Wikipedia

1975 U.S. Open (golf)

The 1975 U.S. Open was the 75th U.S. Open, held June 19–23, at Medinah Country Club in Medinah, Illinois, a suburb northwest of Chicago. Lou Graham defeated John Mahaffey by two strokes in an 18-hole Monday playoff to win his only major championship.[3][4]

1975 U.S. Open
Tournament information
DatesJune 19–23, 1975
LocationMedinah, Illinois
Course(s)Medinah Country Club,
Course No. 3
Organized byUSGA
Tour(s)PGA Tour
Statistics
Par71
Length7,032 yards (6,430 m)[1]
Field150, 67 after cut
Cut149 (+7)
Prize fund$235,700[2]
Winner's share$40,000
Champion
United States Lou Graham
287 (+3), playoff
← 1974
1976 →
Medinah is located in the United States
Medinah
Medinah
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Location in the United States
Medinah is located in Illinois
Medinah
Medinah
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Location in Illinois

Tom Watson shot 135 (−7) to tie the U.S. Open record for the first 36 holes of play,[5] but 155 (+13) on the weekend forced him down the leaderboard, three shots out of the Graham-Mahaffey playoff.[6] It marked the second straight year Watson failed to maintain a weekend lead in the championship; he was the 54-hole leader in 1974 at Winged Foot. He won the next major a month later in Scotland at Carnoustie.

Arnold Palmer finished in a tie for ninth place, his final top-10 finish at the U.S. Open. Jerry Pate tied for 18th place and shared low amateur honors with Jay Haas; Pate won the following year as a tour rookie.

Paired with Palmer was Masters champion Jack Nicklaus, who was two-under in the final round and just missed a birdie putt on the 15th green. He carded three consecutive bogeys to finish and ended up two strokes back.[6][7] Nicklaus rebounded and won the PGA Championship in August at Firestone.

The quality of the play was generally regarded as poor. Despite the high scores Jack Nicklaus said it was the "easiest" U.S. Open he had ever remembered playing. Runner-up John Mahaffey stated at the end of the event, "This course was never as difficult as the scores looked. I agree with everybody who said it was the easiest Open in history to have won. At least 10 guys could have won it by five shots if they'd played golf." The sportswriter Dan Jenkins regularly panned the performance of the players in his Sport Illustrated cover profile, stating in his opening sentence that "it was a golf tournament that begged to be forgotten."[4]

Since moving to the four-day format in 1965, this is the only U.S. Open in which the final round was not scheduled for Father's Day, the third Sunday in June.

This was the second U.S. Open at Medinah, the first was held in 1949. It later hosted in 1990, also a playoff, and the PGA Championship in 1999 and 2006, both won by Tiger Woods. Medinah was the venue for the Ryder Cup in 2012.

This was the final year that players were not allowed to have their own caddies at the U.S. Open.[8][9] The other majors and some PGA Tour events had traditionally disallowed players from using their own caddies.[10][11][12] The Masters required club caddies from Augusta National through 1982.[13][14][15]

Course layout

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Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Out 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 In Total
Yards 390 187 421 446 527 442 594 205 435 3,647 583 402 384 453 167 318 452 220 406 3,385 7,032
Par 4 3 4 4 5 4 5 3 4 36 5 4 4 4 3 4 4 3 4 35 71

Round summaries

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First round

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Thursday, June 19, 1975

Place Player Score To par
T1   Pat Fitzsimons 67 −4
  Tom Watson
3   Jim Wiechers 68 −3
T4   Grier Jones 69 −2
  Peter Oosterhuis
  Arnold Palmer
  Lanny Wadkins
8   Ben Crenshaw 70 −1
T9   Jim Colbert 71 E
  Dale Douglass
  Marty Fleckman
  David Graham
  Lynn Janson
  Rik Massengale
  Lance Ten Broeck (a)

Source:[16]

