1962 U.S. Open (golf)

The 1962 U.S. Open was the 62nd U.S. Open, held June 14–17 at Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pennsylvania, a suburb northeast of Pittsburgh. Jack Nicklaus defeated 1960 champion Arnold Palmer in an 18-hole Sunday playoff that marked the beginning of their legendary rivalry. For Nicklaus, it was his first professional win, the first of four U.S. Open titles and a record 18 major championships. Though just 22, it was Nicklaus' sixth U.S. Open and tenth major, having played in four Masters. He had won the U.S. Amateur twice (1959, 1961) and was the top amateur at the previous two Opens, placing second to Palmer in 1960 and fourth in 1961.

1962 U.S. Open

Tournament information
Dates	June 14–17, 1962
Location	Oakmont, Pennsylvania
Course(s)	Oakmont Country Club
Organized by	USGA
Tour(s)	PGA Tour
Statistics
Par	71
Length	6,894 yards (6,304 m)
Field	150 players,[1] 51 after cut
Cut	150 (+8)
Prize fund	$73,800[2]
Winner's share	$17,500
Champion
Jack Nicklaus
283 (−1), playoff

Oakmont 

Location in the United States

 Oakmont

Location in Pennsylvania

Nicklaus earned $15,000 for his first professional win, and Palmer $8,000 as runner-up. Each received a playoff bonus of $2,500 from the Sunday gate receipts.[3][4]

Only two of the six former champions in the field made the 36-hole cut, Palmer and defending champion Gene Littler.

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	455	355	428	544	384	183	403	253	480	3,485	470	372	598	161	362	458	234	292	462	3,409	6,894
Par	4	4	4	5	4	3	4	3	5	36	4	4	5	3	4	4	3	4	4	35	71

Source:[4][5]

Lengths of the course for previous major championships:

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

The first hole was a par 5 for the previous majors at Oakmont,[6] set at 493 yards (451 m) in 1953.[7]

Past champions in the field

Made the cut

Player	Country	Year won	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total	To par	Finish
Arnold Palmer	United States	1960	71	68	73	71	283	−1	2
Gene Littler	United States	1961	69	74	72	75	290	+6	T8

Missed the cut

Player	Country	Year(s) won	R1	R2	Total	To par
Tommy Bolt	United States	1958	76	76	152	+10
Cary Middlecoff	United States	1949, 1956	74	79	153	+11
Billy Casper	United States	1959	77	77	154	+12
Ed Furgol	United States	1954	78	78	156	+14

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, June 14, 1962

Defending champion Littler took the first round lead with a 69 (−2) before a record opening round gallery of 17,486, mostly following Palmer in the afternoon, paired with Nicklaus. The previous record was 13,916 in 1960 near Denver.[8][9]

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
1	Gene Littler	United States	69	−2
T2	Bobby Nichols	United States	70	−1
	Bob Rosburg	United States
T4	Frank Boynton	United States	71	E
	J. C. Goosie	United States
	Arnold Palmer	United States
	Gary Player	South Africa
	Robert Schoener	United States
T9	Eugene Francis (a)	United States	72	+1
	John Guenther (a)	United States
	Stan Leonard	Canada
	Jack Nicklaus	United States

Second round

Friday, June 15, 1962

Palmer carded a 68 in the morning and Bob Rosburg a 69 to co-lead after 36 holes at 139 (−3), with Nicklaus three strokes back in a tie for fourth.[10][11] Palmer and Nicklaus were paired together in the first two rounds.[12] The second round attendance record was broken with 19,971 in the gallery, surpassing the previous mark of 15,225 set in 1961 near Detroit.[11]

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
T1	Arnold Palmer	United States	71-68=139	−3
	Bob Rosburg	United States	70-69=139
3	Billy Maxwell	United States	71-70=141	−1
T4	Bobby Nichols	United States	70-72=142	E
	Jack Nicklaus	United States	72-70=142
	Gary Player	South Africa	71-71=142
T7	Miller Barber	United States	73-70=143	+1
	Gene Littler	United States	69-74=143
T9	Phil Rodgers	United States	74-70=144	+2
	Don Whitt	United States	73-71=144

Source:[10][11][13]

Third round

Saturday, June 16, 1962 - (morning)

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
T1	Bobby Nichols	United States	70-72-70=212	−1
	Arnold Palmer	United States	71-68-73=212
T3	Phil Rodgers	United States	74-70-69=213	E
	Bob Rosburg	United States	70-69-74=213
T5	Jack Nicklaus	United States	72-70-72=214	+1
	Gary Player	South Africa	71-71-72=214
7	Gene Littler	United States	69-74-72=215	+2
8	Billy Maxwell	United States	71-70-75=216	+3
9	Art Wall, Jr.	United States	73-72-72=217	+4
T10	Gay Brewer	United States	73-72-73=218	+5
	Tommy Jacobs	United States	74-71-73=218

Final round

Saturday, June 16, 1962 - (afternoon)

After 54 holes at Oakmont, Palmer held a share of the lead with Bobby Nichols, with Phil Rodgers and Bob Rosburg a stroke back, and Nicklaus and Gary Player two back. Rosburg shot a 79 (+8) in the final round and quickly fell out of contention, while Nichols and Rodgers carded scores of 73 and 72, respectively, to share 3rd place. But the story of this day was the duel between Palmer and Nicklaus. Although he bogeyed the 9th, Palmer still led Nicklaus as they made the turn. That would change quickly as Nicklaus birdied 11 and Palmer bogeyed 13, evening up the score. Nicklaus missed a birdie attempt at the last to finish with a 69, while Palmer missed a birdie at 18 from 12 feet (4 m) that would have won the championship. This set up an 18-hole playoff between golf's most popular player and the game's rising star.[14][15]

