1986 U.S. Open (golf)

The 1986 U.S. Open was the 86th U.S. Open, held June 12–15 at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Shinnecock Hills, New York. Raymond Floyd won his fourth and final major, two strokes ahead of runners-up Chip Beck and Lanny Wadkins.^[4] It was Floyd's only U.S. Open title and he became its oldest winner, a record he held for four years.

1986 U.S. Open

Tournament information
Dates	June 12–15, 1986
Location	Shinnecock Hills, New York
Course(s)	Shinnecock Hills Golf Club
Organized by	USGA
Tour(s)	PGA Tour
Statistics
Par	70
Length	6,912 yards (6,320 m)[1][2]
Field	155 players, 70 after cut
Cut	150 (+10) [3]
Prize fund	$700,000
Winner's share	$115,000
Champion
Raymond Floyd
279 (−1)
← 1985 1987 →

Shinnecock Hills 

Location in the United States

Shinnecock Hills 

Location in New York

The opening round on Thursday had high winds with occasional heavy rain; the best score was Bob Tway's even-par 70, with Greg Norman a stroke behind.^[5][6] Norman led after 36 holes,^[7] and took the lead into the final round, a stroke ahead of Lee Trevino and Hal Sutton,^[8] but a 75 dropped him back six strokes to twelfth place.^[9][10] Norman led each of the four major championships in 1986 after 54 holes, but won just once, at the British Open.

During the final round, ten players either led or shared the lead;^[11] after Floyd birdied the par-3 11th, he was part of a nine-way tie for first.^[12] Floyd began the round three strokes back and separated himself from the pack with a bogey-free 66.^[10] After the birdie at 11, he saved par at 12, then recorded another birdie at 13 to tie for the lead. Floyd took sole possession of the lead after the 14th, then added another birdie at the 16th.^[13] After finishing his round, he was two strokes ahead of his closest pursuers: Wadkins and Beck both shot 65 to climb the leaderboard and shared second place.^[11] They tied the course record, set earlier in the day by Mark Calcavecchia.^[14]

With the win, Floyd became the oldest winner of the U.S. Open at 43 years and 284 days,^[15] surpassing the long-standing record of Ted Ray from 1920 by several months (Julius Boros was also 43 in 1963). It was Floyd's fourth and final major championship, and he only won twice more in his career. At age 46, Masters champion Jack Nicklaus overcame an opening round 77 and tied for eighth, his last top-ten finish at the U.S. Open.^[12] Hale Irwin won his third U.S. Open at age 45 in 1990 in a playoff and remains the oldest champion; in 1986, he was the only former champion in the field to miss the cut. Boros remained the oldest winner of a modern major at age 48 at the PGA Championship in 1968, until Phil Mickelson broke the record to become the oldest winner of a major at age 50 at the PGA Championship in 2021.

Entering this championship, Floyd had played in 21 U.S. Opens and had only two finishes in the top ten. His best result was a tie for sixth in 1965; he finished eighth in 1971, fifteen years earlier. His winner's share in 1986 was more than double his previous career earnings at the U.S. Open.^[15]

It was the second U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, which previously hosted 90 years earlier in 1896. The championship returned in 1995, 2004, and 2018.

Course layout

Main article: Shinnecock Hills Golf Club

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Out	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	In	Total
Yards	394	226	453	408	535	471	188	367	447	3,489	409	158	472	377	444	397	544	172	450	3,423	6,912
Par	4	3	4	4	5	4	3	4	4	35	4	3	4	4	4	4	5	3	4	35	70

Source:^[1][2]

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, June 12, 1986

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Bob Tway	70	E
2	Greg Norman	71	+1
T3	Rick Fehr	72	+2
	David Frost
	Kenny Knox
	Tsuneyuki Nakajima
	Denis Watson
	Tom Watson
T9	Gary Koch	73	+3
	Bob Lohr
	Jodie Mudd

Source:^[5][6]

Second round

Friday, June 13, 1986

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Greg Norman	71-68=139	−1
T2	Lee Trevino	74-68=142	+2
	Denis Watson	72-70=142
T4	Raymond Floyd	75-68=143	+3
	Bob Tway	70-73=143
	Tom Watson	72-71=143
T7	David Frost	72-72=144	+4
	Bernhard Langer	74-70=144
	Tsuneyuki Nakajima	72-72=144
	Mac O'Grady	75-69=144
	Payne Stewart	76-68=144
	Bobby Wadkins	75-69=144
	Lanny Wadkins	74-70=144

Source:^[7]
Amateurs: Randolph (+10), Fleming (+11), Watts (+17), Lewis (+22), Daly (+24)

