Remembering Past US Opens at Pinehurst
By: Derek Clements | Mon 10 Jun 2024
This will be the fourth US Open to be played at Pinehurst since 1999 and if it comes anywhere close to matching the drama of the previous three then we will have witnessed a classic.
Here, we look back at the tournaments of 1999, 2005 and 2014.
2014
Remember Martin Kaymer? He led wire-to-wire after successive opening rounds of 65 to win his first US Open and second major title. He romped to victory, eight strokes ahead of runners-up Erik Compton and Rickie Fowler. He was the first to open a major with two rounds of 65 or better, and set a US Open record for lowest 36-hole score at 130. The German was the first golfer from continental Europe to win the US Open and the fourth European winner in five years. The real shock is that he has not won a golf tournament of any kind in the 10 years that have since passed.
2005
Michael Campbell had come close to winning The Open at St Andrews in 1995 but his career was blighted with inconsistency. When he was good he was well nigh unbeatable but when he was bad he was truly awful. And in June 2005 he brought his A game to Pinehurst. He had an 80-yard pitch to the final green and knocked the ball to three feet. But he missed the putt. However, he had done enough to hold off a charging Tiger Woods, who birdied the 10th, 13th and 17th and finished the week on level par - two shots behind Campbell. "The heart of the week was holding off Tiger," Campbell said. "I had the best player in the world chasing me down."
1999
Payne Stewart stuck his six iron tee shot to four feet on the par-three 17th hole in the final round and then saw Phil Mickelson strike a magnificent seven iron to six feet. The roars were deafening as the two gladiators went head to head. Up ahead, Tiger Woods was forced to back off his approach to the final hole as he waited for the noise to die down. Mickelson missed his birdie putt. Stewart holed his to lead by one. Both golfers then parred the final hole with Stewart holing a brilliant 15-footer to end the week on one under par and win the US Open for a second time. He would star for the USA in the Ryder Cup at Brookline but days later died in a plane crash.
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