1973 U.S. Open
Tournament information
DatesJune 14–17, 1973
LocationOakmont, Pennsylvania
Course(s)Oakmont Country Club
Organized byUSGA
Tour(s)PGA Tour
Statistics
Par71
Length6,921 yards (6,329 m)[1]
Field149 players, 65 after cut
Cut150 (+8)
Prize fund$219,400[2]
Winner's share$35,000
Champion
United States Johnny Miller
279 (−5)
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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 1973 U.S. Open was the 73rd U.S. Open, held June 14–17 at Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pennsylvania, a suburb northeast of Pittsburgh. In one of the finest performances in tournament history, Johnny Miller fired a record, 8-under-par 63 in the final round to win his first major championship, one stroke ahead of runner-up John Schlee.[3][4][5][6][7]

Jack Nicklaus, the winner at Oakmont eleven years earlier, was the favorite entering the championship.[8] Daily admission on the weekend was ten dollars.[9]

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 469 343 425 549 379 195 395 244 480 3,479 462 371 603 185 360 453 230 322 456 3,442 6,921
Par 4 4 4 5 4 3 4 3 5 36 4 4 5 3 4 4 3 4 4 35 71

Source:[10]

Lengths of the course for previous major championships:

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

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, June 14, 1973

Underweight from recent surgeries, 1965 champion Gary Player shot 67 to lead by three strokes.[11]

Place Player Score To par
1 South Africa Gary Player 67 −4
T2 United States Lee Trevino 70 −1
United States Jim Colbert
United States Raymond Floyd
T5 United States Jack Nicklaus 71 E
United States Johnny Miller
United States Arnold Palmer
United States Gene Littler
New Zealand Bob Charles
United States Ralph Johnston

Source:[11]

Second round

Friday, June 15, 1973

Player shot 70 for 137 to lead by one at the midway point.[12]

Place Player Score To par
1 South Africa Gary Player 67-70=137 −5
2 United States Jim Colbert 70-68=138 −4
T3 United States Jack Nicklaus 71-69=140 −2
United States Johnny Miller 71-69=140
New Zealand Bob Charles 71-69=140
T6 United States Gene Borek 77-65=142 E
United States Julius Boros 73-69=142
United States Tom Weiskopf 73-69=142
United States Arnold Palmer 71-71=142
United States Lee Trevino 70-72=142

Source:[13]

Third round

Saturday, June 16, 1973

Place Player Score To par
T1 United States Jerry Heard 74-70-66=210 −3
United States John Schlee 73-70-67=210
United States Arnold Palmer 71-71-68=210
United States Julius Boros 73-69-68=210
5 United States Tom Weiskopf 73-69-69=211 −2
T6 United States Lee Trevino 70-72-70=212 −1
New Zealand Bob Charles 71-69-72=212
United States Jim Colbert 70-68-74=212
T9 United States Jack Nicklaus 71-69-74=214 +1
South Africa Gary Player 67-70-77=214

Source:[14][15]

Final round

Sunday, June 17, 1973

Four players shared the 54-hole lead: Schlee, Jerry Heard, 1963 champion Julius Boros, and 1960 winner Arnold Palmer. After a 76 (+5) on Saturday, Miller started the final round six strokes back, in a four-way tie for 13th place at three strokes over par,[16][15][14] and few gave him any chance of winning. Miller birdied the first four holes,[17] but after a bogey at the eighth, it certainly did not appear like he was on the brink of the greatest round in U.S. Open history.

But he then birdied four of the next five holes, and after a par at 14 he was tied for the lead with Palmer, Boros, and Tom Weiskopf. At the 15th hole, Miller hit his approach to ten feet (3 m) and converted for birdie to take solo possession of the lead. After lipping out a twenty-foot (6 m) birdie putt at 18 (for a 62), Miller carded the first round of 63 in major championship history. Finishing over an hour ahead of the last pairing, Miller then waited to see if anyone would match him.[17] Palmer fell out of contention with three consecutive bogeys to finish in a tie for fourth. Boros and Heard both shot 73 and finished in a tie for seventh. Despite John Schlee taking a double-bogey on the 1st hole of the final round by the time he got to the 18th Tee he was only player left on the course with a chance to tie Miller. After finding the fairway, Schlee's second shot into 18 went just over the green and he was left having to hole a 45-foot chip for birdie. Schlee's chip to tie stopped a foot short and he finished 2nd alone at 4-under par 280.

In shooting 63, Miller hit all 18 greens in regulation and needed 29 putts. Ten of his approach shots wound up within 15 feet (4.6 m), while five were within 6 feet (1.8 m). His score was even more remarkable given that only three other players managed to even break 70 on the day.[7]

Place Player Score To par Money ($)
1 United States Johnny Miller 71-69-76-63=279 −5 35,000
2 United States John Schlee 73-70-67-70=280 −4 18,000
3 United States Tom Weiskopf 73-69-69-70=281 −3 13,000
T4 United States Jack Nicklaus 71-69-74-68=282 −2 9,000
United States Arnold Palmer 71-71-68-72=282
United States Lee Trevino 70-72-70-70=282
T7 United States Julius Boros 73-69-68-73=283 −1 6,000
United States Jerry Heard 74-70-66-73=283
United States Lanny Wadkins 74-69-75-65=283
10 United States Jim Colbert 70-68-74-72=284 E 4,000

Source:[1][5][18]

