At the 1994 U.S. Open, Oakmont, Arnie and O.J. merged on the most surreal day in sports history

Very few people will ever know what the true relationship was between Arnold Palmer and O.J. Simpson. As two sporting icons, were they friends, or merely fellow “actors” shooting very corny Hertz commercials together in the mid-1980s? What we do know is that their lives became unintentionally tangled in the most bizarre way on a summer Friday nearly 31 years ago.

The date was June 17, 1994, and it was filled with memorable sporting events. The first World Cup hosted in the United States was kicking off that afternoon in Chicago. In New York, an estimated 1.5 million people lined the streets to celebrate the Rangers’ first Stanley Cup title in 54 years. Later that evening, the Patrick Ewing-led New York Knicks were set to host Hakeem Olajuwon’s Houston Rockets at Madison Square Garden in Game 5 of the NBA Finals. And Ken Griffey Jr. would hit his 30th home run of the season to tie Babe Ruth for the most ever before July 1, surpassing him five days later.

Meantime, golf fans mixed their pitchers of lemonade and iced tea and grabbed some Kleenex for what figured to be an emotional day as Palmer, “The King,” played what would be his final U.S. Open round—fittingly, at Oakmont Country Club, 40 miles from his hometown of Latrobe, Pa.

At any other time in his life, in far different circumstances, O.J. Simpson might have settled into his easy chair at home in Brentwood, on L.A.’s tony westside, and toasted his old acquaintance. Maybe he would have even been misty-eyed when Palmer waved goodbye to an adoring crowd at Oakmont’s 18th hole. Simpson, after all, had become a golf addict at the age of 40, well after his NFL Hall of Fame career was over. He’d joined the historic Riviera Country Club—whose gates were only 1.6 miles from Simpson’s North Rockingham Drive estate—and was said to play all around L.A. at courses public and private, five or six times a week. By the summer of ’94, he’d reportedly whittled his handicap to 12.4.

But Simpson had far more on his mind that Friday, and America would witness a series of surreal events that, to this day, people can recall where they were when it all went down.

At the time that Palmer hit his drive on Oakmont’s first tee at 8:40 a.m. ET, Simpson was at the home of friend Robert Kardashian, where he'd stayed the night. At some point that morning they were informed by Los Angeles District Attorney Gil Garcetti’s office that Simpson had been charged with the brutal June 12 stabbing deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. The news leaked quickly, and a horde of reporters and TV trucks gathered outside the Simpson estate to possibly catch any glimpse of O.J.

• • •

Palmer’s farewell at Oakmont was certainly well-orchestrated by the USGA, starting with his special exemption into the field. It was the record fifth time Palmer competed in the national championship at Oakmont, and 32nd appearance overall, his most recent being 11 years earlier. Palmer had won the last of his six major championships 30 years before, in the 1964 Masters, and his only U.S. Open triumph came in 1960 in a two-shot victory over amateur Jack Nicklaus at Cherry Hills. But Nicklaus would exact the cruelest revenge when, two years later, the tour rookie bested Palmer in an 18-hole U.S. Open playoff at—yes—Oakmont. Nevertheless, nowhere on Earth was the revered son of a greenskeeper more loved than in his native Pennsylvania, making for probably the most anticipated farewell ever for a 64-year-old golfer.

Rocco Mediate, a fellow Pennsylvania native on tour, was grouped with Palmer and John Mahaffey for the first two rounds and said that he was due to undergo back surgery three weeks later. “When I found out the pairings, I would have crawled around Oakmont,” Mediate said.

Remembered Mahaffey, “For 36 holes, Arnie got standing ovations everywhere he went at Oakmont.”

In sauna-like conditions on one of the majors’ most demanding tracks, Palmer opened the tournament with an afternoon round of 77. Already worn out for the next morning’s time, he faded on Friday, shooting 81 and finishing with five straight three-putts. His score mattered not one bit, however, to the huge gallery on 18 that gave him a two-minute standing ovation.

