SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — No one ever leading at Shinnecock Hills the last 40 years at the halfway point has won the U.S. Open, a small slice of history that awaited Wyndham Clark. He had a four-shot lead in the fierce wind of Saturday.
Dustin Johnson led by that much eight years ago and that didn't end well.
But it's really not about Clark as much as it is everyone else, and the reminder to fight to the end.
Geoff Ogilvy can speak from the experience of 20 years ago at Winged Foot, where he played the last 12 holes with four bogeys and no birdies and won at 5-over 285. He is the last U.S. Open champion to have never broken par in any of the four rounds.
But what he recalls is a conversation the morning of the final round with World Golf Hall of Famer Judy Rankin, a relative by marriage. She told him: “Everyone wakes up Monday morning, looks at the newspaper and is surprised by the score that won the U.S. Open.”
“I know that more from watching than playing,” Rankin said Saturday morning from her home in Midland, Texas, where she was quick to point out that “it's blowing here, too.” She devoted the second half of her career to broadcasting.
“I just said, ‘Save ever shot.’ I'm telling you, you never know at the U.S. Open what's going to happen,” she said. “It's a different kind of experience.”
No need to look back any further than last year, when J.J. Spaun began the final round at Oakmont with five bogeys in six holes. He birdied the last two to win.
“I just remember telling him to try to the bitter end if you're in it, because you'll be surprised,” Rankin said.
“It's so true,” said Andy North, a two-time U.S. Open champion working television this week at Shinnecock Hills. “You look at the scores the next day and everyone is ticked but the winner.”
Here's how the weekend unfolded in the previous U.S. Opens at Shinnecock Hills:
2018
Johnson had just returned to No. 1 in the world and looked the part. He opened with 69-67, the only player under par going into the weekend and with a four-shot lead.
But then the USGA didn't account for how dry and windy the course became, and pin positions late in the day made it a brute. Putts were rolling 50 feet by the hole and over the green. No one from the final 22 groups matched par. Johnson shot 77 and was still tied for the lead.
Brooks Koepka, five shots behind going into the weekend, emerged the winner with a 68 on a course the USGA soaked overnight.
2004
Phil Mickelson and Shigeki Maruyama shared the 36-hole lead at 6-under 134. Retief Goosen had one of only three rounds under par on Saturday to take the lead. In the final round in which the greens baked out — particularly the par-3 seventh green — no one broke par.
Goosen was scrambling the whole way around, but he showed his U.S. Open mettle that day when he one-putted the final six greens. This still looked like Mickelson's to win until he three-putted from 5 feet on the 17th hole.
Maruyama, meanwhile, went 74-76 on the weekend and tied for fourth.
1995
For the second straight time at Shinnecock Hills, Greg Norman had the the 36-hole lead by two shots. As usual, someone else ended up holding the trophy.
Corey Pavin, six shots behind going into the weekend, cut the deficit in half on Saturday. He fell four shots behind after a bogey on the third hole. That was his last bogey of the round. Norman and Tom Lehman slowly came back to the field. Pavin saved par with a 5-foot putt on the 17th. And then he hit the famous 4-wood into the 18th that secured the win.
Norman had nine straight pars in the middle of his round — U.S. Open golf — until two straight bogeys early on the back nine cost him the lead, and a bogey on the 17th put him behind. He needed birdie on the 18th to force a playoff. He made bogey.
1986
This was the year of Norman's famous “Saturday slam” when he had the 54-hole lead at all four majors (and only won the British Open).
He was up by three shots over Lee Trevino and Denis Watson going into the weekend, four shots clear over a group that included Raymond Floyd and Tom Watson. In a final round of good scoring, 10 players had at least a share of the lead. Floyd didn't pull ahead until a birdie on the 13th hole.
Floyd was bogey-free for a 66 to win by two shots.
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