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1983 U.S. Open (golf)

Coordinates: 40°31′34″N 79°49′37″W / 40.526°N 79.827°W / 40.526; -79.827
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1983 U.S. Open
Tournament information
DatesJune 16–20, 1983
LocationOakmont, Pennsylvania
Course(s)Oakmont Country Club
Tour(s)PGA Tour
Statistics
Par71
Length6,972 yards (6,375 m)[1]
Field155 players, 71 after cut
Cut151 (+9)
Prize fund$500,000
Winner's share$72,000
Champion
United States Larry Nelson
280 (−4)
← 1982
1984 →
Oakmont  is located in the United States
Oakmont 
Oakmont 

The 1983 U.S. Open was the 83rd U.S. Open, held June 16–20 at Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pennsylvania, a suburb northeast of Pittsburgh. Larry Nelson won the second of his three major titles, and only U.S. Open, one stroke ahead of defending champion Tom Watson.[2][3][4][5]

Watson and Seve Ballesteros shared the 54-hole lead, with Nelson a stroke back. Nelson was 7-over for the championship after four holes in his third round, but then played the final fourteen holes on Saturday in 7-under to get to even-par 213, one shot behind the co-leaders. Watson was attempting to become the first to successfully defend a U.S. Open title in over thirty years, last achieved by Ben Hogan in 1951.

In the final round, Watson opened with a front-nine 31 to open up a three-stroke lead over Nelson, who shot 33. Nelson tied Watson with a birdie at 14 after Watson had bogeyed 10 and 12. A storm came through Oakmont around 5:30 p.m., which postponed play to the following morning. Watson was on the 14th green, Nelson on the 16th tee, tied at four-under for the championship.[6]

On Monday morning, Nelson holed a 62-foot (19 m) birdie putt at the par-3 16th, but then three-putted at the 18th for bogey.[5] Nelson finished at four-under 280 total and waited for Watson. After he failed to save a par from a bunker at the 17th, Watson was one stroke behind Nelson. Watson needed a birdie at 18 to tie but his approach flew over the green. Nelson became the winner when Watson failed to hole out his chip shot.

Nelson established a new tournament record with 132 strokes over the last 36 holes, breaking Gene Sarazen's 51-year-old mark. It was the second consecutive runner-up finish at Oakmont for Watson, who lost a sudden-death playoff to John Mahaffey five years earlier at the PGA Championship in 1978.

Arnold Palmer made his last cut in a U.S. Open here and tied for 60th place.[7] He played the Open just once more, in 1994 when he was granted a special exemption when it returned to Oakmont. Future major champion Paul Azinger made his major championship debut but missed the cut. Johnny Miller, the champion when the Open was last played at Oakmont in 1973, battled health issues,[8][9] and also missed the cut.

This was the sixth U.S. Open at Oakmont, and ninth major championship. Ticket prices were $24 per day, cash only;[10] practice days were $14.[11]

Course layout

[edit]
Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Out 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 In Total
Yards 469 343 425 561 379 201 434 240 480 3,532 462 371 603 185 360 453 228 322 456 3,440 6,972
Par 4 4 4 5 4 3 4 3 5 36 4 4 5 3 4 4 3 4 4 35 71

Source:[1]

Lengths of the course for previous major championships:

Before 1962, the first hole was played as a par 5.

Round summaries

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First round

[edit]

Thursday, June 16, 1983

Place Player Score To par
T1 Spain Seve Ballesteros 69 −2
United States John Mahaffey
United States Bob Murphy
4 Australia Bruce Devlin 70 −1
T5 United States Lou Graham 71 E
United States Bobby Wadkins
United States D. A. Weibring
T8 United States Jim Booros 72 +1
United States Frank Conner
United States Raymond Floyd
United States Hale Irwin
Canada Jim Nelford
Zimbabwe Nick Price
United States Joey Rassett
United States Lanny Wadkins
United States Tom Watson

Second round

[edit]

Friday, June 17, 1983
Saturday, June 18, 1983

Place Player Score To par
T1 United States John Mahaffey 69-72=141 −1
United States Joey Rassett 72-69=141
T3 United States Raymond Floyd 72-70=142 E
United States Tom Watson 72-70=142
T5 Spain Seve Ballesteros 69-74=143 +1
United States Calvin Peete 75-68=143
United States Hal Sutton 73-70=143
T8 United States Andy North 73-71=144 +2
United States David Ogrin 75-69=144
United States Scott Simpson 73-71=144

Amateurs: Faxon (+8), Sherman (+9), Sigel (+13), Lewis (+15), Rinker (+15), Moise (+18), McNamara (+19), Taylor (+21), Farlow (+23).

