How arduous is it to win a USGA occasion at Winged Foot? Test this: On his 72nd gap performed within the 1984 U.S. Open at Mamaroneck, N.Y.’s most interesting, Greg Norman holed a par putt from the Hutchinson River Parkway. When he signed for his 69, his 72-hole whole of 276 was 4 lower than par. Within the years, hours and minutes previous to Norman’s bomb, not one of many 943 gamers who preceded him in USGA stroke-play competitors at both of Winged Foot’s programs had completed with an under-par mixture regulation rating. In different phrases, no participant within the 1929 U.S. Open, 1954 U.S. Girls’s Open, 1959 U.S. Open, 1972 U.S. Girls’s Open, 1974 U.S Open or 1980 U.S. Senior Open had overwhelmed par. For the sake of comparability, within the six U.S. Opens performed at Oakmont between 1927 and 1983, par had been bettered in 4 (1953, 1962, 1973, 1983).

Moments after Norman completed, Fuzzy Zoeller additionally parred the 18th at Winged Foot West to tie Norman. Within the Monday playoff, Norman shot 75 (+5) and Zoeller carded 67. When you throw within the 156 gamers who vied for the 2006 U.S. Open, none of whom recorded an under-par whole, it implies that, strictly talking, Zoeller is alone amongst 1,103 gamers to have competed in a USGA stroke-play occasion at Winged Foot and totally and fully completed below par.

Briefly, taking part in a USGA championship setup at Winged Foot is like sitting in a bathtub full of fireside ants for 4 days — even in the event you come out on high, the chew marks are nonetheless seen. Right here’s an inventory of the legends who’ve survived Mercury’s poison.

Bobby Jones, 1929 U.S. Open

WEST COURSE, 294, +6, PLAYOFF WITH AL ESPINOSA

You possibly can nonetheless make a strong case that Jones is the GOAT. He received 4 U.S. Opens and three British Opens over the course of eight match seasons (1923–1930), a torrid stretch neither Jack Nicklaus nor Tiger Woods may match in later years. And he misplaced a playoff for the 1925 U.S. Open to (Groundskeeper) Willie Macfarlane after calling a penalty on himself within the first spherical. In ’29, Jones very almost pulled a Mickelson 77 years earlier than Lefty did. Jones was six strokes away from Espinosa with solely six holes to play. As he stood in a greenside bunker on the remaining gap, Jones “was on the verge of the worst disaster any U.S. Open had ever identified,” wrote Grantland Rice, and confronted an up-and-down from a bunker simply to tie Espinosa. In response to eyewitness Rice, the putt was 12 to 14 toes and had “not less than a foot and a half” of “dip or break within the inexperienced that needed to be judged.” Jones made the putt and received the 36-hole playoff the subsequent day by a margin of 23 strokes. Espinosa took dwelling the winner’s test for $1,000 — not the final time a non-winner outearned a champ at Winged Foot. The next yr, Jones “stormed the impregnable quadrilateral.”

Dick Chapman, 1940 U.S. Beginner

WEST COURSE, 11 & 9 VS. W.B. McCULLOUGH

Two dimes and a nickel would have gotten you a memento program, the quilt illustration of which featured the Winged Foot clubhouse atop a globe displaying the Americas and the brand of Ripley’s Imagine It or Not! Warrington McCullough most likely felt as if the clubhouse had plopped down on him slightly than touchdown on Canada after shedding 11&9 to Chapman within the 36-hole remaining. However Ol’ W.B. was no chump — he beat 4 Walker Cup gamers (two of whom have been latest previous winners of the U.S. Beginner) to achieve the ultimate match in opposition to fellow gents golfer Chapman, a Winged Foot member. Chapman was a typical bon vivant aside from his intense curiosity in swing mechanics. “The prosperous Chapman studied his pastime as if it have been his occupation,” wrote Time journal upon his loss of life in 1978, additionally referring to him as “the Ben Hogan of novice golf.” In response to one legend, so evident was Chapman’s obsession that Hogan shared The Secret with him years earlier than it was revealed in Life journal. Chapman actually did know his method across the divot manufacturing facility — he received the 1951 British Beginner, the ’58 North and South, a Canadian Beginner, a pair of French Ams and one Italian Beginner. Chapman additionally performed in 19 Masters Tournaments (an novice file co-held with Charlie Coe, whom he dispatched within the remaining of the ’51 British Beginner), making the reduce in 13 (11th in 1954 was his greatest end), and, in 1954 at Baltusrol, he made the fifth gap in a single in U.S. Open historical past. Additionally, in the event you ever performed an occasion that used the Chapman format, it was developed by our boy, Dick.

