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History of the US Open Championship

The first US Open Championship was held on 4 October 1895, in the same week as the first US Amateur Championship. Both events were played on the nine-hole course of Newport, Rhode Island.

Ten professionals and one amateur golfer took part in the thirty six-hole competition, playing four circuits of the course in one day. The winner was Horace Rawlins, who was just 21 years old and had only recently come from England to work as an assistant at the course.

Rawlins scored 91 - 82 = 173 and received the $150 first prize money out of a total purse of $335. He also received a gold medal and custody of the Open Championship Cup which was displayed at his Club until the following year. This tradition continues to the present day.

Two full-sized replicas of the Open Championship Cup have been made, the first to replace the original, destroyed by fire in 1946, and the second in 1986 when the cup was put on permanent display at the United States Golf Association Museum.

During the early history of the US Open, Scottish and English players monopolised the Championship and it was not until 1911 that an American, John McDermott seized the prize, a feat he repeated in the following year. Not yet twenty years old for his first win, he remains the youngest ever US Open champion.

A year later in 1913 Francis Ouimet, another American, pulled off a brilliant win and defeated two famous professionals, Ted Ray and Harry Vardon, who were expected to score another British triumph.

The wins of McDermott and Ouimet heightened awareness of the US Open Championship and it rapidly became a premier event in the golfing calendar. As the number of golfers wanting to play in the championship had increased, it became necessary for the USGA to introduce sectional qualifying in 1924.

British dominance had been eclipsed and from 1911 onwards non-US wins were a rarity – three in the early 1920s and no more until the South African, Gary Player's triumph in 1965.

Bobby Jones, an amateur from Georgia won the US Open Championship four times, in 1923, 1926, 1929 and 1930. Only three other players have matched this, and he is also the only amateur to have won more than one championship.

Ben Hogan was another champion to have scored four wins – 1948, 1950, 1951 and 1953. His performance in 1951 was reckoned to be his finest and - in his view - his toughest. He was trailing the leader, Sam Snead in the first round, and the final round was one of the highest scoring in any US Open.

Not all the greats succeed at the US Open, as with Sam Snead, one of golf's legendary players, who failed not only in 1951 against Hogan, but in all his other attempts for victory.

Throughout the history of the US Open Championship, many of the golfing greats have dramatically broken through to victory in what must be one of the world's golf toughest challenges.

In 1960 Arnold Palmer had his only US Open win but his success that year has gone down in history as one of the most determined come-backs of all time where he scored a final round of 65, coming from seven strokes off the lead.

Jack Nicklaus, last of the four US Open champions to score four wins, claimed his first victory in 1962, the year he became a professional. His most acclaimed win was his last, eighteen years later, in 1980, where he smashed the record by three strokes. Such was Jack Nicklaus's reputation as one of the greatest players of all time, that those who managed to beat him became famous, and in 1982 Tom Watson, winner of two US Masters and five British Opens, snatched victory from Nicklaus at the end of an exciting match and close-run final round.

In 1970, Britain's star golfer, Tony Jacklin also triumphed at the US Open. This was the first win for Britain since the victory of Scottish player Willie Macfarlane 45 years earlier.

Until recently US players have dominated the Open, but the last five years have seen dramatic changes. The South African, Retief Goosen won in 2001 and 2004, and last year's Championship, 2005, was taken by the New Zealander, Michael Campbell, who managed to overcome the great Tiger Woods.

The US Open has always been in the forefront of change. As early as 1896 the USGA president, Theodore Havemayer allowed a young black player, John Shippen and his friend Oscar Bunn, a Shinnecock Indian to take part in the Championship. This was a courageous step at that time and one where Havemayer stood firm against the threat of boycott from the other competitors. Shippen, over a long career went on to be the professional at many well-known clubs. More recently, in 2002 the USGA for the first time selected a publicly owned course at Bethgate State Park in Farmingdale, NY.

There is no doubt that the recent non-US victories in the US Open Championship are helping to focus worldwide attention on an already internationally recognised event, and this can only enhance interest in the 106^th Championship, to be held from 15 - 18 June 2006 at the Winged Foot Golf Club, north of New York City.

The US Open Championship is one of the top events in the golfing year and provides a range of opportunities for experienced and novice gamblers alike.

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