The U.S. Open is this country’s second oldest championship (one day younger than the U.S. Amateur, which both date back to 1895). It’s a golf tournament that carries as much history as any American sporting event and boasts some of the greatest golf courses in our country as its canvas each summer.
When you think about the U.S. Open, places like Pebble Beach, Oakmont, and Pinehurst come to mind. The USGA prides itself on finding a golf course that can level up to the field in terms of interest and importance.
So why does the 2015 U.S. Open, played at a one-off tournament host, remain firmly positioned in my brain as one of the most underrated in championship history?
David Fay, the former USGA executive director, had a vision to take their biggest championship to a lineup of first-time, public golf courses. This idea started in 2002 at Bethpage Black and continued in 2008 to Torrey Pines. If this is truly an American championship, visiting golf courses that touch areas of the country that rarely see this caliber of golf being played was important to Fay and the USGA. American golf being defined by true, American golf.
The 2015 U.S. Open was set to be hosted at a course just outside of Tacoma, Washington, marking the first time this championship would be played in the state. Chambers Bay was a modern course on the Puget Sound that opened in 2007 and had become a must-play for those in the Pacific Northwest.
Like any championship course, it came with its fair share of controversy. During a typical tournament, golf courses alter the setup with different tee box placements and hole locations. During the 2015 U.S. Open, the USGA also took the unusual step of changing the par on the opening and closing holes: On Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday, the 1st hole played as a par 4 and the 18th hole played as a par 5. On Friday, the pars were reversed.
And the golf course unfortunately lost their greens. With warmer than usual conditions in the area weeks before the championship, Chambers Bay was forced to overwater the greens. As a result, invasive poa annua turned them into what Henrik Stenson called “putting on broccoli.”
Jordan Spieth eventually won the tournament, part of a historic run at major championships for the then-21-year-old, who also won that year’s Masters, finished second at the PGA Championship, and missed out on a playoff at the Open Championship by a single shot.
But with bumpy greens and changing pars and a new broadcast partner throwing a wrench into the week, we tend to forget just how good the golf was, especially during the final round.
That Sunday started with Spieth, Dustin Johnson, Branden Grace, and Jason Day all tied for the lead. Rory McIlroy made a run that afternoon. As did Adam Scott and Louis Oosthuizen. The round was filled with crazy nine-hole scores and an ever-changing leaderboard. But the true drama was how it all finished.
Spieth rolled in his most iconic putt outside of “go get that” with a birdie on the 16th. We didn’t know it yet, but the next 30 minutes would solidify the Jordan Spieth experience. He’d double-bogey the 17th, only to find the par-5 18th in two and make birdie.
Dustin, playing behind Spieth, would birdie the difficult par-3 17th, putting himself into position for a rare 18-hole U.S. Open playoff (which has since gone away). Two of the most popular figures in the game were set to duke it out on a Monday for bonus golf at the most grueling test in the sport.
But Dustin wouldn’t birdie the 18th. Two majestic golf shots gave DJ an eagle putt for the win, but he’d three-putt for par and Spieth would go back-to-back in the majors.
Controversy is a part of this championship. The setup can push the best in the world to question why they ever picked up a golf club in the first place. Par is not just a good score, at a lot of venues it’s the most important score. If the Masters is the French Laundry and the Open Championship is your grandma’s most famous dish, the U.S. Open is a bit of wagyu steak that is slightly overcooked.
Chambers Bay will likely never get another U.S. Open. The players were critical of the golf course and the conditions and it didn’t play well for spectators. But that championship Sunday remains one of the most underrated in the tournament’s history because of all the characters involved and the good and bad that played out over the final 45 minutes.
We may have missed out on an epic Monday playoff, but we were left with an incredible champion, whose rollercoaster ride over the last three holes would come to define him as a pro.
Looking for more from Shane? Through Father’s Day, buy any polo and get a free copy of his children’s book, The Golfer’s Zoo.
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