1996 U.S. Open

Tournament information
Dates	June 13–16, 1996
Location	Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Course(s)	Oakland Hills Country Club South Course
Organized by	USGA
Tour(s)	PGA Tour
Statistics
Par	70
Length	6,974 yards (6,377 m)
Field	156 players, 108 after cut
Cut	148 (+8)
Prize fund	$2.4 million
Winner's share	$425,000
Champion
Steve Jones
278 (−2)
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Oakland Hills Country Club

Location in the United States

Oakland Hills Country Club

Location in Michigan

The 1996 U.S. Open was the 96th U.S. Open, held June 13–16 at Oakland Hills Country Club in Birmingham, Michigan, a suburb northwest of Detroit. Steve Jones won his only major title, one stroke ahead of runners-up Tom Lehman and Davis Love III.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

Jones went through an incredible journey just to get to Oakland Hills. He had won four PGA Tour events, the last in 1989, but in November 1991 he was involved in a dirt bike accident that threatened to end his career. He separated his shoulder and sprained an ankle, as well as suffering ligament damage in his left ring finger.^[1][4] Jones was sidelined for three years, not making it back on tour until 1994. His win here came in his first U.S. Open since 1991, and he was the first champion to go through sectional qualifying since tour rookie Jerry Pate in 1976.^[4] After this win, Jones won three additional events on tour.

This was the eighth major championship at the South Course, which previously hosted the U.S. Open in 1924, 1937, 1951, 1961, and 1985, and the PGA Championship in 1972 and 1979. It later hosted the PGA Championship in 2008.

It was Lehman's third close call in a major (1994 Masters, 1995 U.S. Open);^[4] he regrouped and won the next, The Open Championship in England. Love won the PGA Championship the following year at Winged Foot.

Course layout

South Course ^[6]

Lengths of the course for previous majors:

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, June 13, 1996

Place	Player	Score	To par
T1	Woody Austin	67	−3
	Payne Stewart
T3	Lee Janzen	68	−2
	John Morse
T5	Paul Azinger	69	−1
	David Berganio Jr.
	Stewart Cink
	Bob Ford
	Frank Nobilo
	Masashi Ozaki
	Philip Walton
	Gary Trivisonno

Second round

Friday, June 14, 1996

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Payne Stewart	67-71=138	−2
T2	Woody Austin	67-72=139	−1
	Ernie Els	72-67=139
	Greg Norman	73-66=139
T5	Ken Green	73-67=140	E
	Steve Jones	74-66=140
	Davis Love III	71-69=140
	Frank Nobilo	69-71=140
	Sam Torrance	71-69=140
T10	Billy Andrade	72-69=141	+1
	David Berganio Jr.	69-72=141
	John Cook	70-71=141
	John Daly	72-69=141
	Jim Furyk	72-69=141
	Neal Lancaster	74-67=141
	Masashi Ozaki	69-72=141
	Scott Simpson	70-71=141
	Tom Watson	70-71=141

Amateurs: Scott (+4), Woods (+5), Kuehne (+8), Leen (+8), Hobby (+10), Edstrom (+14).

Third round

Saturday, June 15, 1996

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Tom Lehman	71-72-65=208	−2
2	Steve Jones	74-66-69=209	−1
T3	Davis Love III	71-69-70=210	E
	John Morse	68-74-68=210
	Frank Nobilo	69-71-70=210
T6	Woody Austin	67-72-72=211	+1
	Ernie Els	72-67-72=211
	Jim Furyk	72-69-70=211
	Colin Montgomerie	70-72-69=211
	Sam Torrance	71-69-71=211

Final round

Sunday, June 16, 1996

In the final pairing, Tom Lehman had a three-stroke lead over Steve Jones after eight holes, but bogeyed 10 and 12 and Jones led by two strokes with six holes remaining. Tied at the 18th tee, Lehman drove into a bunker and missed a 15-foot (4.5 m) putt to save par. Davis Love III made a charge, recording birdies at 11, 12, and 15; he bogeyed the final two holes, missing a 3-footer (0.9 m) for par at the last. John Morse came to the 18th tee at 1-under needing a birdie to tie Jones and Lehman for the lead; he hit the green in two on the par-4 finishing hole, but 3-putted from 30 feet to finish at even par for the tournament and end up alone in fourth place. Unlike Love, Morse and Lehman, Jones did not bogey the last; he hit his approach to 12 feet (3.7 m) and two-putted for par to prevail by one.^[4][5]

Place	Player	Score	To par	Money ($)
1	Steve Jones	74-66-69-69=278	−2	425,000
T2	Tom Lehman	71-72-65-71=279	−1	204,801
	Davis Love III	71-69-70-69=279
4	John Morse	68-74-68-70=280	E	111,235
T5	Ernie Els	72-67-72-70=281	+1	84,965
	Jim Furyk	72-69-70-70=281
T7	Ken Green	73-67-72-70=282	+2	66,295
	Scott Hoch	73-71-71-67=282
	Vijay Singh	71-72-70-69=282
T10	Lee Janzen	68-75-71-69=283	+3	52,591
	Colin Montgomerie	70-72-69-72=283
	Greg Norman	73-66-74-70=283

Amateurs: Leen (+11), Kuehne (+13), Woods (+14), Scott (+21)

Scorecard

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
Par	4	5	3	4	4	4	4	4	3	4	4	5	3	4	4	4	3	4
Jones	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	−2	−3	−3	−4	−3	−3	−3	−3	−2	−2
Lehman	−1	−2	−2	−2	−2	−3	−4	−4	−4	−3	−3	−2	−2	−2	−2	−2	−2	−1
Love	E	−1	−1	E	E	E	E	−1	−1	E	−1	−2	−2	−2	−3	−3	−2	−1
Morse	E	E	E	E	E	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	−2	−1	−1	−2	−1	−1	E
Els	+1	+1	+1	+1	+2	+1	E	+1	+2	+2	+3	+2	+2	+3	+2	+2	+1	+1
Furyk	+1	E	E	E	E	E	+1	+2	+2	+2	+1	E	E	E	E	−1	E	+1
Nobilo	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	−2	−2	−2	−1	−1	−1	E	+2	+3	+3	+4

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par

Source:^[1][4][7]