Oakmont: Five notable moments at Oakmont Country Club, hosting the US Open Golf Championship for a record ninth time:
- Hogan the hero: Hogan’s 1953 US Open victory was part of one of the greatest seasons in golf. Hogan had won the Masters by five shots, beat Sam Snead by six strokes in a wire-to-wire victory at Oakmont and went on to win the British Open at Carnoustie.
- Golden Bear’s legend is born: Jack Nicklaus, a 22-year-old rookie defeated Arnold Palmer in an 18-hole playoff at the 1962 US Open at Oakmont, erasing a two-shot deficit in the fourth round as he made his first professional title the first of his record 18 major victories.
- 63 in ‘73: Johnny Miller began the final round six shots off the pace in the 1973 US Open and fired the first 63 in major championship history to triumph. He hit all 18 greens in regulation, and while there have been 26 rounds of 63 in the majors since, only five players have shot 63 and lifted a major trophy, and Miller remains the only player to shoot 63 in the final round of a major and win.
- ‘Big Easy’ does it the hard way: South Africa’s Ernie Els worked overtime to win the first of four major titles at the 1994 US Open at Oakmont. Els bogeyed the 72nd hole to fall into a three-way play-off with Colin Montgomerie and Loren Roberts. Scotland’s Montgomerie faded in the next-day play-off contested in sweltering heat, while Els and Roberts went to a 20th hole, Els winning when Roberts finally bogeyed.
- ‘El Pato’ takes down a tiger: Angel Cabrera won the first of two major titles at Oakmont in 2007 with a five-over par total - finishing one stroke in front of Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk. Cabrera, the first Argentinian to win a major since Roberto DeVicenzo at the British Open in 1967, went on to win the Masters in 2009.