years seven years. Now, who

(25:48):
do you play against? Well,you can make that argument, but you
can't make that argument because he beatthe people he was supposed to beat.
You know, this is the sameargument they make for you know, when
a team in college football or theNFL for that matter, has a really
good run, like, oh whothey beat, They beat who they were

(26:11):
scheduled to play, that's who theybeat. You know, Jones beat Hagen,
great player. You know, Jonesbeat those guys four times in the
US Open in seven years, sevenyears. He's the third best US Open

(26:33):
player. Now, keep in mindone of those years, nineteen thirty,
his last year, that was theyear he won all four majors in the
same year. That's also why Ihold him in much higher position than three

(26:53):
in all time players, because hewon all four majors in the same year.
I don't want to hear about Tigerslam in the last three in the
first one, and I don't careBobby Jones won all four majors in the
same year. He won four USOpens in seven years, and that's what
makes him the third best player.The other cool thing is the formats that

(27:14):
he used. He won the USOpen at metal play, which means total
number of strokes, lowest number ofstrokes wins. But he also during that
run won the British Open lowest numberof strokes. But then he played in
the British Amateur and the brit andthe US Amateur, and it was at

(27:36):
match play. So not only notonly was he dominant in the US Open,
he was dominant everywhere he went.Now let me back up a little
bit. You know, I realizehe's three and Nicholas is four only because

(27:56):
he years sixteen years to win fourfor Nicholas seven years and win four for
Jones. But I will tell youthis, Nicholas. Nicholas would tell you
that for his I've seen interviews likethis, for his money, for his
money, the US Opens the easiestmajor to win because of all for all
the reasons that I mentioned before inthe first segment, golf course, the

(28:18):
pressure or the history, the historythe golf course, the pressure, he
just let it he could just withstandthat better. So his thing was he
didn't have to beat as many peoplebecause they eliminated themselves due to the golf
course, the pressure in the history. He was comfortable with it. So

(28:44):
what, in my opinion, thebest player in the world in the history
of the history of the game tellsyou that the US opens hard for a
lot of people. I believe them. I believe them. So recap six
he Irwin five, Tiger Woods four, Jack Nicholas three, Bob Jones two,

(29:06):
Ben Hogan. Ben Hogan won fourUS Opens in six years, four
US Opens in six years, nineteenforty eight, nineteen fifty, nineteen fifty
one, nineteen fifty three. Nowlet's talk about forty eight forty eight.
He goes to Riviera, which inCalifornian wins. Russ Sherbrot, the longtime

(29:30):
golf professional in the South Hills ofPittsburgh, longtime PGA professional, said that
he saw Hogan in nineteen forty eightat that US Open because Russ qualified to
play in the US Open. Hehad seen Hogan two years earlier, in
nineteen forty six, the pg Championshipin Portland Golf Club in Portland, Oregon,

(29:52):
and Russ told me that he watchedHogan practice in nineteen forty six.
Although he won the PGA Championship.At match play, he could not hit
it very well at all. Sowhen I saw him in nineteen forty it
was a different human being. SoHogan is a different human being. In
forty eight and he wins his firstUS Open, wins the second in nineteen

(30:18):
fifty, his third in nineteen fiftyone, is fourth in nineteen fifty three.
That's six years. But what peopledon't realize is in nineteen forty nine
he could not play because he wasin a car accident, So you take
that year out. He won inforty eight, fifty and fifty one.
Second best player of all time,dominant US Open player, dominant now number

(30:47):
one US Open player of all time. The guy you never heard of,
guy named Willie Anderson. Willie Andersonplayed at the turn of the last century,
the turn of the twentieth century.He won four US Opens in five
years. He won in nineteen ohone, took a year off and won
nineteen oh three, nineteen oh four, nineteen oh five. Now I have

(31:08):
no idea. I didn't do enoughresearch. Whatever, I don't have to
I don't know who he beat.I don't care he beat who he was
supposed to beat. He won theUS Open three years in a row.
No, Hogan won three years ina row that he could play in.
Willie Anderson played three years in arow and one every year. If I

(31:34):
could ask him one question, itwould be what happened in nineteen oh two
because he wanted to know one,three, four, five and did not
win in nineteen oh two. No, I could look it up on Google
and research and all that stuff.But if I wanted to, if I
could ask him one question, itwould be that, it would be that

