| 1974 U.S. Open | |
The 1974 U.S. Open is the one that came to be known as "The Massacre at Winged Foot," and it's a tournament that played into the reputations of two golfers. The champion, Hale Irwin, established his reputation for being good on tough courses. While Tom Watson extended the reputation he had in the early few years of his career for not being able to close out tournaments.
Watson, after a third-round 69, led Irwin by one stroke entering the final round. But Watson stumbled out of the gate in Round 4 with a string of front-nine bogeys, finished with a 79 and dropped into a tie for fifth place. Still, at this early stage in the future Hall-of-Famer's career, it was Watson's first-ever Top 10 finish in a major championship.
That 7-over score is the second-highest winning score in relation to par of any U.S. Open after World War II. Not a single player broke par in the first round. The legend is that the USGA "tricked up" Winged Foot because the governing body felt embarrassed by Johnny Miller's final-round 63 a year earlier at Oakmont.
Is that true? No question the course conditions were brutal. But keep in mind that the winning score two years earlier at Pebble Beach was 290, higher than Irwin's winning 287 this year. And the 1974 U.S. Open does not hold the tournament's post-World War II records for fewest rounds below par, or most rounds over-par, or highest 36-hole cut. Which takes nothing away from just how difficult Winged Foot played in 1974 - which was very difficult. The winning score at Winged Foot in 2006 was 5-over 285.
The USGA's habit of making hard courses harder for the U.S. Open, and playing many of them as par-70s, entered into the public consciousness for good after the 1974 U.S. Open, as did the nickname, "The Massacre at Winged Foot."
During this championship, Sandy Tatum of the USGA was asked if the organization was trying to embarrass the world's best golfers. "No," Tatum famously replied, "we're trying to identify them."
Arnold Palmer finished tied for fifth, his final Top 5 finish in any of the majors. And Ken Venturi played in a major championship for the final time here, missing the cut.
1974 U.S. Open Golf Tournament Scores
Results from the 1974 U.S. Open golf tournament played on the par-70 West Course of Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, New York (a-amateur):
| Hale Irwin | 73-70-71-73--287 | $35,000 |
| Forrest Fezler | 75-70-74-70--289 | $18,000 |
| Lou Graham | 71-75-74-70--290 | $11,500 |
| Bert Yancey | 76-69-73-72--290 | $11,500 |
| Arnold Palmer | 73-70-73-76--292 | $8,000 |
| Jim Colbert | 72-77-69-74--292 | $8,000 |
| Tom Watson | 73-71-69-79--292 | $8,000 |
| Gary Player | 70-73-77-73--293 | $5,500 |
| Tom Kite | 74-70-77-72--293 | $5,500 |
| Jack Nicklaus | 75-74-76-69--294 | $3,750 |
| Bud Allin | 76-71-74-73--294 | $3,750 |
| John Mahaffey | 74-73-75-73--295 | $2,633 |
| Frank Beard | 77-69-72-77--295 | $2,633 |
| Larry Ziegler | 78-68-78-71--295 | $2,633 |
| Mike Reasor | 71-76-76-73--296 | $1,933 |
| Tom Weiskopf | 76-73-72-75--296 | $1,933 |
| Raymond Floyd | 72-71-78-75--296 | $1,933 |
| David Graham | 73-75-76-73--297 | $1,700 |
| Dale Douglass | 77-72-72-76--297 | $1,700 |
| Al Geiberger | 75-76-78-68--297 | $1,700 |
| Leonard Thompson | 75-75-76-72--298 | $1,575 |
| J.C. Snead | 76-71-76-75--298 | $1,575 |
| Larry Hinson | 75-76-75-73--299 | $1,450 |
| Bruce Crampton | 72-77-76-74--299 | $1,450 |
| Bobby Mitchell | 77-73-73-76--299 | $1,450 |
| Lanny Wadkins | 75-73-76-76--300 | $1,300 |
| Chi Chi Rodriguez | 75-75-77-73--300 | $1,300 |
| Jim Jamieson | 77-73-75-75--300 | $1,300 |
| Hubert Green | 81-67-76-76--300 | $1,300 |
| David Glenz | 76-74-75-76--301 | $1,160 |
| Rod Funseth | 73-75-78-75--301 | $1,160 |
| Jerry McGee | 77-72-78-74--301 | $1,160 |
| Ron Cerrudo | 78-75-75-73--301 | $1,160 |
| Rik Massengale | 79-72-74-76--301 | $1,160 |
| Don Iverson | 74-77-76-75--302 | $1,060 |
| Johnny Miller | 76-75-74-77--302 | $1,060 |
| Bob E. Smith | 77-74-73-78--302 | $1,060 |
| Steve Melnyk | 74-79-73-76--302 | $1,060 |
| John Buczek | 73-73-83-73--302 | $1,060 |
| Mark Hayes | 73-77-76-77--303 | $980 |
| Dave Eichelberger | 76-77-76-74--303 | $980 |
| Kermit Zarley | 74-73-78-78--303 | $980 |
| Homero Blancas | 77-71-79-76--303 | $980 |
| Dave Stockton | 79-74-78-72--303 | $980 |
| Bob Stone | 75-74-77-78--304 | $935 |
| Tom Ulozas | 77-75-74-78--304 | $935 |
| Jerry Heard | 73-77-75-79--304 | $935 |
| Jim Dent | 76-73-79-76--304 | $935 |
| Lynn Janson | 77-74-77-77--305 | $905 |
| Bobby Nichols | 72-77-80-76--305 | $905 |
| George Knudson | 78-75-75-78--306 | $880 |
| Jim Masserio | 75-75-76-80--306 | $880 |
| Mike McCullough | 76-76-74-80--306 | $880 |
| Alan Tapie | 77-74-77-79--307 | $845 |
| Bob Zender | 77-73-79-78--307 | $845 |
| a-Jay Haas | 78-73-79-77--307 | |
| Barney Thompson | 72-77-80-78--307 | $845 |
| Jack Rule | 78-75-73-81--307 | $845 |
| Eddie Pearce | 75-71-84-78--308 | $820 |
| Charles Sifford | 77-76-76-80--309 | $810 |
| Tom Shaw | 77-76-78-81--312 | $800 |
| Jim Simons | 77-72-81-83--313 | $800 |
| Roy Pace | 74-76-78-85--313 | $800 |
| a-Bill Hyndman | 79-72-82-81--314 | |
| a-Andy Bean | 74-76-83-81--314 | |
| Bruce Summerhays | 77-76-79-83--315 | $800 |
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