Compleat Golfer runs through the numbers that count ahead of Thursday’s first round of the 117th US Open at Erin Hills.
0 – US Opens won by Phil Mickelson, but he has finished runner-up six times: 1999, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2009 and 2013.
3 – South Africans to have won the US Open. Gary Player triumphed in 1965, Ernie Els in 1994 and 1997, and Retief Goosen in 2001 and 2004.
3 – Golfers to have shot all four rounds in the 60s on their way to winning the tournament that year. In 1968 Lee Trevino shot 69, 68, 69, 69; in 1993 Lee Janzen had 67, 67, 69, 69; and in 2011 Rory McIlroy carded 65, 66, 68, 69.
5 – Successive Majors seeing a first-time champion: Danny Willett (2016 Masters), Dustin Johnson (2016 US Open), Henrik Stenson (2016 Open Championship), Jimmy Walker (2016 PGA Championship) and Sergio Garcia (2017 Masters).
6 – The number of players to have won the US Open and The Masters in the same year: Craig Wood (1941), Ben Hogan (1953), Arnold Palmer (1960), Jack Nicklaus (1972), Tiger Woods (2002) and Jordan Spieth (2015). Sergio Garcia is aiming to become the seventh.
9 – The number of players in the world’s top 20 (as at 15 May 2017) who haven’t won a Major: Hideki Matsuyama (4), Rickie Fowler (9), Justin Thomas (11), Alex Noren (12), Jon Rahm (13), Paul Casey (14), Patrick Reed (15), Tyrrell Hatton (16) and Matt Kuchar (17).
45 – The age of Hale Irwin when he won the US Open in 1990, beating Mike Donald at the 91st and becoming the oldest player to win the Major. If Phil Mickelson wins at Erin Hills he will be the oldest (46).
63 – Lowest round recorded at a US Open. Four golfers have hit 63s: Johnny Miller in 1973, Jack Nicklaus in 1980, Tom Weiskopf in 1980 and Vijay Singh in 2003.
199 – The lowest 54-hole aggregate, shared by Rory McIlroy (rounds one to three, 65, 66, 68 in 2011, when he won) and Louis Oosthuizen (rounds two to four, 66, 66, 67 in 2015, when he tied for second).
– This article first appeared in the June issue of Compleat Golfer, now on sale
