The nickname says it all: “Graveyard of Champions.”
Historically, when the U.S. Open comes to the Olympic Club, it’s bad news for the legends of the game; all four previous tournaments have seen an unlikely victor emerge and a golf icon fall.
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He was the kid from The City, 19 years old and confident in his golf. But when the 1966 U.S. Open was set for his home course, the Olympic Club, he was so pessimistic about his chances of qualifying he didn’t even sign up a caddy.
In the end, the only bag Johnny Miller carried was his own, from the car to the rack outside the pro shop. A BYU student at the time, Miller managed to grab the last qualifying spot for the Open during an event in Utah. The legend had started.
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Bubba Watson. Keegan Bradley. Darren Clarke. Rory McIlroy. Charl Schwartzel. Martin Kaymer. Louis Oosthuizen. Graeme McDowell.
In golf’s past eight major championships, eight first-time major winners have emerged victorious.Take it back a step further and there have been 14 different winners in the past 14 majors. Of that group of 14, only Phil Mickelson, Angel Cabrera and Padraig Harrington have multiple major championships on their résumés.
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The United States Golf Association brands the U.S. Open as “golf’s toughest test,” and more often than not, it proves to be true.
In 2011, however, Rory McIlroy laughed right in the face of that moniker en route to one of the most dominating Open victories in history.
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Fourteen years ago, Willie Brown, then the mayor, was saying, “The U.S. Open is wonderful. It’s a $150 million boon to San Francisco, and being the center of golf worldwide for a week — that can’t hurt.”
Fourteen years ago, Phil Mickelson was tying for 10th and Tiger Woods for 18th.
Fourteen years ago, Casey Martin was having the ride and rounds of his life.
Fourteen years ago, 1998, the last time an Open was held at Olympic Club, Matt Kuchar was low amateur.
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James Hahn didn’t even want to sleep Sunday night, or Monday morning, more accurately.
He feared shut-eye might make him lose his mojo.
After winning his first Nationwide Tour event at the Rex Hospital Open in Raleigh, N.C., on Sunday, Hahn boarded a 7:45 p.m. flight and made a stop in Atlanta before pulling into San Francisco International Airport at 12:30 a.m. Monday.
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As if the U.S. Open needed any additional story lines, it may have received its best one yet Monday.
Casey Martin, the former Stanford golfer and current Oregon golf coach, qualified for the Open at the Olympic Club on June 14-17 by winning the sectional qualifier in Creswell, Ore., by one shot.
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It was 1985 when Chris Stein last got his crack at a chance to play in the U.S. Open.
He was 22 then, and in the Southern California city of Temecula for the Open sectional qualifier. Stein needed to shoot 3-under-par in his last nine holes to advance.
He didn’t.
“Didn’t quite do it,” Stein said. “But here I am back now.”
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Tiger Woods is quite familiar with the Olympic Club from his college days at Stanford and having played the 1998 U.S. Open at the venue. But even that prior experience couldn’t prepare him for everything during a practice round at the Lake Course on Tuesday in San Francisco.
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