(31:55):
what happened? Because clearly you knewhow to win? Clearly he want to
know one. Clearly you really knewhow to win, because you want to
know three, four and oh five. Tiger Woods didn't do that. Jack
Nicholas didn't do that. Mister Hogandidn't do that. Guy won three in

(32:16):
a row. No. By theway, well, we're well, if
you're sitting there or you're driving alongand you're trying to debate the the rankings,
you know, until Tiger wins fourUS Opens, he can't be better
than fourth, and he's never gonnawin four US Opens, so he'll never

(32:42):
be above fourth. So there theyare top ten US Open players of all
time, all the way back tonineteen oh one, all the way up
till Tiger and Jack Brooks kept gowinning twenty eighteen. When we come back,
we're gonna talk about top ten USOpens of all time, the actual

(33:02):
events. This is a rich combogolf show. Welcome back to the Rich
Combo Golf Show. This entire segmentis I mean, I'm sorry, not
segment. The entire show is basedon the US Open. Not looking at
previews, not looking at anything.We're taking it, taking a look backwards,
taking a look backwards. And Ilove the US Open history. I

(33:28):
love the fact that it is anational championship. I love the fact that
anybody can qualify, anybody can win. Not everybody can qualify. Not everybody
is invited to the Masters. It'san invitational. Not everybody plays well enough
to go to the PGA Championship.But the US Open, if you play
well enough and qualify, you're in. That's why it's such a fascinating event.

(33:51):
So now we talked about top tenplayers of all time. We talked
about why the US Open is sospatial and incredibly difficult and all that fun
stuff. So let's do this Topten US Opens of all time, of
all time. Now, for therecord, I was not alive for a
lot of these, not a lotof them. I was not alive for

(34:13):
some of them. Okay, neitherwere you. So in there's a lot
to pick from, obviously because we'vebeen going on for one hundred and twenty
four years. You know, Ireally don't think Horace Rawlins is inaugural victory
the United States Open is probably gonnamake the top ten. So I'm just

(34:36):
gonna throw them out there, tella little by his story around them,
see what happens. Okay, nineteenseventy three, Johnny Miller Oakmont shoots sixty
three in the last round to win. That's important because of the sixty three
at Oakmont. I don't care weather, water, soft conditions, hard conditions,
medium conditions, you know, butis it Goldie locks and the bears

(34:59):
and all that stuff. I don'tcare that guy shot sixty three at Oakmont
to win the US Open. Heclimbed out of the cauldron to win the
US Open with a sixty three atOakmont. Now that's why I've been to
Oakmont. I played Oakmont, sixtythree is not imaginable to me at all,

(35:28):
not imaginable to me. So tenthbest US Open in history Johnny Miller
sixty three at Oakmont Final round wins. Nine is Billy Burke at Inverness in
nineteen thirty one. Why is thisso unique? Well, back in nineteen

(35:50):
thirty one, they the United StatesGolf Association that runs the US Open,
deemed it to be a thirty sixhole playoff. So Billy Burke tied with
George Vaughan Elm. They went thirtysix holes extra holes. The event was
seventy two holes the event proper.They were tied, so they had to

(36:15):
play thirty six more holes. Theywere tied again. They played thirty six
more holes. They played one hundredand forty four holes in five days.
Billy Burke said, I mean sorry. George von Elm said he lost twelve
pounds. Twelve pounds in five days. The playoff was as long as the
tournament itself. It was as manyholes as the tournament itself. So although

(36:42):
it's a little quirky, we haveto throw it in there. So that's
number nine. Nineteen thirty one atInverness, Billy Burke and George von Elm.
Interesting enough, Billy Burke also playedat the centennial opening Willing Country Club
and actually won the Centennial Opening WillingCountry Club. George van Elm was not
there. Okay. Eighth best USOpen ever nineteen sixty six. Billy Castboard

(37:08):
Olympic goes to the back nine onSunday, walks on to the tenth te
at Olympic in outside of San Francisco, seven shots behind Arnold Palmer. Playing
with Arnold Palmer walks to number ten, seven shots behind him and catches him

(37:34):
to go into the playoff, catcheshim to go into the playoff. So
then he wins in a playoff.And I would tell you that it is
one of Palmer's toughest losses. Hewould tell you that too. He's passed,

(37:55):
but that would tell you that too. You know that one was painful.
I'm sure of it. So that'sthe eighth best US Open in history.
Seventh best US Open in history isthe same golf course, Olympic Golf

