Oakmont The Extraordinary

Hallowed Course, Prepared To Host U.S. Open, Has Rich History

February 23, 2007

With the U.S. Open returning to Oakmont this June for a remarkable eighth time - no course has held more U.S. Opens - we offer the first installment of a four-part series that examines all the USGA championships held there.

By , USGA

Far Hills, N.J. - How do you define Oakmont Country Club, nestled in a rolling valley suburb?

The Church Pew bunkers? The furrows created by the toothy rakes? The almost unfathomable 63 shot by in the final round of the 1973 U.S. Open? The scary green complexes?

Oakmont's noted "Church Pews" guard the third and fourth holes. (USGA Photo Archives)

No matter how you quantify the difficulty of this western golf course, nobody can argue its place on the American championship landscape. Oakmont's founder and architect wanted it that way. When he designed his first and last golf course, Fownes set out to create a masterpiece, one which would challenge the best players.

At the time of Oakmont's creation - 1909 - the new Haskell ball had been developed. It flew farther than its predecessors, so Fownes built a course longer than most to accommodate the technology. Fownes also wanted a course that could host major championships such as the U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur.

By all accounts, he succeeded. Oakmont arguably is the toughest course utilized by the USGA for its national championships. While the layout might look harmless, danger lurks at every corner, thanks to the treacherous green complexes and bunkering.

While it may not possess a plethora of water hazards like the Tournament Players Club at Sawgrass or need wind as a defense like or Shinnecock Hills, or have hidden pot bunkers and gorse like , Oakmont's strength lies in how players handle the challenging greens. Ask Palmer. In the 1962 U.S. Open, he had 11 three-putts, which cost him the title.

once remarked that he marked his ball with a dime and the dime slid away. called Oakmont "the best test of championship golf in the country."

Need further proof?

When the 2007 U.S. Open heads to Oakmont this June, it will be the eighth time the championship has been held on the course. That's more than any other venue in the country. It will also be the 14th time Oakmont has been used to decide a USGA championship - it has hosted five U.S. Amateurs and one U.S. Women's Open.

So as the '07 U.S. Open approaches, we take a look back at the classic USGA championship moments at Oakmont.

However, we'll actually start with the 1916 Intercollegiate Golf Association of America championship. That was the first major competition held at Oakmont and was the genesis for everything else that followed, which also included three Championships.

Prior to 1937 when the National Collegiate Athletic Association took over running intercollegiate athletics, the IGAA served as the national event for college and university golfers. There was a team and individual event. In 1916, won the team competition, handing favored Yale just its second defeat in 10 years.

For the individual event, which mimicked the U.S. Amateur with stroke-play qualifying followed by match play, 45 players from eight colleges came to Oakmont. By comparison, the U.S. Amateur held a week earlier drew 160 entrants. The favorites included Oakmont's own of . Also included on that short list was 's D. Clarke Corkran, who had reached the semifinals of the 1916 U.S. Amateur; defending champion of Yale, and his teammate , the 1915 U.S. Amateur stroke-play medalist.

Corkran was the only player to live up to the high expectations, reaching the 36-hole final against Harvard's . Hubbell was 4 down after the morning round, but managed to rally for a 1-up upset win. He won five straight holes from No. 23, and he took the lead for good with winning pars at the 33rd and 34th holes.

A Rare Jones Defeat

World War I put a halt to major golf competitions from 1917-18, but with the conflict now over, the USGA decided to take the 1919 U.S. Amateur to Oakmont. By now, the course had received plenty of national acclaim. Oakmont, which had been operating now for 10 years, was clearly ready for such a competition. The club spent a reported $40,000 getting the course primed for the championship. The USGA also was busy, revising the format to include a Saturday qualifying round that reduced the field from 136 to about 75. Another qualifier on Monday trimmed the field down to 32 for match play.

Bob Jones circa 1916, three years before he'd lose in the U.S. Amateur final against S. Davidson Herron. (USGA Photo Archives)

The field included the 17-year-old Jones of Atlanta, Ga. He had made his Amateur debut three years previous at Merion, where he advanced to the quarterfinals as the youngest participant in the competition. Fans in the area flocked to Oakmont to watch this prodigy and see his immaturity. Jones had yet to harness his temper and that showed during a practice round when he sliced a shot with a 2-wood. He slammed his club so hard on the turf that the wooden shaft snapped. That night, he would need to have a new shaft put on the club.

Also in the field was Oakmont's own , now a 20-year-old steel mill laborer who had served in World War I. Around town, he was known as the kid who had sold lemonade to golfers on hot days and later captained the golf team. But he would later be known as one of two men to beat the legendary Jones in a U.S. Amateur final.

In 1919, Jones had yet to cement his legacy as one of golf's greatest champions. He would not win his first USGA title - the U.S. Open - for another four years. But he was a favorite to win this championship along with 1916 champion Charles "Chick" Evans and 1914 champ , who had made history in 1913 when he won the U.S. Open in a playoff over English stalwarts and .

Ouimet would only go as far as the third round, defeated by 's of North Hills Country Club in 38 holes. Ouimet ousted Evans in the second round, 1 up.

Herron quietly made his way through the draw, defeating Platt handily, 7 and 6, in the semifinals, while Jones defeated Oakmont's William C. Fownes, the 1910 Amateur winner and son of course architect Henry Fownes, 5 and 3.

The final was a see-saw battle, with Herron taking a 3-up lead through 12 and Jones coming back to square it by 16. In the afternoon, Jones fell behind by three again with just seven to play. At the brutish 12th hole (30th of match), Jones thought he saw an opening after Herron bunkered his tee shot. In the fairway about to launch his second shot with a 2-wood, Jones heard a gallery official yell "fore!" through a megaphone as he was at the top of his backswing.

Later in his career, the distraction might not have made Jones twitch, but the youthful golfer topped the ball into a bunker, from where he failed in his recovery attempt. Instead of cutting the deficit, Jones now was 4 down. Herron went on to a 5-and-4 victory.

Jones later said the megaphone incident didn't cost him the championship. "I feel sure Davy would have beaten me anyway," Jones wrote later. But he added: "I wish all gallery officials realized that the megaphone is the most alarming hazard that ever appears on a golf course."

David Shefter is a staff writer for the USGA. E-mail him with questions or comments at dshefter@usga.org.