1983 U.S. Open (golf)

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1983 U.S. Open
Tournament information
DatesJune 16–20, 1983
LocationOakmont, Pennsylvania
Course(s)Oakmont Country Club
Tour(s)PGA Tour
Statistics
Par71
Length6,972 yards (6,375 m)[1]
Field155 players, 71 after cut
Cut151 (+9)
Prize fund$500,000
Winner's share$72,000
Champion
United States Larry Nelson
280 (−4)
← 1982
1984 →
Oakmont  is located in the United States
Oakmont 
Oakmont 
Location in the United States
 Oakmont is located in Pennsylvania
 Oakmont
 Oakmont
Location in Pennsylvania

The 1983 U.S. Open was the 83rd U.S. Open, held June 16–20 at Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pennsylvania, a suburb northeast of Pittsburgh. Larry Nelson won the second of his three major titles, and only U.S. Open, one stroke ahead of defending champion Tom Watson.[2][3][4][5]

Watson and Seve Ballesteros shared the 54-hole lead, with Nelson a stroke back. Nelson was 7-over for the championship after four holes in his third round, but then played the final fourteen holes on Saturday in 7-under to get to even-par 213, one shot behind the co-leaders. Watson was attempting to become the first to successfully defend a U.S. Open title in over thirty years, last achieved by Ben Hogan in 1951.

In the final round, Watson opened with a front-nine 31 to open up a three-stroke lead over Nelson, who shot 33. Nelson tied Watson with a birdie at 14 after Watson had bogeyed 10 and 12. A storm came through Oakmont around 5:30 p.m., which postponed play to the following morning. Watson was on the 14th green, Nelson on the 16th tee, tied at four-under for the championship.[6]

On Monday morning, Nelson holed a 62-foot (19 m) birdie putt at the par-3 16th, but then three-putted at the 18th for bogey.[5] Nelson finished at four-under 280 total and waited for Watson. After he failed to save a par from a bunker at the 17th, Watson was one stroke behind Nelson. Watson needed a birdie at 18 to tie but his approach flew over the green. Nelson became the winner when Watson failed to hole out his chip shot.

Nelson established a new tournament record with 132 strokes over the last 36 holes, breaking Gene Sarazen's 51-year-old mark. It was the second consecutive runner-up finish at Oakmont for Watson, who lost a sudden-death playoff to John Mahaffey five years earlier at the PGA Championship in 1978.

Arnold Palmer made his last cut in a U.S. Open here and tied for 60th place.[7] He played the Open just once more, in 1994 when he was granted a special exemption when it returned to Oakmont. Future major champion Paul Azinger made his major championship debut but missed the cut. Johnny Miller, the champion when the Open was last played at Oakmont in 1973, battled health issues,[8][9] and also missed the cut.

This was the sixth U.S. Open at Oakmont, and ninth major championship. Ticket prices were $24 per day, cash only;[10] practice days were $14.[11]

Course layout[]

Main article: Oakmont Country Club
Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Out 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 In Total
Yards 469 343 425 561 379 201 434 240 480 3,532 462 371 603 185 360 453 228 322 456 3,440 6,972
Par 4 4 4 5 4 3 4 3 5 36 4 4 5 3 4 4 3 4 4 35 71

Source:[1]

Lengths of the course for previous major championships:

Before 1962, the first hole was played as a par 5.

Past champions in the field[]

Made the cut[]

Player Country Year(s) won R1 R2 R3 R4 Total To par Finish
Tom Watson  United States 1982 72 70 70 69 281 −3 2
David Graham  Australia 1981 74 75 73 69 291 +7 T8
Andy North  United States 1978 73 71 72 76 292 +8 T10
Gary Player  South Africa 1965 73 74 76 71 294 +10 T20
Hale Irwin  United States 1974, 1979 72 76 75 76 299 +15 T39
Jack Nicklaus  United States 1962, 1967,
1972, 1980		 73 74 77 76 300 +16 T43
Lou Graham  United States 1975 71 77 78 76 302 +18 T50
Arnold Palmer  United States 1960 74 75 78 76 303 +19 T60
Hubert Green  United States 1977 74 74 76 79 303 +19 T60

Missed the cut[]

Player Country Year won R1 R2 Total To par
Jerry Pate  United States 1976 78 74 152 +10
Johnny Miller  United States 1973 78 76 154 +12

Round summaries[]

First round[]

Thursday, June 16, 1983

Place Player Country Score To par
T1 Seve Ballesteros  Spain 69 −2
John Mahaffey  United States
Bob Murphy  United States
4 Bruce Devlin  Australia 70 −1
T5 Lou Graham  United States 71 E
Bobby Wadkins  United States
D. A. Weibring  United States
T8 Jim Booros  United States 72 +1
Frank Conner  United States
Raymond Floyd  United States
Hale Irwin  United States
Jim Nelford  Canada
Nick Price  Zimbabwe
 United States
Lanny Wadkins  United States
Tom Watson  United States

Second round[]

Friday, June 17, 1983
Saturday, June 18, 1983

Place Player Country Score To par
T1 John Mahaffey  United States 69-72=141 −1
 United States 72-69=141
T3 Raymond Floyd  United States 72-70=142 E
Tom Watson  United States 72-70=142
T5 Seve Ballesteros  Spain 69-74=143 +1
Calvin Peete  United States 75-68=143
Hal Sutton  United States 73-70=143
T8 Andy North  United States 73-71=144 +2
David Ogrin  United States 75-69=144
Scott Simpson  United States 73-71=144

Amateurs: Faxon (+8), Sherman (+9), Sigel (+13), Lewis (+15), Rinker (+15), Moise (+18), McNamara (+19), Taylor (+21), Farlow (+23).

