The 1975 U.S. Open was the 75th U.S. Open, held June 19–23, at Medinah Country Club in Medinah, Illinois, a suburb northwest of Chicago. Lou Graham defeated John Mahaffey by two strokes in an 18-hole Monday playoff to win his only major championship.
Tom Watson shot 135 (−7) to tie the U.S. Open record for the first 36 holes of play, but 155 (+13) on the weekend forced him down the leaderboard, three shots out of the Graham-Mahaffey playoff. It marked the second straight year Watson failed to maintain a weekend lead in the championship; he was the 54-hole leader in 1974 at Winged Foot. He won the next major a month later in Scotland at Carnoustie.
Arnold Palmer finished in a tie for ninth place, his final top-10 finish at the U.S. Open. Jerry Pate tied for 18th place and shared low amateur honors with Jay Haas; Pate won the following year as a tour rookie.
Paired with Palmer was Masters champion Jack Nicklaus, who was two-under in the final round and just missed a birdie putt on the 15th green. He carded three consecutive bogeys to finish and ended up two strokes back. Nicklaus rebounded and won the PGA Championship in August at Firestone.
The quality of the play was generally regarded as poor. Despite the high scores Jack Nicklaus said it was the "easiest" U.S. Open he had ever remembered playing. Runner-up John Mahaffey stated at the end of the event, "This course was never as difficult as the scores looked. I agree with everybody who said it was the easiest Open in history to have won. At least 10 guys could have won it by five shots if they'd played golf." The sportswriter Dan Jenkins regularly panned the performance of the players in his Sport Illustrated cover profile, stating in his opening sentence that "it was a golf tournament that begged to be forgotten."
Since moving to the four-day format in 1965, this is the only U.S. Open in which the final round was not scheduled for Father's Day, the third Sunday in June.
This was the second U.S. Open at Medinah, the first was held in 1949. It later hosted in 1990, also a playoff, and the PGA Championship in 1999 and 2006, both won by Tiger Woods. Medinah was the venue for the Ryder Cup in 2012.
This was the final year that players were not allowed to have their own caddies at the U.S. Open. The other majors and some PGA Tour events had traditionally disallowed players from using their own caddies. The Masters required club caddies from Augusta National through
Course layout Hole123456789Out101112131415161718InTotalYards3901874214465274425942054353,6475834023844531673184522204063,3857,032Par434454534365444344343571
Round summaries
First round Thursday, June 19, 1975 PlacePlayerScoreTo parT1 Pat Fitzsimons 67 −4 Tom Watson 3 Jim Wiechers 68 −3T4 Grier Jones 69 −2 Peter Oosterhuis Arnold Palmer Lanny Wadkins8 Ben Crenshaw 70 −1T9 Jim Colbert 71 E Dale Douglass Marty Fleckman David Graham Lynn Janson Rik Massengale Lance Ten Broeck (a) Source:
Second round Friday, June 20, 1975 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Tom Watson 67-68=135 −72 Ben Crenshaw 70-68=138 −43 Pat Fitzsimons 67-73=140 −2T4 Terry Dill 72-69=141 −1 Lee Trevino 72-69=141 Jim Wiechers 68-73=141T7 Grier Jones 69-73=142 E Jack Nicklaus 72-70=142 Peter Oosterhuis 69-73=142T10 Frank Beard 74-69=143 +1 Jay Haas (a) 74-69=143 Source:
Third round Saturday, June 21, 1975 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Frank Beard 74-69-67=210 −3 T2 Pat Fitzsimons 67-73-73=213 E Tom Watson 67-68-78=213T4 Ben Crenshaw 70-68-76=214 +1 Lou Graham 74-72-68=214 Peter Oosterhuis 69-73-72=214T7 Hubert Green 74-69-72=215 +2 Jay Haas (a) 74-69-72=215 Joe Inman 72-72-71=215 T10 Miller Barber 74-71-71=216 +3 John Mahaffey 73-71-72=216 Rik Massengale 71-74-71=216 Eddie Pearce 75-71-70=216 Lee Trevino 72-69-75=216 Source:
Final round Sunday, June 22, 1975
Frank Beard began the final round with a three-stroke lead, four over Graham and six ahead of Mahaffey. But after bogeys at 16 and 17, he staggered home with a 78 (+7) to finish a shot behind. Mahaffey holed a putt for birdie at 14, then parred out the rest of the way to post an even-par 71 and 287 total. Graham went to the 18th with a one-stroke lead and a chance to win in regulation, but he hit his approach into a bunker and failed to save par and fell into a tie with Mahaffey. Several other players had an opportunity to join the playoff. Bob Murphy was tied until a bogey at 18 dropped him a shot out of the playoff, and Ben Crenshaw found the water on 17 and also finished a stroke out, as did defending champion Hale Irwin. Second round leader Tom Watson had another difficult day and fell into a tie for ninth. Jack Nicklaus bogeyed the last three holes and finished two strokes out of the playoff.
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo parMoney ($)T1 Lou Graham 74-72-68-73=287 +3 Playoff John Mahaffey 73-71-72-71=287 T3 Frank Beard 74-69-67-78=288 +4 10,875Ben Crenshaw 70-68-76-74=288Hale Irwin 74-71-73-70=288Bob Murphy 74-73-72-69=288T7 Jack Nicklaus 72-70-75-72=289 +5 7,500Peter Oosterhuis 69-73-72-75=289T9 Pat Fitzsimons 67-73-73-77=290 +6 5,000Arnold Palmer 69-75-73-73=290Tom Watson 67-68-78-77=290 Source:
Scorecard
Hole123456789101112131415161718Par434454534 544434434 Graham E+1+1EEEE+1+1+2+2+2+3+2+2+2+2+3 Mahaffey+3+4+4+4+3+4+4+4+4+3+3+3+4+3+3+3+3+3 Beard−3−2−2−2−2−1E+1+1+1+1+2+2+2+2+3+4+4 Crenshaw+1+1+1+1E+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+2+2+2+2+4+4 Irwin+4+4+4+4+3+2+2+2+3+4+4+4+4+3+3+4+4+4 Murphy+6+6+6+6+5+6+6+5+5+4+4+4+5+5+4+3+3+4 Nicklaus+3+4+4+4+3+3+3+3+2+2+2+2+2+2+2+3+4+5 Oosterhuis+1+1+2+2+1+1+1+1+2+3+4+5+5+5+5+5+5+5 Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par BirdieBogeyDouble bogey Source:
Playoff Monday, June 23, 1975
Graham jumped out to an early advantage in the playoff, recording birdies at 4, 5, and 10 en route to a 71 and a two-stroke win over Mahaffey.
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo parMoney ($)1 Lou Graham 71 E 40,0002 John Mahaffey 73 +220,000
Scorecard Hole123456789101112131415161718Par434454534 544434434 Graham EE+1E−1−1−1−1−1−2−2−2−2−1−1−1EE MahaffeyE+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+2+2+2 Source:
References
External links USGA Championship Database USOpen.com - 1975