In 2025, legendary Pennsylvania course Oakmont hosts the US Open for a record 10th time.
Unlike the Major that comes before it in the calendar, the PGA Championship, one accusation that can't be levelled at the US Open is a lack of defined characteristics, with the tournament regularly striking fear into players based on its sheer brutality.
There are few places where that has been more pronounced than at Oakmont editions of the US Open. That was evident early on, with Tommy Armour’s playoff victory in the Major's first visit to Oakmont in 1927 coming after he finished the 72 regulation holes on 13-over. Eight years later, it didn’t prove much easier, with Sam Parks Jr claiming the title after finishing 11-over for the tournament.
In fact, the US Open has been won by a player scoring as low as five under on just three occasions, in 1953 by Ben Hogan, in 1994 by Ernie Els, who reached the total before beating Colin Montgomerie and Loren Roberts in a playoff, and, between the two, in 1973, when Johnny Miller produced one of the greatest rounds in the history of the game.
After the third round that year, Miller was barely in the conversation as a contender, sitting six back of four co-leaders, Jerry Heard, John Schlee, Arnold Palmer and Julius Boros in a tie for 13th.
As well as those who held the overnight lead, players of the caliber of Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Lee Trevino all stood ahead of him, while Miller was a relatively inexperienced pro whose career highlights to that point had been two PGA Tour wins.
If the prospect of clawing back such a sizeable gap - and overtaking such celebrated names to do it - seemed daunting, Miller certainly didn’t show it at the start, making four straight birdies in his opening four holes to give him a chance. However, when his first bogey of the day came at the eighth, it still looked a tall order.
Miller wasn’t about to fold, though. Instead, he birdied four of his next five holes. After a par at the 14th, he was tied for the lead with Palmer, Boros and Tom Weiskopf, and he held it outright with his ninth birdie of the day at the 15th.
Miller almost made that 10, but his 20-footer lipped out at the 18th, leaving him heading back to the clubhouse in possession of not just the lead but the Oakmont course record - which was now the lowest single-round score in Major history (63).
Of the four who began the day in the lead, Schlee got the closest to Miller with a final round of 70, taking him one back of the leader at four-under, while another notable round came from Lanny Wadkins, whose 65 took him to T7th, but still four back of Miller.
Nicklaus also gave it a good go with a 67 that left him in a tie for fourth and three off the lead, but Miller’s 63 got him over the line - and in a way that still resonates decades later.
It wasn’t until 2017, 44 years after Miller's round, that another player went lower in any Major, let alone just the US Open, when Branden Grace shot a 62 in the third round of The Open at Royal Birkdale.
That has been matched four more times since, but for many, Miller’s Oakmont record - where he hit all 18 greens in regulation - remains the greatest round in Major championship history.
Johnny Miller 1973 US Open Fourth-Round Scorecard
Hole No. |
Hole Information |
Score |
Fourth-Round Total |
|---|---|---|---|
1 |
469-Yard Par 4 |
Birdie |
-1 |
2 |
343-Yard Par 4 |
Birdie |
-2 |
3 |
425-Yard Par 4 |
Birdie |
-3 |
4 |
549-Yard Par 5 |
Birdie |
-4 |
5 |
379-Yard Par 4 |
Par |
-4 |
6 |
195-Yard Par 3 |
Par |
-4 |
7 |
395-Yard Par 4 |
Par |
-4 |
8 |
244-Yard Par 3 |
Bogey |
-3 |
9 |
480-Yard Par 5 |
Birdie |
-4 |
10 |
462-Yard Par 4 |
Par |
-4 |
11 |
371-Yard Par 4 |
Birdie |
-5 |
12 |
603-Yard Par 5 |
Birdie |
-6 |
13 |
185-Yard Par 3 |
Birdie |
-7 |
14 |
360-Yard Par 4 |
Par |
-7 |
15 |
453-Yard Par 4 |
Birdie |
-8 |
16 |
230-Yard Par 3 |
Par |
-8 |
17 |
322-Yard Par 4 |
Par |
-8 |
18 |
456-Yard Par 4 |
Par |
-8 |
TOTAL |
6,921 (Par 71) |
-8 (63) |
279 (-5) |
