1994 U.S. Open (golf)

1994 U.S. Open
Tournament information

Dates	June 16–20, 1994
Location	Oakmont, Pennsylvania
Course(s)	Oakmont Country Club
Tour(s)	PGA Tour
Statistics
Par	71
Length	6,946 yards (6,351 m)^[1]
Field	159 players, 65 after cut
Cut	147 (+5)
Prize fund	$1.7 million
Winner's share	$320,000
Champion
Ernie Els
279 (−5), playoff
«1993 1995»

Oakmont CC

Location in the United States

Oakmont CC

Location in Pennsylvania

The 1994 U.S. Open was the 94th U.S. Open, held June 16–20 at Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pennsylvania, a suburb northeast of Pittsburgh. Ernie Els, age 24, won the first of his four major titles on the second sudden-death hole to defeat Loren Roberts, after Colin Montgomerie was eliminated in an 18-hole playoff.^[2] (Both Roberts and Montgomerie were winless in major championships, but each won several senior majors while on the Champions Tour.) It was the seventh U.S. Open and tenth major held at Oakmont, and was Arnold Palmer's final U.S. Open as a participant.

Palmer's last

Palmer, age 64, played in his final U.S. Open in 1994. He had not played in the tournament in eleven years, since it was last at Oakmont in 1983, but received an exemption by the USGA to play in his home state. As an amateur, his first U.S. Open in 1953 was also played at Oakmont, won by Ben Hogan.

Television

This was the last U.S. Open for ABC Sports, which had televised the U.S. Open in the United States since 1966, 29 consecutive years.^[3] NBC Sports televised the event for twenty years, from 1995 through 2014. Starting in 2015, Fox Sports began a 12-year contract to televise the championship and other USGA events.

Course layout

Main article: Oakmont Country Club

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Out	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	In	Total
Yards	463	342	421	560	378	195	431	249	474	3,513	458	378	598	181	356	467	228	315	452	3,433	6,946
Par	4	4	4	5	4	3	4	3	5	36	4	4	5	3	4	4	3	4	4	35	71

Source:^[1]

Lengths of the course for previous major championships:

6,972 yards (6,375 m), par 71 - 1983 U.S. Open
6,989 yards (6,391 m), par 71 - 1978 PGA Championship
6,921 yards (6,329 m), par 71 - 1973 U.S. Open
6,894 yards (6,304 m), par 71 - 1962 U.S. Open
Before 1962, the 1st hole was played as a par 5.

6,916 yards (6,324 m), par 72 - 1953 U.S. Open
6,882 yards (6,293 m), par 72 - 1951 PGA Championship
6,981 yards (6,383 m), par 72 - 1935 U.S. Open
6,965 yards (6,369 m), par 72 - 1927 U.S. Open
6,707 yards (6,133 m), par 74 - 1922 PGA Championship

Past champions in the field

Made the cut

Player	Country	Year(s) won	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total	To par	Finish
Curtis Strange	United States	1988, 1989	70	70	70	70	280	−4	4
Tom Watson	United States	1982	68	73	71	71	283	−1	T6
Hale Irwin	United States	1974, 1979, 1990	69	69	71	78	287	+3	T18
Jack Nicklaus	United States	1962, 1967, 1972, 1980	69	70	77	76	292	+8	T28
Tom Kite	United States	1992	73	71	72	77	293	+9	T33
Scott Simpson	United States	1987	74	73	73	78	298	+14	T55
Fuzzy Zoeller	United States	1984	76	70	76	77	299	+15	T58

Missed the cut

Player	Country	Year(s) won	R1	R2	Total	To par
Larry Nelson	United States	1983	75	73	148	+6
Lee Janzen	United States	1993	77	71	148	+6
Payne Stewart	United States	1991	74	75	149	+7
Andy North	United States	1978, 1985	78	73	151	+9
Johnny Miller	United States	1973	81	76	157	+15
Arnold Palmer	United States	1960	77	81	158	+16

