OB SPORTS GOLF & LEISURE
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SUMMER 2016
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obsports.com
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TOUR REPORT
10
MAKING
HISTORY
great U.S. Opens
that have stood
the test of time
BY joe passoV
T
he U.S. Open – the national championship of the United States – has witnessed
more than 100 years of pulse-quickening drama. Combine the most severe course
set-up conditions in golf, with the emotion of competing for such a prized title,
and it's easy to see why lasting memories, both good and bad, resonate with
such intensity. The men have been at it since 1895, while the U.S. Women's Open dates to
1946. In 1980, the USGA began testing male players who had reached 55 years of age with
its inaugural U.S. Senior Open, a figure lowered to age 50 the very next year. So many fist-
pumps, so many momentum swings, so much heartbreak. With Dustin Johnson's recent
breakthrough at Oakmont, and the women and seniors coming this summer, we thought
this would be a great time to take a look at history's 10 greatest U.S. Opens.
THE TOP 3
2008 U.S. OPEN
WINNER: Tiger Woods
There may have been more important, his-
torically significant U.S. Opens. None, how-
ever, was more thrilling than this one. Fresh off
a surgical procedure to his left knee after the
2008 Masters, Woods had taken a two-month
break from competitive golf when he arrived at
Torrey Pines in suburban San Diego. Fans
could see Woods clutching his left leg and
wincing in pain, yet they were mesmerized by
his Saturday performance that featured two ea-
gles and a chip-in birdie in a six-hole stretch.
Little did we know – because Woods didn't tell
us until the tournament ended – that he was
actually competing with a torn anterior cruci-
ate ligament in his left knee and that further, he
had suffered a double stress fracture of his left
tibia two weeks before the U.S. Open. Woods
came to the final hole needing a difficult 12-
foot putt to tie Rocco Mediate and earn an 18-
hole playoff. Down went the putt, up went
Tiger's fist. The playoff was anything but anti-
climactic. From three down with eight to play,
Mediate pulled ahead by one after 17 holes.
Time for another Tiger roar. Smashed drive,
soaring 4-iron, two-putt birdie. Sudden death.
A Mediate bogey ended things on the 91st hole.
Tiger had his third U.S. Open crown. In a life-
time of Tiger Woods highlights, this was per-
haps the Tiger Woodsiest.
fi
COURTESY USGA
