U.S. Opens
The Olympic Club has hosted five U.S. Golf Opens, in 1955, 1966, 1987, 1998 and 2012.
The Olympic Club has the reputation as a heartbreaker, having destroyed 54-hole leaders each time the Open has been played there.
Jack Fleck won in 1955, defeating Ben Hogan in an 18-hole playoff after the two were tied at the end of 72 holes on 287. Billy Casper defeated Arnold Palmer in a playoff to win in 1966 and In 1987 Scott Simpson won by one shot from Tom Watson.
Lee Janzen won at Olympic in 1998 with a score of 280 (even par, as the course played a par 70 for the U.S. Open). Players complained about the pin position at the 18th hole in the second round. The pin was set at the top of a ridge, and, many balls rolled on way past the cup. Kirk Triplett incurred a two-stroke penalty when he used his putter to stop the ball from rolling. Payne Stewart, the runner-up to Janzen, complained as he three-putted the hole. The green was flattened around 2000 as a result, but was given more slope in the recent renovation to the course.
The 2012 U.S Open was won by Webb Simpson when he scored 4 birdies in the last 13 holes.
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Famous quotes containing the word opens:
“and you’ll bargain with the calendar
and at the last moment
when death opens the back door
you’ll put on your carpet slippers
and stride out.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
““. . . Me miserable! which way shall I fly
Infinite wrath and infinite despair?
Which way I fly is Hell; myself am Hell;
And, in the lowest deep, a lower deep
Still threat’ning to devour me opens wide,
To which the Hell I suffer seems a Heaven.”
—John Milton (1608–1674)