1975 U.S. Open (golf)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1975 U.S. Open
Tournament information
DatesJune 19–23, 1975
LocationMedinah, Illinois
Course(s)Medinah Country Club,
Course No. 3
Organized byUSGA
Tour(s)PGA Tour
Statistics
Par71
Length7,032 yards (6,430 m)[1]
Field150, 67 after cut
Cut149 (+7)
Prize fund$235,700[2]
Winner's share$40,000
Champion
United States Lou Graham
287 (+3), playoff
← 1974
1976 →
Medinah is located in the United States
Medinah
Medinah
class=notpageimage|
Location in the United States
Medinah is located in Illinois
Medinah
Medinah
class=notpageimage|
Location in Illinois

The 1975 U.S. Open was the 75th U.S. Open, held June 19–23, at Medinah Country Club in Medinah, Illinois, a suburb northwest of Chicago. Lou Graham defeated John Mahaffey by two strokes in an 18-hole Monday playoff to win his only major championship.[3][4]

Tom Watson shot 135 (−7) to tie the U.S. Open record for the first 36 holes of play,[5] but 155 (+13) on the weekend forced him down the leaderboard, three shots out of the Graham-Mahaffey playoff.[6] It marked the second straight year Watson failed to maintain a weekend lead in the championship; he was the 54-hole leader in 1974 at Winged Foot. He won the next major a month later in Scotland at Carnoustie.

Arnold Palmer finished in a tie for ninth place, his final top-10 finish at the U.S. Open. Jerry Pate tied for 18th place and shared low amateur honors with Jay Haas; Pate won the following year as a tour rookie.

Paired with Palmer was Masters champion Jack Nicklaus, who was two-under in the final round and just missed a birdie putt on the 15th green. He carded three consecutive bogeys to finish and ended up two strokes back.[6][7] Nicklaus rebounded and won the PGA Championship in August at Firestone.

The quality of the play was generally regarded as poor. Despite the high scores Jack Nicklaus said it was the "easiest" U.S. Open he had ever remembered playing. Runner-up John Mahaffey stated at the end of the event, "This course was never as difficult as the scores looked. I agree with everybody who said it was the easiest Open in history to have won. At least 10 guys could have won it by five shots if they'd played golf." The sportswriter Dan Jenkins regularly panned the performance of the players in his Sport Illustrated cover profile, stating in his opening sentence that "it was a golf tournament that begged to be forgotten."[4]

Since moving to the four-day format in 1965, this is the only U.S. Open in which the final round was not scheduled for Father's Day, the third Sunday in June.

This was the second U.S. Open at Medinah, the first was held in 1949. It later hosted in 1990, also a playoff, and the PGA Championship in 1999 and 2006, both won by Tiger Woods. Medinah was the venue for the Ryder Cup in 2012.

This was the final year that players were not allowed to have their own caddies at the U.S. Open.[8][9] The other majors and some PGA Tour events had traditionally disallowed players from using their own caddies.[10][11][12] The Masters required club caddies from Augusta National through 1982.[13][14][15]

Course layout[]

Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Out 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 In Total
Yards 390 187 421 446 527 442 594 205 435 3,647 583 402 384 453 167 318 452 220 406 3,385 7,032
Par 4 3 4 4 5 4 5 3 4 36 5 4 4 4 3 4 4 3 4 35 71

Past champions in the field[]

Made the cut[]

Player Country Year(s) won R1 R2 R3 R4 Total To par Finish
Hale Irwin  United States 1974 74 71 73 70 288 +4 T3
Jack Nicklaus  United States 1962, 1967, 1972 72 70 75 72 289 +5 T7
Arnold Palmer  United States 1960 69 75 73 73 290 +6 T9
Lee Trevino  United States 1968, 1971 72 69 75 79 295 +11 T29
Julius Boros  United States 1952, 1963 72 77 72 75 296 +12 T38
Johnny Miller  United States 1973 75 72 76 73 296 +12 T38
Gary Player  South Africa 1965 75 73 72 77 297 +13 T43
Gene Littler  United States 1961 74 73 73 79 299 +15 T49

Source:[6][16][17]

Missed the cut[]

Player Country Year won R1 R2 Total To par
Tony Jacklin  United States 1970 76 74 150 +8
Orville Moody  United States 1969 76 73 152 +10

Source:[18][19]

Round summaries[]

First round[]