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 Miller +2 +1 E −1 −1 −1 −1 E −1 −1 −2 −3 −4 −4 −5 −5 −5 −5
United States Schlee −1 −1 −1 −3 −2 −3 −3 −2 −3 −3 −3 −4 −3 −3 −3 −4 −4 −4
United States Weiskopf −2 −3 −3 −3 −3 −3 −3 −3 −4 −3 −3 −3 −3 −2 −2 −3 −3 −3
United States Nicklaus +1 E E E E E E +1 E E E E E E E −1 −2 −2
United States Palmer −3 −3 −3 −4 −4 −3 −3 −3 −4 −4 −4 −3 −2 −1 −1 −1 −1 −2
United States Trevino E −1 −1 −2 −2 −2 −2 −2 −3 −3 −3 −3 −3 −3 −3 −3 −2 −2
United States Wadkins +5 +4 +4 +2 +2 +3 +3 +3 +1 +1 +1 E −1 −1 −1 −1 −2 −1

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par

Eagle Birdie Bogey Double bogey

Source:[3][19][20]

Miller's final round

Johnny Miller's 63: club selection and results - June 17, 1973

Hole Yards Par Club selections Score Result To par
1 469 4 Driver, 3-iron to 5 feet 3 birdie −1
2 343 4 Driver, 9-iron to 1 foot 3 birdie −2
3 425 4 Driver, 5-iron to 25 feet 3 birdie −3
4 549 5 Driver, 3-wood, bunker shot to 6 inches 4 birdie −4
5 379 4 Driver, 6-iron to 25 feet, 2 putts 4 par −4
6 195 3 3-iron to 25 feet, 2 putts 3 par −4
7 395 4 Driver, 9-iron to 6 feet, 2 putts 4 par −4
8 244 3 4-wood to 30 feet, 3 putts 4 bogey −3
9 480 5 Driver, 2-iron to 40 feet, 2 putts 4 birdie −4
Out 3,479 36 32 −4
10 462 4 Driver, 5-iron to 25 feet, 2 putts 4 par −4
11 371 4 Driver, wedge to 14 feet 3 birdie −5
12 603 5 Driver, 7-iron, 4-iron to 15 feet 4 birdie −6
13 185 3 4-iron to 5 feet 2 birdie −7
14 360 4 Driver, wedge to 12 feet, 2 putts 4 par −7
15 453 4 Driver, 4-iron to 10 feet 3 birdie −8
16 230 3 2-iron to 45 feet, 2 putts 3 par −8
17 322 4 1-iron, wedge to 10 feet, 2 putts 4 par −8
18 456 4 Driver, 5-iron to 20 feet, 2 putts 4 par −8
In 3,442 35 31 −4
Total 6,921 71 63 −8

Source:[10][16][17]

Video

References

  1. ^ a b "Johnny Miller fires record 63 charging to U.S. Open victory". The Montreal Gazette. Associated Press. June 18, 1973. p. 32.
  2. ^ "U.S. Open history: 1973". USGA. Archived from the original on June 18, 2013. Retrieved June 20, 2012.
  3. ^ a b Grimsley, Will (June 18, 1973). "John Miller fires record 63 in scorching finish to take Open at Oakmont". Youngstown Vindicator. Ohio. Associated Press. p. 14.
  4. ^ Gundelfinger, Phil (June 18, 1973). "Miller's record 63 wins Open". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 1.
  5. ^ a b Tomashek, Tom (June 18, 1973). "Miller wins U.S. Open on record 63". Chicago Tribune. p. 1, section 3.
  6. ^ Jenkins, Dan (June 25, 1973). "Battle of the Ages". Sports Illustrated. p. 16.
  7. ^ a b Dulac, Gerry (June 9, 2007). "Johnny Miller: the best round ever". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved April 28, 2018.
  8. ^ Grimsley, Will (June 13, 1973). "Palmer aims to redeem himself". Reading Eagle. (Pennsylvania). Associated Press. p. 63.
  9. ^ "Golf fans take beating". Reading Eagle. (Pennsylvania). Associated Press. June 17, 1973. p. 64.
  10. ^ a b Elling, Steve (June 12, 2007). "Miller's magical 63 in '73 a round to remember". CBS Sports. Archived from the original on March 9, 2012. Retrieved June 2, 2012.
  11. ^ a b "Ailing Player grabs Open lead". Tuscaloosa News. (Alabama). Associated Press. June 15, 1973. p. 11.
  12. ^ Green, Bob (June 16, 1973). "Course the opponent, Player says". Tuscaloosa News. (Alabama). Associated Press. p. 5.
  13. ^ Tomashek, Tom (June 15, 1973). "Player keeps lead in Open". Chicago Tribune. p. 1, section 2.
  14. ^ a b "The Open with one round left (scores)". Eugene Register-Guard. Associated Press. June 17, 1973. p. 7C.
  15. ^ a b Tomashek, Tom (June 17, 1973). "A wide-open Open - 4 tied for lead". Chicago Tribune. p. 1, section 3.
  16. ^ a b Driscoll, Ron (May 24, 2016). "1973: Fact and fiction in the U.S. Open's most famous final round". USGA. Archived from the original on May 28, 2016. Retrieved June 14, 2016.
  17. ^ a b c Rapoport, Ron (June 13, 1983). "Miracle round". Beaver County Times. Pennsylvania. (Chicago Sun Times). p. B1.
  18. ^ "1973 U.S. Open". databasegolf.com. Retrieved June 19, 2012.
  19. ^ "Open scores". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. June 18, 1973. p. 18.
  20. ^ "How they finished". St. Petersburg Times. Florida. June 18, 1973. p. 1C.

External links

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

1973 Men's major golf championships
U.S. Open Championships
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