Betsy Rawls, 1957 U.S. Girls’s Open

EAST COURSE, 299, +7, BEAT JACKIE PUNG ON A TECHNICALITY

When you take a look at the U.S. Girls’s Open trophy, you received’t see Jackie Pung’s title, however she received the match in 1957. Within the remaining spherical, Pung did one thing no different participant did that week — she broke par, with a spherical of 72. Then she did one thing just one different participant did that week — she signed a technically inaccurate scorecard, handing the title to Betsy Rawls (who had completed one shot again). Regardless of their playing cards reflecting right whole scores, Pung and her fellow competitor Betty Jameson each recorded the inaccurate rating for one another on the 4th gap, and neither caught the glitch throughout evaluation. Not like Roberto De Vicenzo, who infamously missed out on a playoff on the 1968 Masters when he did one thing comparable, Pung would have been the outright champion. Overlaying the occasion for Sports activities Illustrated, Herbert Warren Wind candidly defined why even golf legislation is typically an ass. “The surprising information… crammed everybody with a private sense of impotent anger and with compassion for the sufferer of so essential a ruling primarily based on so insignificant a technicality. Had the disqualification been waived, the foundations of golf wouldn’t have been weakened, and the spirit of golf extra truthfully served.” The result was a double bummer for Pung, who had come near successful the Open in 1953, earlier than shedding a playoff to Rawls. Upon realizing she’d misplaced out, Pung fled the membership grounds along with her younger daughter — solely to return shortly later for the trophy presentation to Rawls. When it got here time for Pung to talk, she stated, “Profitable the Open is the best factor in golf. I’ve come shut earlier than. This time I assumed I’d received, however I didn’t. Golf is performed by guidelines and I broke a rule. I’ve discovered a lesson, and I’ve two broad shoulders…” Whereas Pung would assuredly have slightly had the trophy, she proved such an excellent sport by the ordeal that Winged Foot members and USGA officers handed the hat and picked up $3,000 for her — $1,200 greater than Rawls’ winner’s test. In 1998, Winged Foot members invited Pung to hitch them in celebrating the membership’s 75th anniversary — she was born the identical yr the membership was based (1921). Pung accepted and walked the East Course one night, quietly replaying each stroke from her spherical of 72 in 1957.

Billy Casper, 1959 U.S. Open

WEST COURSE, 282, +2

When you love watching a fella stand up and down, this was the match for you. Over the course of his profession, Casper racked up 51 PGA Tour wins, together with two U.S. Opens and a PGA Championship. Clearly, he may swing that factor — however you wouldn’t have identified it have been you at Winged Foot for the ’59 Open. In response to Dan Jenkins, “It’s uncertain any golfer ever performed extra poorly from tee to inexperienced and nonetheless managed to win a significant championship.” Over 72 holes, Casper was in 21 bunkers and missed almost a 3rd of the fairways from the tee. Within the remaining spherical alone (throughout which Jenkins wrote “he appeared like he was capturing 91”), Casper drove it into the tough 9 occasions, discovered sand seven occasions and recorded solely six GIR. (He carded 74.) When you’re unfamiliar with Casper, you could have deduced by now that he was magic with the putter (in his case, a mallet-head used with a “pop” stroke that was widespread at the moment) — and he was: He putted solely 114 occasions over 72 holes.

Susie Berning, 1972 U.S. Girls’s Open

EAST COURSE, 299, +11

“Mrs. Berning Recaptures U.S. Open Golf Crown” was a headline in The New York Instances indicating the paper of file wasn’t fairly consistent with the burgeoning ladies’s rights motion of the day (to not point out the identical story referring to Berning as a “30-year-old matron”). Berning was a big-game participant — she received three U.S. Girls’s Opens and a Western Open when that ranked as a significant. She received 11 whole occasions in her profession, establishing a file not totally completely different from Hale Irwin and his three U.S. Open, 20-win whole on the PGA Tour. After a 79 within the first spherical at Winged Foot East, it appeared unlikely Berning would win her second Open that week, however the scores ran excessive throughout the board — a foreshadowing of Opens to return on the membership. Amongst three gamers who completed one shot behind Berning was Judy Rankin, marking her greatest ever shot at successful the Open.

