The US Open

Lore & Background

The US Open's reputation for brutality was forged early. In 1913, amateur Francis Ouimet's playoff victory over British stars Harry Vardon and Ted Ray at The Country Club in Brookline sparked a golf boom in America, proving that the common man could conquer the game's elite. The championship has since become a crucible where patience and precision are rewarded, and where even a single bad hole can unravel a round. The 2000 US Open at Pebble Beach saw Tiger Woods dominate with a record 15-stroke margin, a feat many consider the greatest performance in major history. Woods' final-round 67 included a front-nine 34, a display of relentless aggression that left the field in awe.

Reader's Guide

You smell it before you see it: that dense, almost herbal sweetness of freshly mown fairway grass mixed with the salt-tang of coastal air if the venue is on the shore, or the dry, loamy earth of a inland links. The first thing that hits you at a US Open venue is the narrowness. You step off the cart path and the rough is already at your ankles, thick and dark green, and you realize the fairway is barely wider than a two-lane road. The air tastes different here, charged with the static of a thousand spectators holding their breath.

The sound is its own ritual. There is no stadium roar; instead, you get a low, sustained murmur that swells into a collective gasp when a ball finds the pin, then a thunderous, almost religious cheer that rolls off the gallery walls. Caddies have their own liturgy: the quiet nod before a critical putt, the muttered 'good lie' that is half prayer, half report. Fans who have been coming to the US Open for twenty years will tell you the real game is in the rough. You watch a player pull a ball out of waist-high grass and the crowd's reaction is more visceral than any albatross. That's the inside joke, the unspoken rule: at the US Open, the hero isn't the one who hits 300 yards. It's the one who survives.

Bring a windbreaker. Bring earplugs if you're near the 18th green on Sunday. And for the love of the game, do not sneeze during a putt. You will be shushed by a stranger, and they will be absolutely right.

Did You Know?

• The first US Open in 1895 was a 36-hole event played on the same day as the US Amateur, with just 10 professionals and 1 amateur competing.
• Only five players have won the US Open wire-to-wire (leading after every round) since 1900, most recently Rory McIlroy in 2011.
• The US Open has been held in 22 different states, with New York hosting the most editions (12, including at venues like Shinnecock Hills and Bethpage Black).
• The championship trophy, officially the 'US Open Championship Cup,' was first awarded in 1895 and is one of the oldest in American sports.