The 1987 U.S. Open was the 87th U.S. Open, held June 18–21 at the Olympic Club in San Francisco, California. Scott Simpson passed and held off 1982 champion Tom Watson on the Lake Course to win his only major title by one stroke.

Eleven former champions were in the field and only four made the 36-hole cut.

This was the third U.S. Open at the Lake Course of the Olympic Club, the previous two in 1955 and 1966 ended in playoffs. The U.S. Open returned in 1998 and 2012; both were won by one stroke.

Course layout Olympic Club - Lake Course Hole123456789Out101112131415161718InTotalYards5333942234384574372881324333,3354224303901864171496094283433,3746,709Par543444434354443435443570 Lengths of the course for previous major championships: , par 70 - 1966 U.S. Open , par 70 - 1955 U.S. Open

Round summaries First round Thursday, June 18, 1987 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Ben Crenshaw67−3T2 Seve Ballesteros68−2 Raymond Floyd Tsuneyuki NakajimaT5 Bernhard Langer69−1 Nick Price Denis WatsonT8 Jay Don Blake70E Lennie Clements John Cook Dale Douglass David Frost Sandy Lyle Jack Nicklaus Jim Thorpe Bob Tway Mark Wiebe

Second round Friday, June 19, 1987 PlacePlayerScoreTo parT1 Tom Watson72-65=137−3 Mark Wiebe70-67=137T3 John Cook70-68=138−2 Bernhard Langer69-69=138 Tsuneyuki Nakajima68-70=138 Jack Nicklaus70-68=138 Jim Thorpe70-68=138T8 Ben Crenshaw67-72=139−1 Bob Eastwood73-66=139 Larry Mize71-68=139 Scott Simpson71-68=139

Amateurs: Alexander (+13), Parker (+13).

Third round Saturday, June 20, 1987 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Tom Watson72-65-71=208−2T2 Keith Clearwater74-71-64=209−1 Scott Simpson71-68-70=2094 Lennie Clements70-70-70=210ET5 Seve Ballesteros68-75-68=211+1 Ben Crenshaw67-72-72=211 Bernhard Langer69-69-73=211 John Mahaffey72-72-67=211 Larry Mize71-68-72=211 Jim Thorpe70-68-73=211

Final round Sunday, June 21, 1987

Watson held a share of the lead after 36 holes, then took a one-shot lead over Simpson and Keith Clearwater into the final round. Clearwater, 27, shot a six-under 64 on Saturday to get into the final pair with Watson. Watson struggled out of the gate on Sunday on Olympic's difficult start; he bogeyed the first two holes and the fifth as well. Simpson birdied the first but then had three bogeys in four holes. With consecutive birdies at 8 and 9, Watson carried a one-stroke lead to the back nine. Simpson, a group ahead on the course, took the lead with a 30-footer (9 m) for birdie at 15, but Watson responded with a birdie at 14 to tie. At 16, Simpson sank a 9-footer (2.7 m) for his third straight birdie to take the lead, then Watson missed his from to match. Simpson found a greenside bunker at 17, then hit his sand shot to and saved par. With a par on 18, Simpson was in the clubhouse with a 68 and Watson needed a birdie to a force a Monday playoff. His putt narrowly missed and Simpson was the champion by a stroke. In the final pairing, Clearwater had trouble both early and late and shot a 79 (+9) to fade to a tie for 31st. Seve Ballesteros finished in solo third place, his best career finish in a U.S. Open.

PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)1 Scott Simpson 71-68-70-68=277 −3 150,0002 Tom Watson 72-65-71-70=278 −2 75,0003 Seve Ballesteros 68-75-68-71=282 +2 46,240T4 Ben Crenshaw 67-72-72-72=283 +3 24,542 Bernhard Langer 69-69-73-72=283 Larry Mize 71-68-72-72=283 Curtis Strange 71-72-69-71=283 Bobby Wadkins 71-71-70-71=283T9 Lennie Clements 70-70-70-74=284 +4 15,004 Tsuneyuki Nakajima 68-70-74-72=284 Mac O'Grady 71-69-72-72=284 Dan Pohl 75-71-69-69=284 Jim Thorpe 70-68-73-73=284

Scorecard Final round Hole 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 101112131415161718Par543444434 444343544 Simpson −2−2−1EE+1EEEEEEE−1−2−3−3−3 Watson −1EEE+1+1+1E−1−1−1−1−1−2−2−2−2−2 Ballesteros E E +1 +2 +3 +3 +2 +1 +1 +1 E +1 +2 +2 +1 +1 +2 +2 Crenshaw +2 +2 +2 +2 +2 +2 +2 +2 +1 E +1 +2 +2 +1 +1 +2 +3 +3 Langer E E E E E +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +2 +2 +1 +2 +2 +2 +3 Mize +1 +1 E E E +1 +1 +1 +1 E E +1 +2 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 Strange +3 +3 +3 +3 +4 +4 +4 +3 +2 +2 +2 +2 +2 +3 +3 +3 +4 +3 Wadkins +2 +2 +3 +3 +4 +4 +4 +4 +4 +3 +3 +3 +2 +3 +3 +3 +4 +3 Clements E +1 +2 +2 +3 +4 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +4 +3 +3 +4 +4 +4 Clearwater −1 E +2 +2 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +4 +7 +8 Cumulative tournament 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 GolfCompendium.com: 1987 U.S. Open USGA Championship Database USOpen.com – 1987