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par	Money ($)
T1	Jack Nicklaus	United States	72-70-72-69=283	−1	Playoff
	Arnold Palmer	United States	71-68-73-71=283
T3	Bobby Nichols	United States	70-72-70-73=285	+1	5,500
	Phil Rodgers	United States	74-70-69-72=285
5	Gay Brewer	United States	73-72-73-69=287	+3	4,000
T6	Tommy Jacobs	United States	74-71-73-70=288	+4	2,750
	Gary Player	South Africa	71-71-72-74=288
T8	Doug Ford	United States	74-75-71-70=290	+6	1,767
	Gene Littler	United States	69-74-72-75=290
	Billy Maxwell	United States	71-70-75-74=290

Source:[16]

Scorecard

Final round

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
Nicklaus	+2	+2	+2	+2	+2	+2	+1	+1	E	E	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1
Palmer	−1	−2	−2	−3	−3	−3	−3	−3	−2	−2	−2	−2	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par

Birdie

Bogey

Source:[15]

Playoff

Sunday, June 17, 1962

The 10,000 that showed up for the playoff on Sunday were decidedly pro-Palmer, constantly taunting the 22-year-old upstart from Ohio. (Palmer was from nearby Latrobe and had won two of the last three majors, with five overall.) Nicklaus, however, silenced the crowd by going up by four strokes after six holes.[17] Palmer then launched one of his patented charges with birdies at 9, 11, and 12 to close within one, but a three-putt bogey at 13 proved to be costly for Palmer. Nicklaus held him off from there and prevailed by three strokes, carding a 71 to Palmer's 74.[18] Nicklaus won the championship on the greens; he had just one three-putt the entire week, while Palmer had 10.[19] Nicklaus became the youngest winner of the U.S. Open since Bobby Jones in 1923, and became the first since Jones to hold the Open and the U.S. Amateur championship at the same time; he had won the Amateur the previous year before turning pro in the winter. For Palmer, this began a frustrating stretch as a runner-up in four U.S. Opens in six years, with three in playoffs. His words after the tournament proved prophetic, saying of Nicklaus: "Now that the big guy is out of the cage, everybody better run for cover."[20]

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par	Money ($)
1	Jack Nicklaus	United States	71	E	17,500
2	Arnold Palmer	United States	74	+3	10,500

• Included in earnings is a playoff bonus of $2,500 each, from the playoff gate receipts.[3]

Scorecard

Playoff

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
Nicklaus	E	E	E	−1	−1	−2	−2	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	E
Palmer	+1	+1	+1	+1	+1	+2	+2	+3	+2	+2	+1	E	+1	+1	+1	+1	+1	+3

Birdie

Bogey

Double bogey

Source:[5][18][21]

References

1. Gundelfinger, Phil (June 14, 1962). "Nation's top golfers attack soggy Oakmont fairways". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 32.
2. "U.S. Open history:1962". USGA. Archived from the original on February 5, 2013. Retrieved June 18, 2012.
3. Gundelfinger, Phil (June 18, 1962). "Nicklaus Defeats Palmer". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 1. Retrieved June 19, 2012.
4. Gundelfinger, Phil (June 14, 1962). "Field of 150 tees off in 62nd Open". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 35. Retrieved June 19, 2012.
5. "Golf Playoff Detail". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. June 18, 1962. p. 21. Retrieved June 19, 2012.
6. "A Legend is Born: Palmer Establishes Legacy, While Miller Has Round For The Ages". USGA. March 8, 2007. Archived from the original on December 16, 2013. Retrieved May 12, 2013.
7. "Oakmont, the champ, the man to beat". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Florida. NEA. June 10, 1953. p. 9.
8. Rosensweet, Alvin (June 15, 1962). "17,486 attend first round of the Open". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 1.
9. Gundelfinger, Phil (June 15, 1962). "Littler leads Open with 69; Palmer hits 71". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 1.
10. MacDonald, Jim (June 16, 1962). "Palmer, Rosburg tie for U.S. Open lead". Toledo Blade. p. 14.
11. Gundelfinger, Phil (June 16, 1962). "Palmer, Rosburg in 'Open' lead". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 1.
12. "Starting times for Friday". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. June 15, 1962. p. 16.
13. "National Open Golf Scoreboard". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. June 16, 1962. p. 14.
14. "Jack's Finish Ties Palmer; More Today". Spokesman-Review. Associated Press. June 17, 1962. p. 1-Sports. Retrieved June 19, 2012.
15. MacDonald, Jim (June 17, 1962). "Palmer, Nicklaus tie at 283 in U.S. Open". Toledo Blade. p. 1-sports.
16. "Open Scores". Toledo Blade. June 17, 1962. p. 5-(sec.3). Retrieved June 19, 2012.
17. Wright, Alfred (June 25, 1962). "That big strong dude". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved June 19, 2012.
18. "Robust Jack Nicklaus Captures National Open Play-Off". Spokesman-Review. Associated Press. June 18, 1962. p. 8. Retrieved June 19, 2012.
19. McDonald, Jim (June 18, 1962). "Nicklaus Cuts Palmer Down To Size". Toledo Blade. p. 14. Retrieved June 19, 2012.
20. Dulac, Gerry (March 17, 2012). "U.S. Open: Battle of '62 had Jack, Arnie, Woody". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved June 18, 2012.
21. "Playoff Cards". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. June 18, 1962. p. 21. Retrieved June 19, 2012.

External links

• About.com: 1962 U.S. Open
• USGA Championship Database
• USOpen.com - 1962

Preceded by 1962 Masters	Major Championships	Succeeded by 1962 Open Championship