The United States Open 2022

From Thursday 16 June to Sunday 19 June 2022 the 122nd US Open golf tournament will be teeing off at The Country Club, Brookline, Massachusetts, near Boston. During this four-day annual golfing event, 156 of the best golfers in the world and their caddies will be driving and pitching their way around The Country Club. See the longest and most accurate drivers from the tee, precision iron shots, delicate short play around the green and pinpoint putting.

Be part of the action here at mr.play and find some of the best odds available to place a bet on the winner or other betting possibilities. This year will see a massive purse of $12,000,000 continuing to make golf one of the most lucrative sports in the world. This year’s winner of the 2022 US Open will take home a cool $2,250,000. Four days of pressure on the top golfers will be increased by the excitable crowds that will visit The Country Club.

A Brief Overview of the US Open

The US Open was established in 1895 and this year will be the 122nd tournament. An annual competition, it has only been cancelled in 1917, 1918 for the First World War and 1942 to 1945 due to the Second World War. The competition has featured 72 holes of golf over four days on an 18-hole golf course since 1898. The player who hits the fewest number of shots wins a trophy and prize money. Each year a different course hosts the event in order to make scoring difficult.

The competition is one of the four major championships held annually together with the Masters, the British Open and the PGA Championship. Those that prove their ability and win the competition will also win the prestige of being automatically invited to play in the other three majors for the following five years together with a 10-year pass to the US Open. There are also additional incentives with invitations to the PGA Tour and the Players Championship.

Historically, the majority of the US Open winners have been home grown Americans and due to the difficulty of the selected courses, scores after four rounds are usually hovering around par, proving the need for accuracy, in particular with the driver throughout the four days of the competition.

Famous US Open Golfers

Willie Anderson

Despite mentioning the US Open has been dominated by home grown talent, this was not the case during the first 15 years of the competition. The British, in particular the Scottish dominated the event and it was Willie Anderson that became the first four-time winner between 1901 and 1905. He still remains the only US Open Champion to win the competition three years in a row.

Bobby Jones

Another four-time winner between the years of 1923 to 1930, Bobby Jones was an American amateur golfer and one of the most influential in the sport. He was so influential he contributed to the design of one of the most famous golf courses and competitions in the world, Augusta and the Masters, sealing his place in the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Ben Hogan

The third of our four-time winners, Ben Hogan was also close to a record fifth tournament victory. On two occasions he finished runner-up, one of which was a play-off loss. Of his four victories between 1948 and 1953, two were back-to-back victories in 1950 and 1951. Hogan went on to win nine major championships that places him joint fourth on the all-time list together with Gary Player.

Arnold Palmer

While not a multiple winner of the US Open a special mention goes to Arnold Palmer and his victory in 1960. Palmer had greater success winning the Masters on four occasions, however, one of his most special wins came at Cherry Hills. Reigning Masters champion Palmer was seven shots adrift at the beginning of the final round only to birdie six of the first seven holes, finishing with nine. Mike Souchak was leading at the beginning of the day but slipped back leaving greats like Nickolaus and Hogan in close contention with Palmer. It was Hogan and Nicklaus who slipped up on the back nine with putting and water hazards that let Palmer in for astonishing win as he holed out for par at 18.

Jack Nicklaus

The last of our record breaking four-time winners, Jack Nicklaus also known as the ‘Golden Bear’ ran out US Open winner four times between 1962 and 1980. Showing his true greatness and consistency, Nicklaus also finished the US Open in second place on four occasions not to mention his record breaking 18 major championship wins. He won both the Masters and PGA Championship on five occasions.

Tiger Woods

The last of our famous golfers Tiger Woods won 15 major golf championships, second only to Jack Nicklaus. Three of these fifteen wins came at the US Open, the last of which was in 2008 and easily the most memorable. Woods played and won on a fractured tibia and ruptured ACL. To prolong his agony or joy he had to birdie on the 18th to force a play-off with Rocco Mediate and go on from there and win.

Famous US Open Courses

While turf, grass and course management has vastly improved let’s take a look at some famous courses that got the better of the professionals.

The Olympic Club (Lake) San Francisco, California

In 1955 this course saw the highest scoring US Open round in history. Even the likes of Ben Hogan could not cope as Jack Fleck played his way around a course that had no water and only one fairway bunker that would trouble the players. It was the dense Italian rye rough that proved extremely difficult to play out of as players averaged nearly nine over par for the tournament.

Southern Hills Country Club, Tulsa, Oklahoma

Average four round totals of eight over par saw balls bury and disappear in the bunkers due to poor quality sand. This coupled with unplayable Bermuda rough meant the players were in for a torrid four days where a lead could be lost at any moment. High winds and excessive heat also contributed to only three players breaking 290 over the four days.

Oakland Hills Country Club (South), Bloomfield Hills, Michigan

The third and last course of the 1950’s that wreaked havoc to the playing field. It had only been revamped the year before the tournament and Ben Hogan’s 67 on the final round won him the tournament. The fairways weaved their way along, flanked by many difficult bunkers and tightened approaches leading up to the greens. It was such a difficult course nobody broke a par score on the first three days.

The Country Club, Brookline, Massachusetts

Talking about difficult courses, The Country Club, Brookline was also party to one of the most difficult US Open’s ever recorded in 1963. An average score of around 6,5 over par was recorded for the tournament. A harsh winter and late spring took blame towards poor quality fairways and greens. The weather further contributed when the wind picked up in the final two rounds and not one player recorded a par score. A three-way tie after the fourth round saw Julius Boros win the play-off over Arnold Palmer and Jackie Cupit.

The 2022 US Open will have its fourth visit Brookline and talking about play-offs, each time the tournament has been played here it has ended in one. 1913 witnessed amateur Francis Ouimet win with a 20 over par score after an 18-hole play-off against the British professional pair Harry Vardon and Ted Ray.

More reasonable scores of a total of 278, 6 under par were recorded the last time the US Open came to Brookline in 1988. This time Curtis Strange claimed victory over Nick Faldo.

The course has since been renovated in part and will provide a beautiful setting for the 2022 US Open. A relatively flat yet sometimes gently undulating course, the selected holes will likely offer elevated tees and greens, angled fairways, blind par 3’s, good bunkering with some hidden and strong green complexes that are now mostly larger with more pin options available.

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