(38:16):
Club, the Olympic Club, excuseme. Nineteen fifty five. Jack Fleck
wins nineteen fifty five Jack fuck winsUS Open Jack Fleck was from Davenport,
Iowa, so driving they called hima driving range pro, although he did
play the tour for a while,goes the US Open, receives wedges from

(38:39):
mister Hogan, who completed his setbecause by then mister Hogan was making equipment.
Then he proceeds to beat mister Hoganin a playoff an Olympic Olympic became
known as the Giant Killer the golfcourse. Because Hogan lost in a playoff
in nineteen fifty five, he wouldhave won its fifty US Open. He

(39:00):
always said he won five from thenineteen forty two thing during the war,
but when he won was fifth USOpen. He lost in the playoff for
Jack Fleck in nineteen fifty five.Fleck birdy holes to get into the playoff
two. So nineteen fifty five seventhbest US Open in history, sixth best.

(39:23):
Nineteen sixty four Congressional Ken Venturi,this is a feel good story.
Ken Ventry had left a tour.He had circulation problems in his hands.
This was before he became obviously aCBS golf analyst. With named Jim Nantz
and all those guys. He wonthe nineteen sixty four US Open, and

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the feel good story is not onlydid he have to leave the tour because
of circulation and injuries and things likecirculation issues and injuries and things like that,
but he also had to do buthe also had to do which is
unbelievable, as he had to overcomeheat prostration. Back then in nineteen sixty

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four, they played thirty six holeson Saturday, Washington, d C.
The feel light temperature was one hundredand six, the real temperature was one
hundred and one. Thirty six holeswalking, he said he hit seven iron
every shot for a second shot,it's all he remembered. Seven iron.
Obviously, he didn't played all thirtysix holes with Raymond Floyd. So Raymon

(40:35):
fluck at the ball of the wholeform because he was afraid that if he'd
been over to do it, he'dpass out. In between rounds. In
between the the third round and thefourth round, the doctor gave him hot
tea try to balance his internal temperatureto his external temperature. Okay. Fifth
best US Opening of all time nineteensixty at Cherry Hills in Denver, Arnold

(41:00):
Palmer champion, shot sixty five inthe last round, drove the first green
drove the first green shot sixty five. Mister Hogan that year in nineteen sixty
hit thirty US Open greens in arow in regulation, didn't make a birdie,

(41:24):
should have won. Played thirty sixholes with Jack Nicholas, last two
rounds with Jack Nicholas said if JackNicholas had a little bit more golf course
management, since he would have wonby eight shots. But nineteen sixty Jack

(41:45):
Nicholas was also, I don't know, figure this out, nineteen year old
kid because Palmer was born in nineteenthirty one. Nicholas was born in nineteen
forty one, so he was anineteen year old kid, maybe just turned
twenty in nineteen sixty, so wecan we can excuse his lack of professional

(42:08):
experience and his lack of golf coursemanagement under the heat and pressure of a
US Open. So the fifth bestUS Open of all time nineteen sixty Arnold
Palmer, fourth best US Open inhistory nineteen fifty three at Marion, Ben
Hogan, this was the I'm sorry, I apologize nineteen fifty. Nineteen fifty

(42:31):
was the year that mister Hogan wonat Marion. After the accident February second,
nineteen forty nine, got in acar accident, could not play in
forty nine, played the LA Openearly nineteen fifty, signed up to play
the US Open and won at Marion. That's the shot that's the most famous

(42:51):
golf photograph of all time. HighPeskin's picture of mister Hogan's one hundred seventy
second green two potter for Parr wonthe playoff over Juwe, George fove z
O and Lloyd Mangram. Hit driverone iron the seventy second hold of the
event, Driver seven iron the secondshot of the playoff event eighteen whole playoffs.

(43:16):
Fourth best US Open ever Ben Hogannineteen fifty Marion after the accident,
third best all time nineteen sixty two. Jack Nicholas at Oakmont just a mere
two years later. A mere twoyears later, he gets into a playoff
at the US Open and beats ArnoldPalmer in a playoff at Oakmont. Incidentally,

(43:42):
there were many who looked at itas that was the death knell for
Arnold Palmer's career, although I don'tbelieve that because he's only thirty one years
old. But I think he alsorealized that Jack Nicholas was probably better than
him. Certainly hit it farther thanhe did. Plus at that time,
when he's thirty one years old,Palmer was getting into some other things.
He was flying airplanes, he wasdoing overseas visits, he was doing overseas

(44:06):
exhibitions. Nothing that Nicholas had onhis horizon yet. So nineteen sixty two,
I want to tell you Oakmont thatNicholas repunted twice all week, and
I think Palmer repltted nine times.So I mean it was it was kind

(44:27):
of destined to be that way.You know, when you three put nine
times eight times, you're giving awaytoo many shots. You're giving away too
many shots. And the other thingis, I think and I feel for
Palmer in that he also suffered throughthis becauseeen because he's from Littroll, Pennsylvania.

