1984 US Open Complete Final Round Coverage from Winged Foot

advancedballstriking.com/84_open/84_us_open.swf

A truly historic US Open. With the event returning to Winged Foot ten years after what was called “The Massacre at Winged Foot” in 74 where a 29 year old Hale Irwin won his first of three US Opens, Hale was again in the final pairing with a one shot lead going into Sunday. Greg Norman was in the second to last pairing and was just starting to make a mark on the US PGA Tour.

The USGA admitted to lightening up the rough and slowing down the greens some to avoid the massacre situation of 1974.

Johnny Miller who was also contending here in 84 had this to say about US Open rough…

Aside from the difficulty of a proper US Open set up, this event in 1984 highlights one of the greatest moments in golfing sportsmanship.

If you are new to the site or are a younger player and don’t recall the history of the event… watch it as you would any other event on Sunday. It’s a special one, and one that will always be talked about in the history of the great game.

With the return to Winged Foot in 1984, here are some famous and not so famous quotes pertaining to the “1974 Massacre”
One reason the USGA lightened up the rough and slowed the greens was due to the media and public outcry of the prior Winged Foot US Open.

God I love this Board…

Andy

This will be fun to watch today. Thanks lag!

I highly recommend setting aside some time and watching the final round from start to finish. There is a lot of fabulous golfing insights, and some of the player interviews are fantastic such as Nicklaus talking about how he prepares for majors… really gets inside the head of the games greatest tournament player… or when he backs away off a shot and you can hear him on camera say “that’s not the right swing”

he hits the ball…really shows how mentally methodical he was. The strategic decisions on how to play the holes is very real and something that is much more in sync with how most of us play golf that don’t drive the ball 350 yards.

While some argue that it’s not good for the sport to see the pros struggle in the US Open… it certain shows the human vulnerability that golf inherently offers up to everyone, bar none, from time to time. Whether it’s Greg Norman finding his ball stymied behind a tree between two roots, or punching out from deep grass and still not being able to get the ball into the fairway is something every golfer can relate to. Old man par is respected like a stately elder, and you simply don’t see players walking off the green shaking their heads because they

match par on a hole.

Even the commentary is excellent put forth by former champions Dave Marr and Peter Alliss among others.

There is a lot to learn from watching on many if not all levels of the game. It’s certainly not meant to be a nostalgia trip.

Just take a look at how flat Fuzzy Zoeller’s and Jim Thorpe’s irons were! ABS in the flesh. Gotta love Thorpe’s move through the ball.

Captain Chaos

That was very good golf from Fuzzy to make all those birdies in a row, he looked like he was hitting every shot very solid. He looked like a very impressive ballstriker, seemed to be longer and straighter than Irwin. Interesting they mentioned Hale threw his club on 9 because Fuzzy got a good break, seems like a strange thing to do. They didnt seem to make the rough all that long and penal in this event.