The Best Golfers Who Never Won The US Open

Rory McIlroy has suffered gut-wrenching disappointment at the US Open in 2023 and 2024, losing out by a shot both times. But at least he knows what it is like to win this tournament, having done so in magnificent fashion in 2011.

There have been some surprising winners of this great old event - Michael Campbell, Andy North (twice), Jack Fleck, Steve Jones, Orville Moody, and Lou Graham to name a few. 

But some of the best players ever to grace the fairways have missed out, nobody more so than Phil Mickelson, who has finished second six times. SIX times.

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He was beaten by Payne Stewart at Pinehurst in 1999, by Tiger Woods at Bethpage in 2002, by Retief Goosen two years later at Shinnecock Hills, by Lucas Glover at Bethpage in 2009 and by Justin Rose at Merion in 2013.

But the one he will still have nightmares about is Winged Foot in 2006. He came to the final hole needing a par to win. Being Mickelson, he took a driver at the 72nd hole and carved a wild shot into the hospitality area. He then hit a tree trying to find a gap that didn’t exist. He then put his next in a bunker and failed to get up and down, running up a double-bogey to miss out on a playoff by one shot. Somehow, Geoff Ogilvy ended up being crowned champion. More of Winged Foot 2006 later.

The great Sam Snead had the silkiest of swings and was one of the biggest hitters of his day. He won The Masters and PGA Championship three times apiece and claimed victory at the 1946 Open, leaving him one US Open title shy of a career grand slam.

He finished second four times. In 1939 he only needed to par the 72nd hole to win but conspired to make a triple bogey to finish fifth.

Nick Faldo won six majors - three Masters and three Open Championships. And he really should have added the US Open. He finished in the top 10 on five occasions. With his meticulous approach to the game, the US Open should have been made for him. He won 43 times in all and has a place in the World Golf Hall of Fame but would probably swap most of that for one US Open win. In 1988, he missed a 25-foot birdie putt on the 18th that would have handed him the title. The next day, he and Curtis Strange competed in an 18-hole playoff, only for Faldo to have an off day as Strange won by four.

It is fair to say that the US Open was not Seve Ballesteros’ favourite event. A genius around the greens, he won The Masters twice and The Open three times. He won 90 times but his wayward driving meant he largely struggled at the US Open. But in 1987 he was two off the lead gong into the final round at Olympic. He shot a 71 but ended up finishing third behind Scott Simpson.

Greg Norman suffered more than his fair share of heartbreak in the majors. Larry Mize holing "that chip" at The Masters, Bob Tway holing "that bunker shot" at the US PGA, to name but two. He came desperately close twice at the US Open. The most notable came in 1984 at Winged Foot, when a 40-foot par putt saw him into an 18-hole playoff with Fuzzy Zoeller, only for the American to ease home by eight the following day. In 1995, Norman again finished second, this time as Corey Pavin beat him by two. He also led heading into the final round in 1986, but suffered a final-round collapse and finished in a tie for 12th.

Vijay Singh won 66 times and gave Tiger Woods a run for his money at the top of the world rankings. He won three majors, but came up dry at the US Open. The closest he came was in 1999 at Pinehurst No. 2 when he finished in a tie for third. Singh was in contention throughout, starting the final round just three adrift of Payne Stewart. But both Singh and Woods stumbled towards the end of their rounds. Stewart eventually holed a snaking 15-foot putt on the 72nd hole to deny Mickelson, while Singh finished tied with Woods and two shots adrift.

Oh Monty! And finally, we have Colin Montgomerie, surely the best European golfer never to have won on the PGA Tour. He had to wait until he turned 50 before finally securing his first victory on the other side of the Atlantic. But he had a proper love-hate relationship with both the US Open and with American golf fans, who loved winding him up. It is worth noting that he won 54 tournaments and topped the European order of merit eight times.

Monty achieved five top-10 finishes at the tournament, including runner-up three times and third once, in 1992. On that occasion, Jack Nicklaus even congratulated him on his "first US Open victory" after he completed his final round in the lead before Tom Kite and Jeff Sluman finished ahead of him. Two years later, he lost in a playoff as Ernie Els took the title, and in 1997, he was again thwarted by Els, who this time won by one. 

His best chance came at Winged Foot in 2006, when a par at the last would have given him the title he craved so much. But, like Mickelson, he suffered a final-hole meltdown, took six and finished in a tie for second.

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