(44:52):
He was born and raised in Littroll, Pennsylvania. Oakmont's forty five minutes
to an hour from there. There'sa home game for him. There was
a home game for him, andhe couldn't pull it off at the height
of his power. He's thirty oneyears old. It wasn't like he was

(45:12):
hanging on and you know Billy Connat the end, hanging on. Keep
coming back to Billy conn you know, or old boxers hanging on. Palmer
was thirty one years old, andhe was ready to go. He was
ready to go. So that's thethird best US Open in history. Second

(45:39):
best US Open in history is theyear two thousand Tiger Woods fifteen shot victory
at Pebble Beach. That guy wonthat golf tournament. I have no idea
what other event those other guys wereplaying, none. I've never seen anything
like it in my life. Afterhe hit one shot on TV, commentary

(46:00):
said, this is not a fairfight. This is not a fair fight.
This is not a fair fight.He was so much better than everybody
that week. He won by fifteenshots. So figure this out. For
every nine holes played over a fourday event, he beat the field by

(46:30):
two for every nine holes, everynine holes, every ninth holes, not
just one night holes. Hey,I shot thirty four in the field average
thirty six. I beat the fieldby two shots. And then nine holes.
Nope, he beat him every nineholes. Round one, round two,
round three, round four, hebeat him by two shots on average
the field average. Second place finisherfifteen shots behind him. Second best US

(47:00):
Open in history, first first USOpen history, the best US Open in
history is nineteen fifty one. Nineteenfifty one in Oakland Hills, mister Hogan
wins hardest US Open set up inhistory. Go back to Johnny Miller,
I said, I mentioned him beforein nineteen seventy three when he shot sixty
three, and I talked to JohnnyMiller about this. He said he thought

(47:22):
that his sixty three, it wasvoted by the best by the sports writer
or the golf writers of America,the best round of golf in US Open
history. He goes, what doyou think, I said, I think
Hogan's was better, Johnny. Imean, Johnny Miller didn't like that,
but I do. Because there wereonly three three rounds under par. Part

(47:44):
were better at the US Open innineteen fifty one. Three two matched it,
one matched it. So four orfive rounds par are better. Three
under par. He shot sixty seven, which is unhard on that golf course
to win. It's the best USOpen play in history, in history.

(48:12):
So there they are. Top tenJohnny Miller in seventy three, Billy Burkin
thirty one, Billy Caspurn sixty six, Jack Fleck in fifty five, Break
My Heart nineteen sixty four, KenVenturi nineteen sixty, Arnold Palmer, nineteen
fifty mister Hogan and Marion after theaccident. Sixty two, Nicholas takes center

(48:34):
stage, beats hometown boy Palmer ina playoff at Oakmont two thousand, Tiger
Woods, laps the field and thendecides to do it running backwards. He
was that much better than everybody thatyear. And the best US Open in
history nineteen fifty one at Oakland Hillsin Birmingham, Michigan. Ben Hogan shoots

(48:57):
sixty seven to finish first and toset the tone for what was to come,
because in two years later he'd winagain. He'd win all four majors.
So that's the best US Open inhistory in nineteen fifty one. It

(49:17):
was absolutely, it absolutely the hardestJuice Open set up in history. And
so there they are top ten JohnnyMiller, Billy Burke, Billy Casper,
Jack Fleck, Ken Venturry, ArnoldPalmer, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicholas in
sixty two, Tiger lapping the fieldin two thousand, and Hogan setting the

(49:42):
stage for the finest round in USOpen history, the sixty seven in nineteen
fifty one at Oakland Hills. SoI hope that you enjoyed looking back at
the history of the US Open,and I just wanted to say that next
week we will get on to someguests. But I hope you enjoy this
weekend the US Open coverage because itis the greatest event, greatest golf event

(50:06):
in the United States, and actuallyI would tell you the greatest golf event
in the world. This is theRich Gumboll Golf Show.