Third round

Saturday, June 14, 1986

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Greg Norman	71-68-71=210	E
T2	Hal Sutton	75-70-66=211	+1
	Lee Trevino	74-68-69=211
4	Bob Tway	70-73-69=212	+2
T5	Raymond Floyd	75-68-70=213	+3
	Mark McCumber	74-71-68=213
	Mike Reid	74-73-66=213
	Payne Stewart	76-68-69=213
	Denis Watson	72-70-71=213
T10	Lennie Clements	75-72-67=214	+4
	Ben Crenshaw	76-69-69=214
	Bernhard Langer	74-70-70=214
	Scott Verplank	75-72-67=214
	Tom Watson	72-71-71=214

Source:^[8]

Final round

Sunday, June 15, 1986

Place	Player	Score	To par	Money ($)
1	Raymond Floyd	75-68-70-66=279	−1	115,000
T2	Chip Beck	75-73-68-65=281	+1	47,646
	Lanny Wadkins	74-70-72-65=281
T4	Hal Sutton	75-70-66-71=282	+2	26,269
	Lee Trevino	74-68-69-71=282
T6	Ben Crenshaw	76-69-69-69=283	+3	19,009
	Payne Stewart	76-68-69-70=283
T8	Bernhard Langer	74-70-70-70=284	+4	14,500
	Mark McCumber	74-71-68-71=284
	Jack Nicklaus	77-72-67-68=284
	Bob Tway	70-73-69-72=284

Source:^[3][4]
Amateur: Randolph (+11).

Scorecard

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
Par	4	3	4	4	5	4	3	4	4	4	3	4	4	4	4	5	3	4
Floyd	+3	+3	+3	+2	+2	+2	+2	+2	+2	+2	+1	+1	E	E	E	−1	−1	−1
Beck	+6	+6	+6	+5	+6	+7	+6	+6	+6	+5	+4	+3	+2	+2	+1	+1	+1	+1
Wadkins	+6	+5	+5	+5	+5	+5	+5	+5	+5	+5	+4	+4	+4	+3	+2	+1	+1	+1
Sutton	E	E	E	+1	E	+1	+1	+1	E	E	E	+1	+1	+1	+2	+2	+2	+2
Trevino	E	E	+1	+1	E	+1	+1	+1	+2	+2	+2	+2	+2	+3	+3	+2	+2	+2
Norman	E	E	+1	+1	+1	+2	+1	+1	+2	+3	+4	+4	+5	+4	+5	+5	+5	+5

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par

Birdie

Bogey

Source:^[16][17]

References

1. "U.S. Open: the record rounds". Palm Beach Post. June 16, 1986. p. 4C.
2. "1986 U.S. Open (course map)". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). (Golf Graphics International). June 12, 1986. p. 4F.
3. "1986 U.S. Open". Database Golf. Retrieved July 1, 2013.
4. Green, Bob (June 16, 1986). "Floyd comes of age to win Open". Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. Associated Press. p. C1.
5. Boswell, Thomas (June 13, 1986). "At Shinnecock, it's wide Open". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). (Washington Post). p. 1C.
6. White, Gordon S. Jr. (June 13, 1986). "Weather takes over at the Open". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). (New York Times). p. 29.
7. Green, Bob (June 14, 1986). "Norman leads conquest of Shinnecock". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. p. B1.
8. Green, Bob (June 15, 1986). "Taunts don't daunt Norman". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. p. D1.
9. Boswell, Thomas (June 16, 1986). "It was Floyd's day at the Open". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). (Washington Post). p. 1C.
10. Bunch, Ken (June 16, 1986). "Floyd takes Open with final-round 66". Milwaukee Sentinel. p. 1-part 2.
11. Parascenzo, Marino (June 16, 1986). "Floyd captures Open title". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. pp. 9, 14.
12. Reilly, Rick (June 23, 1986). "Guts, grit and grandeur". Sports Illustrated. p. 18.
13. "Ray Floyd's round". Milwaukee Sentinel. June 16, 1986. p. 2, part 2.
14. Kienzl, Ray (June 16, 1986). "Shinnecock course record falls to three golfers in the same day". Pittsburgh Press. p. C3.
15. "Floyd becomes oldest Open champion". Wilmington Morning Star. (North Carolina). Associated Press. June 16, 1986. p. 1B.
16. "US Open leader cards". Milwaukee Sentinel. June 16, 1986. p. 2, part 2.
17. "U.S. Open History". USGA. Retrieved April 19, 2019.

External links

• GolfCompendium.com: 1986 U.S. Open
• GolfStats.com; 1986 U.S. Open
• USOpen.com – 1986

40.894°N 72.440°W / 40.894; -72.440