Second round

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Friday, June 20, 1975

Place Player Score To par
1   Tom Watson 67-68=135 −7
2   Ben Crenshaw 70-68=138 −4
3   Pat Fitzsimons 67-73=140 −2
T4   Terry Dill 72-69=141 −1
  Lee Trevino 72-69=141
  Jim Wiechers 68-73=141
T7   Grier Jones 69-73=142 E
  Jack Nicklaus 72-70=142
  Peter Oosterhuis 69-73=142
T10   Frank Beard 74-69=143 +1
  Jay Haas (a) 74-69=143

Source:[17][18]

Third round

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Saturday, June 21, 1975

Place Player Score To par
1   Frank Beard 74-69-67=210 −3
T2   Pat Fitzsimons 67-73-73=213 E
  Tom Watson 67-68-78=213
T4   Ben Crenshaw 70-68-76=214 +1
  Lou Graham 74-72-68=214
  Peter Oosterhuis 69-73-72=214
T7   Hubert Green 74-69-72=215 +2
  Jay Haas (a) 74-69-72=215
  Joe Inman 72-72-71=215
T10   Miller Barber 74-71-71=216 +3
  John Mahaffey 73-71-72=216
  Rik Massengale 71-74-71=216
  Eddie Pearce 75-71-70=216
  Lee Trevino 72-69-75=216

Source:[19][20]

Final round

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Sunday, June 22, 1975

Frank Beard began the final round with a three-stroke lead, four over Graham and six ahead of Mahaffey.[21] But after bogeys at 16 and 17, he staggered home with a 78 (+7) to finish a shot behind. Mahaffey holed a 40-foot (12 m) putt for birdie at 14, then parred out the rest of the way to post an even-par 71 and 287 total. Graham went to the 18th with a one-stroke lead and a chance to win in regulation, but he hit his approach into a bunker and failed to save par and fell into a tie with Mahaffey. Several other players had an opportunity to join the playoff. Bob Murphy was tied until a bogey at 18 dropped him a shot out of the playoff, and Ben Crenshaw found the water on 17 and also finished a stroke out, as did defending champion Hale Irwin. Second round leader Tom Watson had another difficult day and fell into a tie for ninth. Jack Nicklaus bogeyed the last three holes and finished two strokes out of the playoff.

Place Player Score To par Money ($)
T1 Lou Graham   United States 74-72-68-73=287 +3 Playoff
John Mahaffey   United States 73-71-72-71=287
T3 Frank Beard   United States 74-69-67-78=288 +4 10,875
Ben Crenshaw   United States 70-68-76-74=288
Hale Irwin   United States 74-71-73-70=288
Bob Murphy   United States 74-73-72-69=288
T7 Jack Nicklaus   United States 72-70-75-72=289 +5 7,500
Peter Oosterhuis   England 69-73-72-75=289
T9 Pat Fitzsimons   United States 67-73-73-77=290 +6 5,000
Arnold Palmer   United States 69-75-73-73=290
Tom Watson   United States 67-68-78-77=290

Source:[6][22][23]

Scorecard

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Hole  1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Par 4 3 4 4 5 4 5 3 4 5 4 4 4 3 4 4 3 4
  Graham E +1 +1 E E E E +1 +1 +2 +2 +2 +3 +2 +2 +2 +2 +3
  Mahaffey +3 +4 +4 +4 +3 +4 +4 +4 +4 +3 +3 +3 +4 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3
  Beard −3 −2 −2 −2 −2 −1 E +1 +1 +1 +1 +2 +2 +2 +2 +3 +4 +4
  Crenshaw +1 +1 +1 +1 E +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +2 +2 +2 +2 +4 +4
  Irwin +4 +4 +4 +4 +3 +2 +2 +2 +3 +4 +4 +4 +4 +3 +3 +4 +4 +4
  Murphy +6 +6 +6 +6 +5 +6 +6 +5 +5 +4 +4 +4 +5 +5 +4 +3 +3 +4
  Nicklaus +3 +4 +4 +4 +3 +3 +3 +3 +2 +2 +2 +2 +2 +2 +2 +3 +4 +5
  Oosterhuis +1 +1 +2 +2 +1 +1 +1 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +5 +5 +5 +5 +5 +5

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par

Birdie Bogey Double bogey

Source:[22]

Playoff

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Monday, June 23, 1975

Graham jumped out to an early advantage in the playoff, recording birdies at 4, 5, and 10 en route to a 71 and a two-stroke win over Mahaffey.