Palmer could barely speak through his emotions when ESPN interviewed him behind the green, and later in a press conference, a white towel wrapped around his neck, he said between quiet sobs, “I suppose the most important thing … is the fact that it has been as good as it has been to me.”

Later, speaking to a handful of reporters in the Oakmont locker room, a more composed Palmer admitted, “I probably did more choking coming up the last fairway than I have the last 40 years.”

A reporter brought up Palmer’s relationship with O.J. Simpson, though some have since said Palmer didn’t know the context of the query. He responded by saying Simpson was a “great guy” and that they’d “had some fun over the years doing those commercials.”

It was then noted for Palmer that Simpson had been charged with two murders that morning. “Well,” Palmer responded, “I didn’t know him that well.”

• • •

The expectation was for Simpson to surrender at police headquarters, but for hours he was a no-show, and LAPD Commander David Gascon reported at 1:55 p.m. PT that police were actively searching for Simpson. “He is a wanted murder suspect, and we will go find him.”

It wasn’t until 5 p.m. PT that Kardashian read a letter purportedly written by Simpson that included his expression of love for his ex-wife Nicole while saying if there was a problem in their relationship, “I loved her too much.” The letter concluded with, “I had a great life.”

The police still didn’t know Simpson’s whereabouts until O.J. himself called 9-1-1 at 5:51 p.m. PT to say to a dispatcher, “I’m just gonna leave. I wanna go with Nicole.”

Police then tracked Simpson’s whereabouts to a White Ford Bronco traveling on Interstate 5. The driver was Al Cowlings, Simpson’s former football teammate, who called the police to say O.J. had a gun to his head. By then, news helicopters had begun tracking the police pursuit, and the nation was both shocked and transfixed. An estimated 95 million people watched the chase unfold and Domino’s Pizza reported record sales for home deliveries.

Nearly two hours after the pursuit began, it ended at around 8 p.m. PT as the Bronco arrived at Simpson’s home. But the drama wasn't over, with Simpson taking another hour to surrender before being taken into custody and driven away.

• • •

Golf would end up having some spotlight moments in Simpson’s murder trial, including his claim that he was out in his yard chipping, before a flight to Chicago for a next-day golf outing, at about the time Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were killed. There also was speculation that Simpson allegedly hid the murder weapon in his golf bag and took it to Chicago, though no weapon was ever found.

Sixteen months after that June day, on Oct. 3, 1995, following the most publicized trial in legal history, a jury found Simpson not guilty of the murders. Two years later in a civil case brought against Simpson by the Goldman and Brown families, a jury held Simpson liable for the deaths and awarded the plaintiffs $8.5 million in compensatory damages.

Simpson served no prison time, but in October 2008 he was convicted in Nevada for assault, kidnapping and armed robbery in connection with an attempt to recover sports memorabilia he believed was his in a Las Vegas hotel room. He was sentenced to 33 years in prison and served nine years until the Nevada Parole Board granted his request for parole and he was released in October 2017. His reported favorite reading behind bars? Golf books and magazines.

Until Simpson’s death from prostate cancer on April 10, 2024, at age 76, he reportedly lived in both Nevada and Florida and played golf frequently at public courses because invitations to private clubs had run dry for the man many believed had committed the murders.

In a fascinating piece for Golf Digest in August 1995, before the conclusion of the murder trial, writer Alex Shoumatoff examined the parallels between Simpson’s celebrity life and golf game, interviewing many golfers who played with O.J. through the years. The consensus: He could have a nasty on-course temperament and he cheated like heck, yet, because of the ingratiating qualities he possessed, most enjoyed his company.

Shoumatoff offered some precious nuggets, too. Such as Simpson almost getting into a fistfight with a golf partner at Riviera on the morning of the murders. And then there was this: In the letter that Kardashian read on the day of the Bronco chase, Simpson thanked “my golfing buddies” and named nine friends.

Arnold Palmer was not among them.