1962 U.S. Open (golf)

Thursday, June 14, 1962

Defending champion Littler took the first round lead with a 69 (−2) before a record opening round gallery of 17,486, mostly following Palmer in the afternoon, paired with Nicklaus. The previous record was 13,916 in 1960 near Denver.[8][9]

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
1	Gene Littler	United States	69	−2
T2	Bobby Nichols	United States	70	−1
	Bob Rosburg	United States
T4	Frank Boynton	United States	71	E
	J. C. Goosie	United States
	Arnold Palmer	United States
	Gary Player	South Africa
	Robert Schoener	United States
T9	Eugene Francis (a)	United States	72	+1
	John Guenther (a)	United States
	Stan Leonard	Canada
	Jack Nicklaus	United States

Friday, June 15, 1962

Palmer carded a 68 in the morning and Bob Rosburg a 69 to co-lead after 36 holes at 139 (−3), with Nicklaus three strokes back in a tie for fourth.[10][11] Palmer and Nicklaus were paired together in the first two rounds.[12] The second round attendance record was broken with 19,971 in the gallery, surpassing the previous mark of 15,225 set in 1961 near Detroit.[11]

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
T1	Arnold Palmer	United States	71-68=139	−3
	Bob Rosburg	United States	70-69=139
3	Billy Maxwell	United States	71-70=141	−1
T4	Bobby Nichols	United States	70-72=142	E
	Jack Nicklaus	United States	72-70=142
	Gary Player	South Africa	71-71=142
T7	Miller Barber	United States	73-70=143	+1
	Gene Littler	United States	69-74=143
T9	Phil Rodgers	United States	74-70=144	+2
	Don Whitt	United States	73-71=144

Source:[10][11][13]

Saturday, June 16, 1962 - (morning)

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
T1	Bobby Nichols	United States	70-72-70=212	−1
	Arnold Palmer	United States	71-68-73=212
T3	Phil Rodgers	United States	74-70-69=213	E
	Bob Rosburg	United States	70-69-74=213
T5	Jack Nicklaus	United States	72-70-72=214	+1
	Gary Player	South Africa	71-71-72=214
7	Gene Littler	United States	69-74-72=215	+2
8	Billy Maxwell	United States	71-70-75=216	+3
9	Art Wall Jr.	United States	73-72-72=217	+4
T10	Gay Brewer	United States	73-72-73=218	+5
	Tommy Jacobs	United States	74-71-73=218

Saturday, June 16, 1962 - (afternoon)

After 54 holes at Oakmont, Palmer held a share of the lead with Bobby Nichols, with Phil Rodgers and Bob Rosburg a stroke back, and Nicklaus and Gary Player two back. Rosburg shot a 79 (+8) in the final round and quickly fell out of contention, while Nichols and Rodgers carded scores of 73 and 72, respectively, to share 3rd place. But the story of this day was the duel between Palmer and Nicklaus. Although he bogeyed the 9th, Palmer still led Nicklaus as they made the turn. That would change quickly as Nicklaus birdied 11 and Palmer bogeyed 13, evening up the score. Nicklaus missed a birdie attempt at the last to finish with a 69, while Palmer missed a birdie at 18 from 12 feet (4 m) that would have won the championship. This set up an 18-hole playoff between golf's most popular player and the game's rising star.[14][15]

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par	Money ($)
T1	Jack Nicklaus	United States	72-70-72-69=283	−1	Playoff
	Arnold Palmer	United States	71-68-73-71=283
T3	Bobby Nichols	United States	70-72-70-73=285	+1	5,500
	Phil Rodgers	United States	74-70-69-72=285
5	Gay Brewer	United States	73-72-73-69=287	+3	4,000
T6	Tommy Jacobs	United States	74-71-73-70=288	+4	2,750
	Gary Player	South Africa	71-71-72-74=288
T8	Doug Ford	United States	74-75-71-70=290	+6	1,767
	Gene Littler	United States	69-74-72-75=290
	Billy Maxwell	United States	71-70-75-74=290

Source:[16]

Final round

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
Par	4	4	4	5	4	3	4	3	5	4	4	5	3	4	4	3	4	4
Nicklaus	+2	+2	+2	+2	+2	+2	+1	+1	E	E	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1
Palmer	−1	−2	−2	−3	−3	−3	−3	−3	−2	−2	−2	−2	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par

Birdie

Bogey

Source:[15]

Sunday, June 17, 1962

The 10,000 that showed up for the playoff on Sunday were decidedly pro-Palmer, constantly taunting the 22-year-old upstart from Ohio. (Palmer was from nearby Latrobe and had won two of the last three majors, with five overall.) Nicklaus, however, silenced the crowd by going up by four strokes after six holes.[17] Palmer then launched one of his patented charges with birdies at 9, 11, and 12 to close within one, but a three-putt bogey at 13 proved to be costly for Palmer. Nicklaus held him off from there and prevailed by three strokes, carding a 71 to Palmer's 74.[18] Nicklaus won the championship on the greens; he had just one three-putt the entire week, while Palmer had 10.[19] Nicklaus became the youngest winner of the U.S. Open since Bobby Jones in 1923, and became the first since Jones to hold the Open and the U.S. Amateur championship at the same time; he had won the Amateur the previous year before turning pro in the winter. For Palmer, this began a frustrating stretch as a runner-up in four U.S. Opens in six years, with three in playoffs. His words after the tournament proved prophetic, saying of Nicklaus: "Now that the big guy is out of the cage, everybody better run for cover."[20]

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par	Money ($)
1	Jack Nicklaus	United States	71	E	17,500
2	Arnold Palmer	United States	74	+3	10,500

• Included in earnings is a playoff bonus of $2,500 each, from the playoff gate receipts.[3]

Playoff

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
Par	4	4	4	5	4	3	4	3	5	4	4	5	3	4	4	3	4	4
Nicklaus	E	E	E	−1	−1	−2	−2	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	E
Palmer	+1	+1	+1	+1	+1	+2	+2	+3	+2	+2	+1	E	+1	+1	+1	+1	+1	+3

Birdie

Bogey

Double bogey

Source:[5][18][21]