U.S. Open: golfdigest.com

My Top 10 U.S. Opens (plus 1)

Personal favorites from some of golf's savviest observers

June 2008

Jerry Tarde

Editor-in-chief, Golf Digest

1. 1913 Ouimet
2. 1950 Hogan
3. 1960 Palmer
4. 1962 Nicklaus
5. 2000 Woods
6. 1929 Jones
7. 1951 Hogan
8. 1972 Nicklaus
9. 1971 Trevino
10. 1982 Watson

11. 1980 I'm tempted to pick Willie Macfarlane's upset of Bobby Jones in 1925, because the wrong guy typically wins Opens and every great player of the time had his chance. But I'm going with one I saw and walked every step: 1980 at Baltusrol, where Nicklaus and Isao Aoki played 72 holes together. Both broke the record, and Nicklaus birdied the last two to win.

David Fay

Executive director, USGA

1. 1913 Ouimet (left)
2. 1960 Palmer
3. 1962 Nicklaus
4. 1900 Vardon
5. 2002 Woods
6. 1930 Jones
7. 1982 Watson
8. 1999 Stewart
9. 1950 Hogan
10. 2000 Woods

11. 1967 It was the first golf tournament I saw in person. I was at Baltusrol, dawn to dusk, all seven days. I was at 18 when Jack Nicklaus hit his long iron in the gloaming and made the putt for the Open record (275). I didn't know it at the time, but that tournament marked the true end of the Nicklaus-Arnold Palmer rivalry. It remains my favorite golf-spectator experience.

Dan Jenkins

Writer-at-large, Golf Digest

1. 1960 Palmer
2. 1951 Hogan
3. 1962 Nicklaus
4. 1972 Nicklaus
5. 1968 Trevino
6. 1971 Trevino
7. 2000 Woods
8. 1953 Hogan
9. 1980 Nicklaus
10. 1982 Watson

11. 1946 The Open I wish I had covered more than any other, at Canterbury, where so many bizarre things happened. At least four golfers other than Lloyd Mangrum should have won, including Byron Nelson, who lost in the playoff, and Ben Hogan, who three-putted the 72nd green from 18 feet when two putts would have tied. At least I heard it on the radio. This barely noses out the 1939 Open at Spring Mill, where Snead made the 8 and Nelson eventually won in a playoff. (Which I also didn't see, and didn't even hear on the radio.)

Bill Fields

Senior editor, Golf World

1. 1960 Palmer
2. 1913 Ouimet
3. 1950 Hogan
4. 1982 Watson
5. 2000 Woods
6. 1971 Trevino (left)
7. 1966 Casper
8. 1980 Nicklaus
9. 1999 Stewart
10. 1964 Venturi

11. 1986 The week started out with British Open-like wind, rain and cold -- I can still see the busted umbrellas abandoned by the end of that Thursday -- and finished with one of the most crowded leader boards in U.S. Open history as nearly a dozen golfers came down the stretch with a shot. Raymond Floyd, flinty at 43, was the winner, but glorious, linksy Shinnecock Hills, new to many, seemed like a co-champion.