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Throughout its 113-year
history Oakmont Country
Club has been the site of some
of the most memorable wins
in golf. The only golf course
attributed to designer Henry
Fownes, it was built using
shovels and mule teams.
The course can be stretched to
7,255 yards for championship
play and the member’s par of
71 is trimmed to a par 70,
when the professionals visit.
It has long been recognized
as one of the most difficult
courses in the country.
This iconic golf course
has hosted 18 national
championships
including,
eight U.S. Opens, three PGA
Championships, two U.S.
Women’s Opens and five
U.S. Amateurs. Some of the
most memorable wins in
the history of golf have been
engineered on Oakmont’s
verdant fairways and slick
greens.
Gene Sarazen won the first
of two consecutive PGA
Championship victories at
Oakmont in 1922, when it
was still played as a match
play format. He also won the
PGA at Pelham Country Club
in New York the following
year and added a third PGA
in 1933 at Blue Mound in
Wisconsin.
Bobby Jones won his first
of five U.S. Amateur titles
at Merion Country Club in
1924 and added his second
at Oakmont in 1925.
Sam Snead won the 1951
PGA Championship, when it
was played here, but could
only finish runner up to Ben
Hogan in the 1953 U.S.
Open. Snead finishing after
Hogan in 1953, thought he
needed birdies to catch him,
when par would have done
the job. Oakmont was the
site of one of Snead’s biggest
disappointments. He would
never win a U.S. Open.
When Hogan won the U.S.
Open in 1953 after returning
to the tour from severe injuries
suffered in an automobile
accident, it was the second
of his three major victories
that year. It would also be
his fourth and last U.S. Open
title.
Oakmont Country Club
Hosts 9th U.S. Open
BY
FRED ALTVATER
NWO Golf Links