Place Player Score To par Money ($)
1 Lou Graham   United States 71 E 40,000
2 John Mahaffey   United States 73 +2 20,000

Scorecard

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Hole  1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Par 4 3 4 4 5 4 5 3 4 5 4 4 4 3 4 4 3 4
  Graham E E +1 E −1 −1 −1 −1 −1 −2 −2 −2 −2 −1 −1 −1 E E
  Mahaffey E +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +2 +2 +2

Source:[24]

References

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  1. ^ "Deadlock at Medinah". Daytona Beach Morning Journal. (Florida). Associated Press. June 23, 1975. p. 4B.
  2. ^ "U.S. Open history: 1975". USGA. Archived from the original on May 11, 2012. Retrieved June 22, 2012.
  3. ^ Tomashek, Tom (June 24, 1975). "Graham wins Open title by 2 in playoff". Chicago Tribune. p. 1, sec. 4.
  4. ^ a b Jenkins, Dan (June 30, 1975). "It was madness at Medinah". Sports Illustrated. p. 18. Retrieved December 7, 2019.
  5. ^ "Tom Watson leading US Open by 3 shots". Bryan Times. (Ohio). UPI. June 21, 1975. p. 9.
  6. ^ a b c Loomis, Tom (June 23, 1975). "Two escape Medinah stranglehold". Toledo Blade. (Ohio). p. 19.
  7. ^ Parascenzo, Marino (June 23, 1975). "Jack's Slam dream went 'Thrrrp'". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 16.
  8. ^ "Open golfers to pick own caddies in 1976". Toledo Blade. (Ohio). Associated Press. November 15, 1975. p. 17.
  9. ^ "Break for some". Rome News-Tribune. (Georgia). Associated Press. January 18, 1976. p. 3B.
  10. ^ Loomis, Tom (April 6, 1973). "Chi Chi prefers own caddy". Toledo Blade. Associated Press. p. 30.
  11. ^ "Westchester winner may bypass events". Victoria Advocate. (Texas). Associated Press. August 26, 1974. p. 1B.
  12. ^ "Touring golf pros prefer their own caddies". Reading Eagle. Associated Press. May 5, 1974. p. 76.
  13. ^ "Tour caddies at Augusta?". Times-News. (Hendersonville, North Carolina). November 12, 1982. p. 14.
  14. ^ Wade, Harless (April 6, 1983). "Tradition bagged at Masters". Spokane Chronicle. (Washington). p. C1.
  15. ^ Anderson, Dave (April 10, 1983). "New Masters caddies collide". Sunday Star-News. (Wilmington, North Carolina). p. 6D.
  16. ^ Tomashek, Tom (June 20, 1975). "Watson, Fitzsimons share Open lead". Chicago Tribune. p. 1, sec. 4.
  17. ^ Tomashek, Tom (June 21, 1975). "Watson grabs open lead". Chicago Tribune. p. 1, sec. 2.
  18. ^ "U.S. Open results". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). June 21, 1975. p. 48.
  19. ^ Tomashek, Tom (June 22, 1975). "Beard swings into U.S. Open lead". Chicago Tribune. p. 1, sec. 3.
  20. ^ "Beard's back in a big way". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. June 22, 1975. p. 1B.
  21. ^ "Beard's back in a big way". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. June 22, 1975. p. 1B.
  22. ^ a b Tomashek, Tom (June 23, 1975). "Graham, Mahaffey in Open playoff". Chicago Tribune. p. 1, sec. 4.
  23. ^ "Medinah showdown". Tuscaloosa News. (Alabama). Associated Press. June 23, 1975. p. 9.
  24. ^ Loomis, Tom (June 24, 1975). "Graham just aims for par: Lou's 71 wins Open playoff". Toledo Blade. (Ohio). p. 28.
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41°57′58″N 88°02′53″W / 41.966°N 88.048°W / 41.966; -88.048

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