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, June 16, 1994

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
1	Tom Watson	United States	68	−3
T2	Ernie Els	South Africa	69	−2
	Hale Irwin	United States
	Jack Nicklaus	United States
	Frank Nobilo	New Zealand
T6	Masashi Ozaki	Japan	70	−1
	Curtis Strange	United States
	Kirk Triplett	United States
	Scott Verplank	United States
T10	Mark Calcavecchia	United States	71	E
	Ben Crenshaw	United States
	Clark Dennis	United States
	Bradley Hughes	Australia
	Steve Lowery	United States
	Jeff Maggert	United States
	Hajime Meshiai	Japan
	Colin Montgomerie	Scotland
	Greg Norman	Australia
	Dave Rummells	United States
	Jim Thorpe	United States
	Don Walsworth	United States
	Mark Wurtz	United States

Second round

Friday, June 17, 1994

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
1	Colin Montgomerie	Scotland	71-65=136	−6
T2	John Cook	United States	73-65=138	−4
	David Edwards	United States	73-65=138
	Hale Irwin	United States	69-69=138
T5	Jeff Maggert	United States	71-68=139	−3
T5	Jack Nicklaus	United States	69-70=139	−3
T7	Ernie Els	South Africa	69-71=140	−2
	Frank Nobilo	New Zealand	69-71=140
	Steve Pate	United States	74-66=140
	Curtis Strange	United States	70-70=140

Amateurs: Alexander (+7).

Third round

Saturday, June 18, 1994

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
1	Ernie Els	South Africa	69-71-66=206	−7
2	Frank Nobilo	New Zealand	69-71-68=208	−5
T3	Hale Irwin	United States	69-69-71=209	−4
	Colin Montgomerie	Scotland	71-65-73=209
	Loren Roberts	United States	76-69-64=209
	Tom Watson	United States	68-73-68=209
T7	Steve Lowery	United States	71-71-68=210	−3
T7	Curtis Strange	United States	70-70-70=210	−3
T9	John Cook	United States	73-65-73=211	−2
	Greg Norman	Australia	71-71-69=211
	Steve Pate	United States	74-66-71=211

Final round

Sunday, June 19, 1994

Els shot a 66 (−5) in the third round to take a two-shot lead. At the start of the Sunday's final round, Els was the beneficiary of a controversial ruling. After he hit his opening drive into deep rough, tournament officials ruled that a broadcast truck was in his line of play. He was allowed to take a drop in a spot where escape was much more likely, but still ended up with a bogey on the hole. Afterwards, officials admitted that the ruling was wrong, and Els should have been forced to play from his original location. Roberts and Montgomerie both recorded a 70 (−1) in the round to challenge Els. Roberts could have won the championship outright, but he missed a par putt on the 18th. Els needed par on the last to hold off Roberts and Montgomerie, but he hit his drive into the rough and made bogey from there, forcing a three-way playoff. It was the first three-way playoff at the U.S. Open in 31 years, when Julius Boros defeated Jacky Cupit and Palmer in 1963.

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par	Money ($)
T1	Ernie Els	South Africa	69-71-66-73=279	−5	Playoff
	Colin Montgomerie	Scotland	71-65-73-70=279
	Loren Roberts	United States	76-69-64-70=279
4	Curtis Strange	United States	70-70-70-70=280	−4	75,728
5	John Cook	United States	73-65-73-71=282	−2	61,318
T6	Clark Dennis	United States	71-71-70-71=283	−1	49,485
	Greg Norman	Australia	71-71-69-72=283
	Tom Watson	United States	68-73-68-74=283
T9	Jeff Maggert	United States	71-68-75-70=284	E	37,179
	Frank Nobilo	New Zealand	69-71-68-76=284
	Jeff Sluman	United States	72-69-72-71=284
	Duffy Waldorf	United States	74-68-73-69=284

Playoff

Monday, June 20, 1994

All three players struggled as the Monday playoff began. Montgomerie recorded double-bogey at the 2nd, 3rd, and 11th and fell out of contention. Els began the playoff bogey-triple bogey,^[4] while Roberts double-bogeyed the 5th. Roberts had a one-stroke lead over Els on the 16th, but he bogeyed the hole to fall into a tie. Els and Roberts both carded a 74 (+3), while Montgomerie finished with a 78 (+7) and was eliminated.