Third round[]

Saturday, June 18, 1983

Place Player Country Score To par
T1 Seve Ballesteros  Spain 69-74-69=212 −1
Tom Watson  United States 72-70-70=212
T3 Larry Nelson  United States 75-73-65=213 E
Calvin Peete  United States 75-68-70=213
5 Raymond Floyd  United States 72-70-72=214 +1
6 Gil Morgan  United States 73-72-70=215 +2
T7 Andy North  United States 73-71-72=216 +3
Hal Sutton  United States 73-70-73=216
T9 Ralph Landrum  United States 75-73-69=217 +4
Roger Maltbie  United States 76-72-69=217
Scott Simpson  United States 73-71-73=217

Source:[12]

Final round[]

Sunday, June 19, 1983
Monday, June 20, 1983

Place Player Country Score To par Money ($)
1 Larry Nelson  United States 75-73-65-67=280 −4 72,000
2 Tom Watson  United States 72-70-70-69=281 −3 44,000
3 Gil Morgan  United States 73-72-70-68=283 −1 29,000
T4 Seve Ballesteros  Spain 69-74-69-74=286 +2 17,968
Calvin Peete  United States 75-68-70-73=286
6 Hal Sutton  United States 73-70-73-71=287 +3 13,254
7 Lanny Wadkins  United States 72-73-74-69=288 +4 12,088
T8 David Graham  Australia 74-75-73-69=291 +7 10,711
Ralph Landrum  United States 75-73-69-74=291
T10 Chip Beck  United States 73-74-74-71=292 +8 8,976
Andy North  United States 73-71-72-76=292
Craig Stadler  United States 76-74-73-69=292

Source:[4][7]

Amateurs: Brad Faxon (+18), Sherman (+20).

Scorecard[]

Final round

Hole  1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Par 4 4 4 5 4 3 4 3 5 4 4 5 3 4 4 3 4 4
United States Nelson E E −1 −1 −1 −2 −3 −2 −3 −3 −3 −3 −3 −4 −4 −5 −5 −4
United States Watson −1 −2 −3 −4 −4 −5 −4 −5 −6 −5 −5 −4 −4 −4 −4 −4 −3 −3
United States Morgan +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +2 +2 +1 E E E E −1 −1 −1
Spain Ballesteros −1 −1 −1 −2 −2 −2 −1 −1 −1 E E +1 +1 +1 +2 +3 +3 +2
United States Peete +1 +2 +2 +2 +2 +2 +2 +1 +1 +1 +1 E E E +1 +2 +2 +2
United States Sutton +3 +3 +4 +3 +2 +2 +1 +2 +1 +3 +3 +4 +3 +2 +1 +2 +2 +3

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par

Birdie Bogey Double bogey

Source:[4][13]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b "Yardage, par at Oakmont". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. June 16, 1983. p. 22.
  2. ^ Jenkins, Dan (June 27, 1983). "Lord, Nelson was tougher than the iron men". Sports Illustrated. p. 28.
  3. ^ Kienzl, Ray (June 20, 1983). "Nelson beats out Watson by a stroke". Pittsburgh Press. p. 1, special section.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c Parascenzo, Marino (June 21, 1983). "Longshot Nelson wins by one long shot". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 21.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b White, Gordon S., Jr. (June 21, 1983). "Nelson wins Open by 1 on 62-foot birdie putt". New York Times. Retrieved June 15, 2016.
  6. ^ Parascenzo, Marino (June 20, 1983). "Rain leaves Nelson, Watson tied". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 17.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b "1983 U.S. Open". databasegolf.com. Retrieved August 14, 2013.
  8. ^ "Miller may be forced to sideline by surgery". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. staff and wire reports. June 15, 1983. p. 17.
  9. ^ Sherrod, Blackie (June 21, 1983). "Miller's Open final-day 63 long will be remembered". Tuscaloosa News. (Alabama). (Dallas Times Herald). p. 21.
  10. ^ "Facts and figures". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. June 17, 1983. p. 15.
  11. ^ "Facts and figures". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. June 15, 1983. p. 17.
  12. ^ "It's a battle of the best at U.S. Open". Eugene Register-Guard. Oregon. wire services. June 19, 1983. p. 1B.
  13. ^ "U.S. Open History". USGA. Retrieved April 24, 2019.

External links[]

Preceded by
1983 Masters 		Major Championships Succeeded by
1983 Open Championship

Coordinates: 40°31′34″N 79°49′37″W / 40.526°N 79.827°W / 40.526; -79.827

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