The five best US Opens played at Oakmont Country Club
By Keith Jackson
Last Updated: 16/06/16 11:50am
This week sees the ninth US Open to be played at the historic Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania. Here, we take a look at the five most memorable...
1962 - Nicklaus shocks Palmer
With the vast majority of the fans cheering for Pennsylvania native Arnold Palmer, a 22-year-old rookie by the name of Jack William Nicklaus announced himself on the world golfing stage as he beat the King in an 18-hole play-off.
Palmer was the bookies', as well as the fans' favourite as he headed into the final round tied for the lead with Bobby Nichols, with Nicklaus and Gary Player were two shots behind.
Nicklaus bogeyed the first, and he soon found himself five shots off the pace when Palmer birdied the second and fourth. But, after a Nicklaus birdied seven and nine, Palmer duffed a chip at the long ninth and made bogey.
Nicklaus closed the gap to one with his third birdie in five holes at the 11th, and he was tied for the lead when Palmer failed to get up and down from a bunker at the 13th.
The pair parred in to finish tied at the top on one under, and 10,000 fans turned up for the Sunday play-off to see their local hero fall four shots behind after six holes, but this time it was Palmer who found his game around the turn as three birdies in four holes reduced the arrears to one.
But Palmer then three-putted the 13th, and Nicklaus closed out a level-par 71 against Palmer's 74 to capture the first of his 18 major titles and begin a rivalry with Palmer and Player that would last for the next two decades.
1973 - Miller's record-breaking win
Johnny Miller became the first player in major championship history to shoot a 63, and he did it in the final round at Oakmont to win his only US Open title.
The swashbuckling American looked out of contention when he finished the third round six shots behind joint-leaders Arnold Palmer, Julius Boros, Jerry Heard and John Schlee.
But Miller pounded the ball off the tee and holed putt after putt as he birdied the first four holes to pull within three of Palmer, and all of the top six contenders birdied the ninth before the tournament swung Miller's way on the inward stretch.
Miller reeled off another three straight birdies from the 11th, and Palmer buckled under the pressure and dropped three shots in a row to leave Miller to battle it out with Schlee and Tom Weiskopf.
Miller picked up another shot at the 15th, and three closing pars were enough to clinch a one-shot victory over Schlee as Nicklaus, Palmer and Lee Trevino finished three strokes adrift.
1953 - Hogan leads from the front
Four years after almost losing his life in a car accident, Ben Hogan enjoyed his most dominant year in 1953 and won the first three majors of the season by a combined 15 shots.
His performance at Oakmont was arguably the best of his nine major championship victories as he led from wire-to-wire after opening with a 67 which proved to be the low round of the week.
Further rounds of 72 and 73 left him one clear of great rival Sam Snead after 54 holes, and the gap between the pair remained at just a single shot at the turn until Hogan pulled away down the stretch.
Hogan picked up three birdies coming home while Snead faded, and Hogan's 71 against Snead's 76 earned the sweet-swinging Texan his fourth US Open title by a six-shot margin.
Hogan's 67 and Snead's second-round 69 were the only sub-70 scores in the entire tournament, and Hogan went on to enjoy a four-shot victory in the Open Championship at Carnoustie a month later.
2007 - Cabrera tames Tiger
Tiger Woods was a firm favourite to win his third US Open title when he went into the final round in the final pairing for the fourth straight major, and he found himself out in front after one hole when overnight leader Aaron Baddeley triple-bogeyed the first.
But the world No 1 could not quite keep pace with the steely Angel Cabrera over the next 17 holes as "El Pato" became the first Argentine to win a major since Roberto Di Vicenzo won the Open 40 years previously.
Cabrera took control when he birdied the fourth, fifth and eighth after Woods had doubled the third, but Cabrera then bogeyed the ninth to slip into a share of the lead with Woods heading into the back nine.
A two-shot swing at the 11th - Cabera's birdie against a Woods bogey - put the underdog back in front as Jim Furyk suddenly vaulted into contention with three consecutive birdies from the 15th.
Cabrera also birdied 15, but he bogeyed the next two while Furyk pulled his drive into dense rough at the 17th and could not avoid dropping another shot.
Cabrera regained his composure and launched a big drive up the middle of the 18th fairway, and a cast-iron par closed out a 69 - one of only two sub-70 scores on the final day - and set the clubhouse target at five over.
Furyk failed to find the birdie he needed to match Cabrera at the last, while Woods' 30-foot putt to force a play-off missed the target moments later.
1994 - Els wins marathon
Ernie Els lifted his first major title after one of the hottest weeks of the year at Oakmont as he edged out Loren Roberts at the 20th hole of a Monday play-off.
The focus for much of the first two days was on the legendary Arnold Palmer as he competed in his final US Open, and Colin Montgomerie emerged as the halfway leader after the Scot fired a superb 65 on day two.
But Monty struggled to a 73 on Saturday as Els took a two-shot lead after a 66, and the South African remained one ahead as he came to the last hole needing a par to win with Montgomerie and Roberts in the clubhouse on five under after closing 70s.
However, Els paid the price for pulling his drive at the 18th, and the resulting bogey forced a three-way play-off on the Monday.
By his own admission, Montgomerie's decision to wear blackwatch tartan in sweltering heat did him no favours as he struggled to a 78, while Els and Roberts both shot 74 and headed to sudden death.
The first extra hole was halved in pars, and Els then hit the 11th green in two while Roberts bunkered his approach. Roberts's par putt lipped out, and Els safely two-putted for the winning par and the first of his four major titles.