After halving the first extra hole with pars, they headed to the 11th where Roberts found a greenside bunker on his approach while Els safely hit the green. After Roberts' par putt lipped out, Els two-putted for par and the championship.^[2]^[5] It was the second time for sudden-death at the U.S. Open, which was first implemented in 1990. It was needed again in 2008.

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par	Sudden death	Money ($)
1	Ernie Els	South Africa	74	+3	4-4	320,000
T2	Loren Roberts	United States	74	+3	4-5	141,827
T2	Colin Montgomerie	Scotland	78	+7	–	141,827

Els and Roberts were tied at 74 (+3) after 18 holes; Montgomerie was four strokes back and was eliminated.
The sudden-death playoff began on the back nine and Els (4-4) defeated Roberts (4-5) on the second hole.^[5]^[6]

Scorecard

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
Par	4	4	4	5	4	3	4	3	5	4	4	5	3	4	4	3	4	4
Els	+1	+4	+3	+3	+3	+3	+2	+3	+2	+3	+3	+4	+4	+4	+4	+4	+3	+3
Roberts	E	+1	+1	+1	+3	+2	+2	+3	+2	+3	+3	+3	+3	+3	+3	+4	+3	+3
Montgomerie	E	+2	+4	+4	+4	+5	+5	+6	+6	+6	+8	+8	+7	+7	+7	+7	+7	+7
Sudden-death Playoff
Els										E	E
Roberts										E	+1

Source:^[7]^[8]

References

1 2 "How Oakmont played in the 1994 U.S. Open". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. June 21, 1994. p. C7.
1 2 Reilly, Rick (June 27, 1994). "From trouble to triumph". Sports Illustrated. p. 38.
↑ Rosaforte, Tim (June 27, 1994). "See Ya Later". Sports Illustrated. p. 49.
↑ GOLF; Forget Finesse, Remember a Name: Els Wins Open
1 2 Parascenzo, Marino (June 21, 1994). "Ernie is something Els". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. C1.
↑ "Els awakens to win Open". Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. Associated Press. June 21, 1994. p. C1.
↑ "At U.S. Open, Els' finish makes up for shaky start". Seattle Times. Associated Press. June 21, 1994. Retrieved June 18, 2012.
↑ "The leaders, hole by hole". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. June 21, 1994. p. C-6.

External links

Preceded by 1994 Masters	Major Championships	Succeeded by 1994 Open Championship

1994 Men's Major Golf Championships

The Masters U.S. Open The Open Championship PGA Championship

U.S. Open Championships

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1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909

1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919

1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929

1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939

1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949

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Kraft Nabisco Championships

Other past events

Bob Hope Chrysler Classic (1999–2002, 2004–2006)
Buick Invitational (2005)
Nissan Open (2003–2006)
WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship (1999–2006)
John Deere Classic (2004–2006)
Memorial Tournament (1988–1998)
FedEx St. Jude Classic (1999–2003)
Compaq Classic (1999–2002)
The Barclays Classic (1999–2006)
Booz Allen Classic (2003–2006)
Buick Championship (2000-2002, 2006)
Deutsche Bank Championship (2003–2006)
WGC-American Express Championship (1999–2006)
Chrysler Classic of Greensboro (2003–2006)
Las Vegas Invitational (2001–2006)
Walt Disney World Golf Classic (1998–2006)
Tampa Bay Championship (2003–2006)
The Tour Championship (1991–2006)
Battle at the Bridges (1999–2005)
WGC-EMC World Cup (2000–2006)
Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge (1999–2008)
Skins Game (1991-2008)
Target World Challenge (2001–2006)

Key figures

Music composers	Barry White ("Love's Theme") Non Stop Music Bob Christianson

Television contract history
ABC's Wide World of Sports (1966-1996)
Golf on ESPN

Coordinates: 40°31′34″N 79°49′37″W / 40.526°N 79.827°W / 40.526; -79.827

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