Keeping Up With 1970 U.S. Open Winner Tony Jacklin


April 5, 2005

In the modern era, only Tiger Woods won the U.S. Open by more strokes than Tony Jacklin. The Englishman and 1969 British Open champion led from the start at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn., in 1970, and finally won by seven strokes over American Dave Hill.

Jacklin, who is the last European player to win the U.S. Open, stopped playing competitively after 1982 - apart from a short spell on the Champions Tour - whereupon he shaped himself a Ryder Cup legend, captaining the European side four times, winning twice and retaining the Cup via a tie once.

Jacklin and his wife Astrid moved to the U.S. in the early 1990s and today make their home on Florida's Gulf Coast. Jacklin is currently collaborating on a golf course design outside Sarasota with Jack Nicklaus, named "The Concession," after the moment in the 1969 Ryder Cup when Nicklaus sportingly gave Jacklin a putt that tied the match overall.

He still returns to Minnesota occasionally - he's an honorary member at Hazeltine (site of the 2006 U.S. Amateur) - and always looks up a local named Tom Murphy, who as an 18-year-old in 1970 carried the bag of a champion.

Story written by Alan Bastable of Golf Magazine Properties.