Third round

[edit]

Saturday, June 18, 1983

Place Player Score To par
T1 Spain Seve Ballesteros 69-74-69=212 −1
United States Tom Watson 72-70-70=212
T3 United States Larry Nelson 75-73-65=213 E
United States Calvin Peete 75-68-70=213
5 United States Raymond Floyd 72-70-72=214 +1
6 United States Gil Morgan 73-72-70=215 +2
T7 United States Andy North 73-71-72=216 +3
United States Hal Sutton 73-70-73=216
T9 United States Ralph Landrum 75-73-69=217 +4
United States Roger Maltbie 76-72-69=217
United States Scott Simpson 73-71-73=217

Source:[12]

Final round

[edit]

Sunday, June 19, 1983
Monday, June 20, 1983

Place Player Score To par Money ($)
1 United States Larry Nelson 75-73-65-67=280 −4 72,000
2 United States Tom Watson 72-70-70-69=281 −3 44,000
3 United States Gil Morgan 73-72-70-68=283 −1 29,000
T4 Spain Seve Ballesteros 69-74-69-74=286 +2 17,968
United States Calvin Peete 75-68-70-73=286
6 United States Hal Sutton 73-70-73-71=287 +3 13,254
7 United States Lanny Wadkins 72-73-74-69=288 +4 12,088
T8 Australia David Graham 74-75-73-69=291 +7 10,711
United States Ralph Landrum 75-73-69-74=291
T10 United States Chip Beck 73-74-74-71=292 +8 8,976
United States Andy North 73-71-72-76=292
United States Craig Stadler 76-74-73-69=292

Source:[4][7]

Amateurs: Brad Faxon (+18), Sherman (+20).

Scorecard

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Final round

Hole  1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Par 4 4 4 5 4 3 4 3 5 4 4 5 3 4 4 3 4 4
United States Nelson E E −1 −1 −1 −2 −3 −2 −3 −3 −3 −3 −3 −4 −4 −5 −5 −4
United States Watson −1 −2 −3 −4 −4 −5 −4 −5 −6 −5 −5 −4 −4 −4 −4 −4 −3 −3
United States Morgan +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +2 +2 +1 E E E E −1 −1 −1
Spain Ballesteros −1 −1 −1 −2 −2 −2 −1 −1 −1 E E +1 +1 +1 +2 +3 +3 +2
United States Peete +1 +2 +2 +2 +2 +2 +2 +1 +1 +1 +1 E E E +1 +2 +2 +2
United States Sutton +3 +3 +4 +3 +2 +2 +1 +2 +1 +3 +3 +4 +3 +2 +1 +2 +2 +3

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par

Birdie Bogey Double bogey

Source:[4][13]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "Yardage, par at Oakmont". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. June 16, 1983. p. 22.
  2. ^ Jenkins, Dan (June 27, 1983). "Lord, Nelson was tougher than the iron men". Sports Illustrated. p. 28.
  3. ^ Kienzl, Ray (June 20, 1983). "Nelson beats out Watson by a stroke". Pittsburgh Press. p. 1, special section.
  4. ^ a b c Parascenzo, Marino (June 21, 1983). "Longshot Nelson wins by one long shot". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 21.
  5. ^ a b White, Gordon S. Jr. (June 21, 1983). "Nelson wins Open by 1 on 62-foot birdie putt". New York Times. Retrieved June 15, 2016.
  6. ^ Parascenzo, Marino (June 20, 1983). "Rain leaves Nelson, Watson tied". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 17.
  7. ^ a b "1983 U.S. Open". databasegolf.com. Retrieved August 14, 2013.
  8. ^ "Miller may be forced to sideline by surgery". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. staff and wire reports. June 15, 1983. p. 17.
  9. ^ Sherrod, Blackie (June 21, 1983). "Miller's Open final-day 63 long will be remembered". Tuscaloosa News. (Alabama). (Dallas Times Herald). p. 21.
  10. ^ "Facts and figures". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. June 17, 1983. p. 15.
  11. ^ "Facts and figures". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. June 15, 1983. p. 17.
  12. ^ "It's a battle of the best at U.S. Open". Eugene Register-Guard. Oregon. wire services. June 19, 1983. p. 1B.
  13. ^ "U.S. Open History". USGA. Retrieved April 24, 2019.
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40°31′34″N 79°49′37″W / 40.526°N 79.827°W / 40.526; -79.827