USGA History: 1991 - present
1991
  • Long-hitting rookie John Daly overpowers the field in the PGA Championship, after making the field as an alternate.
     
  • Amateur Phil Mickelson wins the PGA Tour's Northern Telecom Open at age 20.
     
  • Chip Beck shoots a 59 during the Las Vegas Invitational to tie Al Geiberger's PGA Tour record.
     
  • Payne Stewart claims the U.S. Open at Hazeltine in a playoff with Scott Simpson.
     



1992  
  • Fred Couples' victory at The Masters puts him over $1million in earnings in the second week of April.
     
  • The PGA Tour tops $50 million in purses; the LPGA and Senior Tours both go over $20 million.
     
  • Ray Floyd, at age 49, wins the Doral Ryder Open 29 years after his first PGA Tour victory. Later in the year, he wins on the Senior Tour.
     
  • Betsy King wins the LPGA Championship by 11 strokes with a 72-hole record 267.
     
  • John F. Merchant, a Connecticut attorney, is the first African-American elected to the USGA Executive Committee.
     
  • Nick Faldo captures his third British Open.



1993  
  • Bernard Langer wins his second Masters.
     
  • Greg Norman wins his second British Open. Norman's 267 total sets a British Open record.
     
  • For the third consecutive year, Tiger Woods is the U.S. Junior Amateur champion. No other player has repeated in the event.
     
  • Sarah LeBrun Ingram becomes the first player to take the U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur Championship twice. The event began in 1987.
     



1994  
  • Nick Price wins the British Open at Turnberry, aided by a final-round eagle on the 17th hole.
     
  • Tim Finchem succeeds Deane Beman as Commissioner of the PGA Tour.
     
  • Arnold Palmer bids farewell to the U.S. Open in a stirring march up the 18th fairway at Oakmont.
     
  • Patty Sheehan wins the U.S. Women's Open at Indianwood, her second in three years.
     
  • Nick Price wins his second major of the year -- the PGA Championship at Southern Hills.
     



1995  
  • Corey Pavin claims the USGA's Centennial U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills.
     
  • Ben Crenshaw wins The Masters just days after the death of his mentor and teacher Harvey Penick.
     
  • Tiger Woods wins his second consecutive U.S. Amateur Championship, held at Newport (R.I.) Country Club.
     
  • At St. Andrews, John Daly captures the British Open, his second career major.
     
  • The European team wins the Ryder Cup at Oak Hill by the margin of 14½-13½.
     



1996  
  • Judy Bell becomes the first woman elected President of the USGA.
     
  • Nick Faldo overtakes Greg Norman to win The Masters.
     
  • Tiger Woods wins his third consecutive U.S. Amateur Championship at Pumpkin Ridge. Later, he joins the PGA Tour, wins twice, and earns Rookie of the Year honors.
     
  • Tom Watson wins the Memorial Tournament - his first victory in nine years.
     
  • Kelli Kuehne wins her second consecutive U.S. Women's Amateur title, and later adds the British Ladies Open Amateur.
     
  • Annika Sorenstam wins her second consecutive Women's Open Championship, held at Pine Needles.
     



1997  
  • Tiger Woods wins The Masters in record fashion, with an 18-under-par total and a 12-stroke margin of victory.
     
  • Ernie Els wins the U.S. Open at Congressional, his second in four years.
     
  • The first Ryder Cup is held on Continental European soil, at Valderrama in Spain. The European team wins.
     
  • Justin Leonard wins the British Open at Royal Troon, carding a final-round 65.
     
  • Jack Nicklaus competes in the U.S. Open at Congressional -- his 150th consecutive major championship.
     



1998  
  • Lee Janzen wins his second U.S. Open title of the 90's at The Olympic Club in San Francisco, Calif.
     
  • Casey Martin is awarded the right to ride in a golf cart at the U.S. Open.
     
  • Mark O'Meara, at age 41, becomes the oldest player to win The Masters and the British Open in the same year.
     
  • Vijay Singh, with a victory at the PGA Championship, wins his first major; it is the first major championship claimed by a player from Fiji.
     
  • Se Ri Pak, a 19-year-old phenom from Korea, captivates the LPGA Tour with major wins at the U.S. Women's Open and the LPGA Championship.
     



1999  
  • Thirteen-year-old Aree Wongluekiet becomes the youngest winner in USGA history by capturing the Girls' Junior championship at Green Spring Valley Hunt Club.
     
  • The U.S. wins the Ryder Cup in dramatic comeback at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass.
     
  • Paul Lawrie, a native of Scotland, wins the British Open in a three-way playoff when Frenchman Jean Van de Velde collapses on the 72nd hole.
     
  • Jose Maria Olazabal wins his second Masters.
     
  • The U.S. Senior Open attracts record crowds of over 250,000 in Des Moines, Iowa.
     
  • Payne Stewart wins his second U.S. Open title at Pinehurst, sinking a dramatic par putt on the 72nd hole. Tragically, he perishes along with five others in a plane crash four months later.
     
  • Juli Inkster smashes the U.S. Women's Open scoring record at Old Waverly. Later in the year, with a victory in the Safeway LPGA Golf Championship, she earns entry into the LPGA Hall of Fame.
     
  • The USGA implements testing protocol for "spring-like" effect in metal woods.
     



2000  
  • The USGA celebrates the 100th playing of the U.S. Open, U.S. Amateur, and U.S. Women's Amateur, as well as the 75th playing of the U.S. Amateur Public Links.
     
  • Shigeki Maruyama cards a 58 in sectional qualifying for the U.S. Open.
     
  • At 10 years of age, Michelle Wie becomes the youngest player to compete in a USGA women's amateur competition when she qualifies for the Women's Amateur Public Links in Aberdeen, N.C.
     
  • Tiger Woods rolls to a record 15-stroke victory at the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach (Calif.) Golf Links. It is Woods' first Open title and his seventh USGA championship. He would go on to win the season's final two major championships, the British Open at St. Andrews and the PGA Championship at Valhalla, becoming the first golfer since Ben Hogan in 1953 to win three majors in a year.
     
  • By defeating Anna Schultz, 3 and 2, in the final of the Women's Mid-Amateur, Ellen Port becomes only the second player in the championship's history to win three Women's Mid-Amateur titles, joining Sarah LeBrun Ingram.
     



2001  
  • Tiger Woods is the first player to hold all four professional-major titles at one time when he captures The Masters in April. It becomes known as the "The Tiger Slam."
     
  • Retief Goosen of South Africa wins the U.S. Open at Southern Hills in an 18-hole playoff over Mark Brooks.
     
  • Karrie Webb rolls to an eight-shot victory at the U.S. Women's Open at Pine Needles and joins six others (Mickey Wright, Donna Caponi, Susie Maxwell Berning, Hollis Stacy, Betsy King and Annika Sorenstam) as back-to-back winners of this championship.
     
  • Annika Sorenstam becomes the first female golfer to ever shoot a 59 in an LPGA event, achieving the feat at the Standard Register PING in Phoenix, Ariz.
     
  • Christina Kim registers the lowest 18-hole score in any USGA championship when she fires a 62 in the second round of stroke-play qualifying at the U.S. Girls' Junior at Indian Hills Country Club in Mission Hills, Kan.
     
  • James Vargas establishes a U.S. Junior 36-hole stroke-play scoring record of 132 at Oak Hills Country Club in San Antonio, Texas.
     
  • Meredith Duncan outlasts Nicole Perrot in a 37-hole thriller for the U.S. Women's Amateur title at Flint Hills National Golf Club in Wichita, Kan. The loss prevented Perrot from becoming the first golfer to capture the U.S. Girls' Junior and Women's Amateur in the same year.
     
  • In the first 36-hole final in U.S. Mid-Amateur history, Tim Jackson defeats George Zahringer, 1 up, at San Joaquin Country Club in Fresno, Calif.
     
  • The Great Britain and Ireland Walker Cup team registers a 15-9 victory over the USA squad at Ocean Forest Golf Club. It's the first time the GB&I squad had posted consecutive victories over the USA in the 79-year history of the Match.
     
  • Kemp Richardson joins his later father, John, as the only father-son duo to capture a USGA championship, when he defeats Bill Ploeger, 2 and 1, for the USGA Senior Amateur crown at Norwood Hills Country Club in St. Louis, Mo. John Richardson also won the Senior Amateur title in 1987 at Saucon Valley Country Club in Bethlehem, Pa.




    2002

     
  • For the first time ever, the U.S. Open is held at a publicly owned facility (Bethpage State Park's Black Course). Tiger Woods wins the title by three strokes over Phil Mickelson and is the only player in the field to finish under par (-3).
     
  • Ernie Els ends Tiger Woods' hopes for a Grand Slam by taking the British Open at Muirfield in a playoff over Steve Elkington, Thomas Levet and Stuart Appleby. Woods had won the Masters and U.S. Open titles.
     
  • Juli Inkster returns to the site of her first Women's Amateur championship (Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kan.) and fires a final-round 66 to beat Annika Sorenstam by two strokes for her second U.S. Women's Open title. Inkster joined Jack Nicklaus as the only players to win a U.S. Amateur and Open at the same course.
     
  • Carol Semple Thompson, playing in her record 12th Curtis Cup Match, sinks a 27-foot birdie putt from the fringe at the 18th hole to secure the USA's 11-7 victory over Great Britain and Ireland. The dramatic putt was fitting since the Match was played in Thompson's hometown of Pittsburgh, Pa., at the Fox Chapel Golf Club. It was also Thompson's 18th victory in Curtis Cup play, another record.
     
  • George Zahringer, at 49, becomes the oldest player to win the U.S. Mid-Amateur title, when he defeats Jerry Courville Jr., 3 and 2, at his home course, The Stanwich Club in Greenwich, Conn.
     
  • Carol Semple Thompson, en route to winning her fourth consecutive USGA Senior Women's Amateur championship at Mid-Pines Inn and Golf Club in Southern Pines, N.C., establishes a consecutive match-play winning streak record of 24.



    2003

     
  • Michelle Wie, 13, becomes the youngest champion of an adult USGA championship when she defeats Virada Nirapathponporn in the final of the Women's Amateur Public Links Championship at Ocean Hammock Golf Club in Palm Coast, Fla.
     
  • Jim Furyk establishes a 54-hole U.S. Open scoring record of 200 en route to a three-stroke victory over Stephen Leaney. Furyk's 72-hole total of 272 tied an Open mark held by Jack Nicklaus, Lee Janzen and Tiger Woods.
     
  • Hilary Lunke outlasts Angela Stanford and Kelly Robbins in an 18-hole playoff for the U.S. Women's Open title. Lunke becomes the first player since Annika Sorenstam in 1995 to make the Women's Open her first professional victory. Lunke also is the first champion to have won by going through local and sectional qualifying.



     2004 

     
  • Retief Goosen of South Africa wins his second U.S. Open title in three years by registering 11 one-putt greens in the final round to best Phil Mickelson by two strokes at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, N.Y. Goosen carded a 1-over-par 71 on a day when the scoring average was 78.7.
     
  • Meg Mallon fires a final-round 65 at The Orchards in South Hadley, Mass., to edge Annika Sorenstam by two strokes. Mallon's 13 years between Women's Open victories was the most in championship history. She won the 1991 Women's Open at Colonial C.C. in Fort Worth, Texas.

  • Three months after successful hip-replacement surgery, Peter Jacobsen survived a marathon 36-hole final day at hot and steamy Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis to win the U.S. Senior Open by one stroke over two-time champion Hale Irwin. 
     
  • Yani Tseng, 15, of Chinese Taipei became the second-youngest champion in U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links history when she defeated 14-year-old defending champion Michelle Wie of Honolulu, Hawaii, 1 up, in the 36-hole final match at Golden Horseshoe Golf Club's Green Course in Williamsburg, Va.
     
  • Ryan Moore, 21, of Puyallup, Wash., completed arguably the greatest summer by an amateur golfer since Bob Jones won the "Grand Slam" 74 years earlier by claiming both the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Amateur Public Links titles. In July, Moore defeated Dayton Rose, 6 and 5, in the APL final at Rush Creek G.C. in Maple Grove, Minn. One month later at Winged Foot G.C. in Mamaroneck, N.Y., Moore not only claimed stroke-play medalist honors, but won the final four holes, three with birdies, to beat 19-year-old Luke List, 2 up, in the 36-hole final match of the U.S. Amateur. Moore also won the NCAA Division I individual title for the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, the Western Amateur and the Sahalee Players Amateur. He also became the first player to win the APL and Amateur titles in the same summer.
     
  • Mary Ann Lapointe, 45, of Canada became the first foreign-born winner of the U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur with her 1-up win over Kerry Postillion at Shadow Hawk G.C. in Richmond, Texas.