1987 U.S. Open (golf)


The 1987 U.S. Open was the 87th U.S. Open, held June 18–21 at the Olympic Club in San Francisco, California. Scott Simpson passed and held off 1982 champion Tom Watson on the Lake Course to win his only major title by one stroke.
Eleven former champions were in the field and only four made the 36-hole cut.
This was the third U.S. Open at the Lake Course of the Olympic Club, the previous two in 1955 and 1966 ended in playoffs. The U.S. Open returned in 1998 and 2012; both were won by one stroke.

Course layout

- Lake Course
Hole123456789Out101112131415161718InTotal
Yards5333942234384574372881324333,3354224303901864171496094283433,3746,709
Par543444434354443435443570

Lengths of the course for previous major championships:

Made the cut

Missed the cut

Source:

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, June 18, 1987
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Ben Crenshaw67−3
T2Seve Ballesteros68−2
T2Raymond Floyd68−2
T2Tsuneyuki Nakajima68−2
T5Bernhard Langer69−1
T5Nick Price69−1
T5Denis Watson69−1
T8Jay Don Blake70E
T8Lennie Clements70E
T8John Cook70E
T8Dale Douglass70E
T8David Frost70E
T8Sandy Lyle70E
T8Jack Nicklaus70E
T8Jim Thorpe70E
T8Bob Tway70E
T8Mark Wiebe70E

Second round

Friday, June 19, 1987
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
T1Tom Watson72-65=137−3
T1Mark Wiebe70-67=137−3
T3John Cook70-68=138−2
T3Bernhard Langer69-69=138−2
T3Tsuneyuki Nakajima68-70=138−2
T3Jack Nicklaus70-68=138−2
T3Jim Thorpe70-68=138−2
T8Ben Crenshaw67-72=139−1
T8Bob Eastwood73-66=139−1
T8Larry Mize71-68=139−1
T8Scott Simpson71-68=139−1

Amateurs: Alexander, Parker.

Third round

Saturday, June 20, 1987
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Tom Watson72-65-71=208−2
T2Keith Clearwater74-71-64=209−1
T2Scott Simpson71-68-70=209−1
4Lennie Clements70-70-70=210E
T5Seve Ballesteros68-75-68=211+1
T5Ben Crenshaw67-72-72=211+1
T5Bernhard Langer69-69-73=211+1
T5John Mahaffey72-72-67=211+1
T5Larry Mize71-68-72=211+1
T5Jim Thorpe70-68-73=211+1

Final round

Sunday, June 21, 1987
Watson held a share of the lead after 36 holes, then took a one-shot lead over Simpson and Keith Clearwater into the final round. Clearwater, 27, shot a six-under 64 on Saturday to get into the final pair with Watson. Watson struggled out of the gate on Sunday on Olympic's difficult start; he bogeyed the first two holes and the fifth as well. Simpson birdied the first but then had three bogeys in four holes. With consecutive birdies at 8 and 9, Watson carried a one-stroke lead to the back nine. Simpson, a group ahead on the course, took the lead with a 30-footer for birdie at 15, but Watson responded with a birdie at 14 to tie. At 16, Simpson sank a 9-footer for his third straight birdie to take the lead, then Watson missed his from to match. Simpson found a greenside bunker at 17, then hit his sand shot to and saved par. With a par on 18, Simpson was in the clubhouse with a 68 and Watson needed a birdie to a force a Monday playoff. His putt narrowly missed and Simpson was the champion by a stroke. In the final pairing, Clearwater had trouble both early and late and shot a 79 to fade to a tie for 31st. Seve Ballesteros finished in solo third place, his best career finish in a U.S. Open.
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo parMoney
1Scott Simpson71-68-70-68=277−3150,000
2Tom Watson72-65-71-70=278−275,000
3Seve Ballesteros68-75-68-71=282+246,240
T4Ben Crenshaw67-72-72-72=283+324,542
T4Bernhard Langer69-69-73-72=283+324,542
T4Larry Mize71-68-72-72=283+324,542
T4Curtis Strange71-72-69-71=283+324,542
T4Bobby Wadkins71-71-70-71=283+324,542
T9Lennie Clements70-70-70-74=284+415,004
T9Tsuneyuki Nakajima68-70-74-72=284+415,004
T9Mac O'Grady71-69-72-72=284+415,004
T9Dan Pohl75-71-69-69=284+415,004
T9Jim Thorpe70-68-73-73=284+415,004

Scorecard

Final round
Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 101112131415161718
Par543444434444343544
Simpson−2−2−1EE+1EEEEEEE−1−2−3−3−3
Watson−1EEE+1+1+1E−1−1−1−1−1−2−2−2−2−2
BallesterosEE+1+2+3+3+2+1+1+1E+1+2+2+1+1+2+2
Crenshaw+2+2+2+2+2+2+2+2+1E+1+2+2+1+1+2+3+3
LangerEEEEE+1+1+1+1+1+1+2+2+1+2+2+2+3
Mize+1+1EEE+1+1+1+1EE+1+2+3+3+3+3+3
Strange+3+3+3+3+4+4+4+3+2+2+2+2+2+3+3+3+4+3
Wadkins+2+2+3+3+4+4+4+4+4+3+3+3+2+3+3+3+4+3
ClementsE+1+2+2+3+4+3+3+3+3+3+3+4+3+3+4+4+4
Clearwater−1E+2+2+3+3+3+3+3+3+3+3+3+3+3+4+7+8

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
Source: