ChAmpionShipS mediA GUide - USGA

Open
12 U.S. 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 gutta-percha 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.
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.
Championship History
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.