Thursday, June 19, 1975

Place Player Country Score To par
T1 Pat Fitzsimons  United States 67 −4
Tom Watson  United States
3 Jim Wiechers  United States 68 −3
T4 Grier Jones  United States 69 −2
Peter Oosterhuis  England
Arnold Palmer  United States
Lanny Wadkins  United States
8 Ben Crenshaw  United States 70 −1
T9 Jim Colbert  United States 71 E
Dale Douglass  United States
Marty Fleckman  United States
David Graham  Australia
 United States
Rik Massengale  United States
Lance Ten Broeck (a)  United States

Source:[20]

Second round[]

Friday, June 20, 1975

Place Player Country Score To par
1 Tom Watson  United States 67-68=135 −7
2 Ben Crenshaw  United States 70-68=138 −4
3 Pat Fitzsimons  United States 67-73=140 −2
T4 Terry Dill  United States 72-69=141 −1
Lee Trevino  United States 72-69=141
Jim Wiechers  United States 68-73=141
T7 Grier Jones  United States 69-73=142 E
Jack Nicklaus  United States 72-70=142
Peter Oosterhuis  England 69-73=142
T10 Frank Beard  United States 74-69=143 +1
Jay Haas (a)  United States 74-69=143

Source:[18][21]

Third round[]

Saturday, June 21, 1975

Place Player Country Score To par
1 Frank Beard  United States 74-69-67=210 −3
T2 Pat Fitzsimons  United States 67-73-73=213 E
Tom Watson  United States 67-68-78=213
T4 Ben Crenshaw  United States 70-68-76=214 +1
Lou Graham  United States 74-72-68=214
Peter Oosterhuis  England 69-73-72=214
T7 Hubert Green  United States 74-69-72=215 +2
Jay Haas (a)  United States 74-69-72=215
Joe Inman  United States 72-72-71=215
T10 Miller Barber  United States 74-71-71=216 +3
John Mahaffey  United States 73-71-72=216
Rik Massengale  United States 71-74-71=216
Eddie Pearce  United States 75-71-70=216
Lee Trevino  United States 72-69-75=216

Source:[22][23]

Final round[]

Sunday, June 22, 1975

Frank Beard began the final round with a three-stroke lead, four over Graham and six ahead of Mahaffey.[24] But after bogeys at 16 and 17, he staggered home with a 78 (+7) to finish a shot behind. Mahaffey holed a 40-foot (12 m) putt for birdie at 14, then parred out the rest of the way to post an even-par 71 and 287 total. Graham went to the 18th with a one-stroke lead and a chance to win in regulation, but he hit his approach into a bunker and failed to save par and fell into a tie with Mahaffey. Several other players had an opportunity to join the playoff. Bob Murphy was tied until a bogey at 18 dropped him a shot out of the playoff, and Ben Crenshaw found the water on 17 and also finished a stroke out, as did defending champion Hale Irwin. Second round leader Tom Watson had another difficult day and fell into a tie for ninth. Jack Nicklaus bogeyed the last three holes and finished two strokes out of the playoff.

Place Player Country Score To par Money ($)
T1 Lou Graham  United States 74-72-68-73=287 +3 Playoff
John Mahaffey  United States 73-71-72-71=287
T3 Frank Beard  United States 74-69-67-78=288 +4 10,875
Ben Crenshaw  United States 70-68-76-74=288
Hale Irwin  United States 74-71-73-70=288
Bob Murphy  United States 74-73-72-69=288
T7 Jack Nicklaus  United States 72-70-75-72=289 +5 7,500
Peter Oosterhuis  England 69-73-72-75=289
T9 Pat Fitzsimons  United States 67-73-73-77=290 +6 5,000
Arnold Palmer  United States 69-75-73-73=290
Tom Watson  United States 67-68-78-77=290

Source:[6][16][17]

Scorecard[]

Hole  1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Par 4 3 4 4 5 4 5 3 4 5 4 4 4 3 4 4 3 4
United States Graham E +1 +1 E E E E +1 +1 +2 +2 +2 +3 +2 +2 +2 +2 +3
United States Mahaffey +3 +4 +4 +4 +3 +4 +4 +4 +4 +3 +3 +3 +4 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3
United States Beard −3 −2 −2 −2 −2 −1 E +1 +1 +1 +1 +2 +2 +2 +2 +3 +4 +4
United States Crenshaw +1 +1 +1 +1 E +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +2 +2 +2 +2 +4 +4
United States Irwin +4 +4 +4 +4 +3 +2 +2 +2 +3 +4 +4 +4 +4 +3 +3 +4 +4 +4
United States Murphy +6 +6 +6 +6 +5 +6 +6 +5 +5 +4 +4 +4 +5 +5 +4 +3 +3 +4
United States Nicklaus +3 +4 +4 +4 +3 +3 +3 +3 +2 +2 +2 +2 +2 +2 +2 +3 +4 +5
England Oosterhuis +1 +1 +2 +2 +1 +1 +1 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +5 +5 +5 +5 +5 +5

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par

Birdie Bogey Double bogey

Source:[16]

Playoff[]

Monday, June 23, 1975

Graham jumped out to an early advantage in the playoff, recording birdies at 4, 5, and 10 en route to a 71 and a two-stroke win over Mahaffey.