Hale Irwin, 1974 U.S. Open

WEST COURSE, 287, +7

After two rounds, Irwin was tied for the lead at +Three with Arnold Palmer, Raymond Floyd and Gary Participant, three gamers who, by Irwin’s personal admission, most likely didn’t know who he was. The ’74 Open stays Exhibit A in what occurs when the USGA is overzealous with course setup, dwelling in infamy even right now because the “Bloodbath at Winged Foot.” Many gamers felt that with tough increased than Snoop Dogg and greens tougher than a frozen Snickers the USGA was exacting revenge for Johnny Miller’s closing 63 at Oakmont the earlier yr. The fellows in ties denied it — however both method, the quips have been higher than the golf. Tom Watson held the lead going into Sunday’s remaining spherical, and Irwin snatched it from him by holing a longish birdie on the ninth gap to get to +5. Because the ball went in, Irwin jogged briskly away from the opening — an early model of his high-fiving-fan runs 16 years later when he received his third U.S. Open. For the week, solely Irwin and Forrest Fezler (+9) recorded scores of lower than +10. When Jack Nicklaus, who completed T-10 at +14, was requested to explain the course setup, he stated, “The final 18 holes are very troublesome.”

Roberto De Vicenzo, 1980 U.S. Senior Open

EAST COURSE, 285, +1

“What a silly I’m,” the Argentine De Vicenzo stated after a misfire within the scorer’s tent value him his likelihood to win the ’68 Masters. For each De Vicenzo and Jackie Pung, it was maybe a little bit of karmic justice from the universe that he received at Winged Foot East within the inaugural U.S. Senior Open. Gamers needed to be not less than 55 for the primary Senior Promenade — the age was dropped to 50 the next yr. It’s a disgrace American golf followers solely bear in mind De Vicenzo for the scorecard debacle — he received the 1967 British Open, six PGA Tour occasions, 9 European Tour occasions, 131 Argentina Tour occasions and 62 different assorted Opens and such in South America. So decided was he to be often known as a world-class participant that in 1949 he traveled from Argentina to the British Open on a cargo ship — a 17-day journey. He died simply 10 weeks after Pung did, in 2017, at 94.

Fuzzy Zoeller, 1984 U.S. Open

WEST COURSE, 276, –4, PLAYOFF WITH GREG NORMAN

For a fleeting second after Norman made his bomb on the 18th on Sunday, Zoeller, who was standing within the fairway watching, thought the putt was for birdie. He hadn’t seen the Shark’s method shot, which had landed within the spectator stands. Zoeller waved his soiled white bag towel in mock give up earlier than a USGA official advised him Norman had merely made a miracle par. The towel bit made for nice TV. Zoeller dusted Norman simply within the playoff, the primary of what appeared one million main heartbreaks for the Aussie celebrity. From a historic perspective, maybe essentially the most important final result was that in consecutive Opens at Winged Foot, Forrest Fezler and Fuzzy Zoeller completed second and first.

Davis Love III, 1997 PGA Championship

WEST COURSE, 269, –11

Each occasion of world golf significance at Winged Foot has been a USGA occasion aside from this one. Love’s victory was quick on drama however lengthy on emotion. Over time there have been a handful of PGA Championship course setups that have been borderline USGA-grade sadistic, however this wasn’t one in all them. That doesn’t take away from the truth that Love posted 66 in three of his 4 rounds, together with Sunday. He additionally separated from the sphere in Secretariat-type vogue, with solely two gamers staying inside 10 strokes of him. The drama got here on the finish of a wet day, when a large and chronic rainbow emerged to border the scene as Love walked towards the ultimate inexperienced together with his brother Mark on the bag and he holed a final birdie. It was a preferred sentiment of these watching on TV and in attendance to consider it as a religious nod from Love’s father, the broadly beloved Davis Love Jr., a long-time PGA member, Tour participant and extremely regarded trainer who died in a aircraft accident in 1988. Enjoyable truth: This was the final main received by any participant utilizing a persimmon driver.

Ryan Moore, 2004 U.S. Beginner

WEST COURSE, 2 UP OVER LUKE LIST

Moore birdied the ultimate 4 within the 36-hole remaining to shut a come-from-behind win, and turn into the primary participant to win the U.S. Am and Beginner Public Hyperlinks in the identical yr. And brother, what a yr — Moore additionally received the NCAA particular person championship and the Western Beginner. Winged Foot West bulked as much as 7,266 yards for the ultimate — the primary time the venerable observe went over 7K for a championship and formally two yards longer than it performed two years later for the Open.

Geoff Ogilvy, 2006 U.S. Open

WEST COURSE, 285, +5

There’s way more on this horror present elsewhere on this problem, however in brief: Ogilvy chipped in for par on the 17th and made an attractive up-and-down at 18, whereas Phil Mickelson and Colin Montgomerie each actually bollixed issues up and completed second on the U.S. Open for the 800th time in each their careers. Enjoyable truth: Ogilvy grew to become the second participant to win the Open with a primary title that resulted in twin consonants. Scott Simpson, 1987, was first and, intriguingly, Webb Simpson was third in that unique membership in 2012. Lloyd Mangrum, Open winner class of ’46, is the one alum whose first title begins with twin consonants.