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. (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. 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. NBC regained the rights to the U.S. Open in 2020 after taking over Fox's contract.

Course layout

Hole123456789Out101112131415161718InTotalYards4633424215603781954312494743,5134583785981813564672283154523,4336,946Par444543435364453443443571 Source:

Lengths of the course for previous major championships:

, par 71 - 1983 U.S. Open , par 71 - 1978 PGA Championship , par 71 - 1973 U.S. Open , par 71 - 1962 U.S. OpenBefore 1962, the 1st hole was played as a par 5. , par 72 - 1953 U.S. Open , par 72 - 1951 PGA Championship , par 72 - 1935 U.S. Open , par 72 - 1927 U.S. Open , par 74 - 1922 PGA Championship

Round summaries

First round Thursday, June 16, 1994 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Tom Watson68−3T2 Ernie Els69−2 Hale Irwin Jack Nicklaus Frank NobiloT6 Masashi Ozaki70−1 Curtis Strange Kirk Triplett Scott VerplankT10 Mark Calcavecchia71E Ben Crenshaw Clark Dennis Bradley Hughes Steve Lowery Jeff Maggert Hajime Meshiai Colin Montgomerie Greg Norman Dave Rummells Jim Thorpe Don Walsworth Mark Wurtz

Second round Friday, June 17, 1994

PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Colin Montgomerie71-65=136−6T2 John Cook73-65=138−4 David Edwards73-65=138 Hale Irwin69-69=138T5 Jeff Maggert71-68=139−3 Jack Nicklaus69-70=139T7 Ernie Els69-71=140−2 Frank Nobilo69-71=140 Steve Pate74-66=140 Curtis Strange70-70=140

Amateurs: Alexander (+7).

Third round Saturday, June 18, 1994 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Ernie Els69-71-66=206−72 Frank Nobilo69-71-68=208−5T3 Hale Irwin69-69-71=209−4 Colin Montgomerie71-65-73=209 Loren Roberts76-69-64=209 Tom Watson68-73-68=209T7 Steve Lowery71-71-68=210−3 Curtis Strange70-70-70=210T9 John Cook73-65-73=211−2 Greg Norman71-71-69=211 Steve Pate74-66-71=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, a tournament official ruled that a broadcast truck and aerial camera 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, some pundits suggested that the ruling was wrong and Els should have been forced to play from his original location, since it was possible to move the aerial camera out of the way. Roberts and Montgomerie both recorded a 70 (−1) in the round to challenge Els. Roberts could have posted a −6 (278) clubhouse score, but he missed a par putt on the 18th. Strange was in contention most of the day, but made bogeys on 15 and 16 and a birdie on 18 left him at −4 (280). 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.

PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)T1 Ernie Els 69-71-66-73=279 −5 Playoff Colin Montgomerie 71-65-73-70=279 Loren Roberts 76-69-64-70=2794 Curtis Strange 70-70-70-70=280 −4 75,7285 John Cook 73-65-73-71=282 −2 61,318T6 Clark Dennis 71-71-70-71=283 −1 49,485 Greg Norman 71-71-69-72=283 Tom Watson 68-73-68-74=283T9 Jeff Maggert 71-68-75-70=284 E 37,179 Frank Nobilo 69-71-68-76=284 Jeff Sluman 72-69-72-71=284 Duffy Waldorf 74-68-73-69=284

Scorecard Final round Hole123456789101112131415161718Par444543435 445344344 Els −6 −6 −6 −7 −7 −7 −7 −6 −6 −7 −6 −6 −6 −6 −7 −6 −6 −5 Montgomerie −4 −4 −4 −5 −5 −5 −6 −6 −7 −7 −6 −5 −4 −5 −4 −4 −5 −5 Roberts −4 −4 −4 −4 −4 −4 −4 −5 −6 −5 −6 −6 −7 −7 −6 −6 −6 −5 Strange −3 −3 −4 −5 −6 −6 −6 −5 −5 −4 −5 −5 −4 −5 −4 −3 −3 −4 Cook −2 −3 −3 −3 −3 −3 −3 −2 −1 E E E E −1 −1 −1 −2 −2 Nobilo −5 −4 −2 −3 −4 −4 −4 −4 −4 −3 −2 −1 −1 −1 E E E E Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par BirdieBogeyDouble bogey Source:

Playoff Monday, June 20, 1994

All three players struggled early in the Monday playoff. Montgomerie double-bogeyed the 2nd, 3rd, and 11th holes and fell out of contention. Els began the playoff bogey-triple bogey,GOLF; Forget Finesse, Remember a Name: Els Wins Open 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. 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.

PlacePlayerScoreTo parSudden deathMoney ($)1 Ernie Els 74 +34–4320,000T2 Loren Roberts 74 +34–5141,827 Colin Montgomerie 78 +7 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.

Scorecard Hole 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 101112131415161718Par444543435445344344 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+7Sudden-death playoff Els E E Roberts E +1 Cumulative playoff scores, relative to par {|class="wikitable" span = 50 style="font-size:85%; |- |style="background: Pink;" width=10| |Birdie |style="background: PaleGreen;" width=10| |Bogey |style="background: Green;" width=10| |Double bogey |style="background: Olive;" width=10| |Triple bogey+ |} Source:

References

External links USGA Championship Database USOpen.com – 1994