Place Player Country Score To par Money ($)
1 Lou Graham  United States 71 E 40,000
2 John Mahaffey  United States 73 +2 20,000

Scorecard[]

Hole  1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Par 4 3 4 4 5 4 5 3 4 5 4 4 4 3 4 4 3 4
United States Graham E E +1 E −1 −1 −1 −1 −1 −2 −2 −2 −2 −1 −1 −1 E E
United States Mahaffey E +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +2 +2 +2

Source:[25]

References[]

  1. ^ "Deadlock at Medinah". Daytona Beach Morning Journal. (Florida). Associated Press. June 23, 1975. p. 4B.
  2. ^ "U.S. Open history: 1975". USGA. Archived from the original on May 11, 2012. Retrieved June 22, 2012.
  3. ^ Tomashek, Tom (June 24, 1975). "Graham wins Open title by 2 in playoff". Chicago Tribune. p. 1, sec. 4.
  4. ^ a b Jenkins, Dan (June 30, 1975). "It was madness at Medinah". Sports Illustrated. p. 18. Retrieved December 7, 2019.
  5. ^ "Tom Watson leading US Open by 3 shots". Bryan Times. (Ohio). UPI. June 21, 1975. p. 9.
  6. ^ a b c d Loomis, Tom (June 23, 1975). "Two escape Medinah stranglehold". Toledo Blade. (Ohio). p. 19.
  7. ^ Parascenzo, Marino (June 23, 1975). "Jack's Slam dream went 'Thrrrp'". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 16.
  8. ^ "Open golfers to pick own caddies in 1976". Toledo Blade. (Ohio). Associated Press. November 15, 1975. p. 17.
  9. ^ "Break for some". Rome News-Tribune. (Georgia). Associated Press. January 18, 1976. p. 3B.
  10. ^ Loomis, Tom (April 6, 1973). "Chi Chi prefers own caddy". Toledo Blade. Associated Press. p. 30.
  11. ^ "Westchester winner may bypass events". Victoria Advocate. (Texas). Associated Press. August 26, 1974. p. 1B.
  12. ^ "Touring golf pros prefer their own caddies". Reading Eagle. Associated Press. May 5, 1974. p. 76.
  13. ^ "Tour caddies at Augusta?". Times-News. (Hendersonville, North Carolina). November 12, 1982. p. 14.
  14. ^ Wade, Harless (April 6, 1983). "Tradition bagged at Masters". Spokane Chronicle. (Washington). p. C1.
  15. ^ Anderson, Dave (April 10, 1983). "New Masters caddies collide". Sunday Star-News. (Wilmington, North Carolina). p. 6D.
  16. ^ a b c Tomashek, Tom (June 23, 1975). "Graham, Mahaffey in Open playoff". Chicago Tribune. p. 1, sec. 4.
  17. ^ a b "Medinah showdown". Tuscaloosa News. (Alabama). Associated Press. June 23, 1975. p. 9.
  18. ^ a b Tomashek, Tom (June 21, 1975). "Watson grabs open lead". Chicago Tribune. p. 1, sec. 2.
  19. ^ "1975 U.S. Open". databasegolf.com. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
  20. ^ Tomashek, Tom (June 20, 1975). "Watson, Fitzsimons share Open lead". Chicago Tribune. p. 1, sec. 4.
  21. ^ "U.S. Open results". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). June 21, 1975. p. 48.
  22. ^ Tomashek, Tom (June 22, 1975). "Beard swings into U.S. Open lead". Chicago Tribune. p. 1, sec. 3.
  23. ^ "Beard's back in a big way". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. June 22, 1975. p. 1B.
  24. ^ "Beard's back in a big way". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. June 22, 1975. p. 1B.
  25. ^ Loomis, Tom (June 24, 1975). "Graham just aims for par: Lou's 71 wins Open playoff". Toledo Blade. (Ohio). p. 28.

External links[]

Preceded by Major Championships Succeeded by

Coordinates: 41°57′58″N 88°02′53″W / 41.966°N 88.048°W / 41.966; -88.048

Retrieved from ""