The History Of The US Open

Sometimes crazy but always dripping with quality, like all of the best sporting spectacles, the US Open can boast quite the history as the golfing world lines up for its 119th edition. This year the Pebble Beach resort in California hosts its sixth US Open in what is the 100th anniversary of the legendary links course.

The first US Open Championship took place on a nine-hole layout at Newport Golf and Country Club in Newport, Rhode Island. The third golfing Major of this season traditionally takes place in June with the final round usually played on Father’s Day.

Often billed as the ultimate test in golf, the present day US Open owes much to the giants of the game who have graced its fairways down the years.

For the latest US Open golf betting odds, head over to Bet UK’s online betting. If you’re unsure on how to bet on, then take a look at Robert Cobley’s US Open betting tips for the tipster’s thoughts and opinions on the event.

Early Pioneers Of The US Open

Founded in 1895, the US Open was originally played concurrently with the more prestigious US Amateur Championship. The Open was then something of an afterthought and no big deal. Indeed, there were only 10 professional entrants and a solitary amateur at the inaugural championship.

Having learnt as much as he could carrying clubs for members around assorted English golf clubs, a young chap named Horace Rawlins from Hertfordshire set sail for America following in the footsteps of his brother who had gone before. Rawlins then joined the Newport club, alongside Scotsman Willie Davis, where his job was to “teach golf, tend greens, and stay out of the way.”

First US Open Winner

Having learnt all he could about the course at which he was employed, Rawlins became the first ever winner of the US Open, beating the hot favourite Willie Dunn by just two strokes to etch his name into the golfing history books.

The following year, the Open moved to Shinnecock Hills on Long Island, New York. Since then, the famed links course has hosted the US Open on a further four occasions, most recently in 2018. Rawlins was runner-up in the Open's second year and during the next 18 editions, Horace would compete in the event a further 13 times.

As the event became ever more popular, golfers flocked from around the world to take part but the US Open would not crown its first American winner until 1911 when a 19-year-old John J. McDermott Jr took the title. The Philadelphia native would win the event the following year and remains the second youngest winner ever of a golfing Major.

The US Open has been dominated by Americans ever since. In the following 90 years in which the tournament was staged, the Championship Trophy - which was first presented at the very first competition - was claimed by golfers from the USA in every year bar three.

Notable US Open Milestones Down The Years

Fast forward to 1930 and the US Open was now firmly established as one of the greatest prizes in golf. That year, the Interlachen Country Club was chosen to stage the championship. Until then, the more prestigious clubs on the East Coast had tended to host the Open. Interlachen in Minneapolis was a little more remote and the US Open was billed as the biggest sporting event ever to be held in the area.

Quite the buzz greeted Robert Tyre “Bobby” Jones Jr. when he arrived by train in Minneapolis. Jones had already claimed the US Amateur championship, and its British equivalent, along with the British Open in 1930 and he won his fourth and last US Open at Interlachen. No one has ever won those four titles in the same year and likely never will again.

The 1960s began with perhaps the most famous swing in golfing history claiming its first US Open. Arnold Palmer’s driving technique was unorthodox and unique but it powered one of the greatest names in the game to his maiden Open over a young Jack Nicklaus and an ageing Ben Hogan. The 1960 event was the only time Palmer would win the US Open amongst his six other Major titles. Nicklaus would defeat Palmer the following year for the first of his 18 Major titles.

The US Open In The New Millennium

The 2019 US Open will be billed as one at which Tiger Woods can continue his quest to better the 18 Majors won by Nicklaus. Woods won his first Open in 2000 by a record 15 strokes when the event was staged for the fourth time at Pebble Beach. The United States Golf Association had wanted a special venue for the first US Open of the new millennium and it certainly got it.

Tiger set a US Open record by finishing 12-under par to achieve the largest margin of victory of any golfing Major with a dominant performance some 15 strokes ahead of runners-up Ernie Els and Miguel Ángel Jiménez.

A winning score lower than 10-under par has only been recorded on two other occasions at the US Open. Rory McIlroy carded a 16-under par when he took the title in 2011 and Brooks Koepka finished with the same score to par when he won the 2017 championship at Erin Hills.

The US Open remains perhaps the most compelling of the golfing Majors. In many ways, the championship has changed little since its early years. Indeed, the Open has something of a reputation as a competition which resolutely sticks to its tried and tested formula. For that reason alone, the US Open is perhaps the truest and purest test of golfing greatness.

So who will claim victory at this year’s tournament? It’ll certainly be exciting to watch as a spectator and you can find the latest US open odds here at Bet UK.

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