Curtis Strange celebrated
in the late stages as he
registered a hard-earned
U.S. Open victory at Oak
Hill in 1989.
Major Moment
The ultimate grinder in his prime, Curtis Strange scored a seminal
triumph 25 years ago at the U.S. Open | by THOMAS DUNNE
USGA PHOTO ARCHIVES
A
s the U.S. Open heads to Pinehurst No. 2
next month, many of the storylines not
related to Phil Mickelson’s quest for
the career Grand Slam will probably turn
toward Justin Rose, who will be shooting for
one of golf’s most difficult feats: a successful
title defense of the national championship.
The last man to accomplish this once-ina-generation coup is Norfolk native Curtis
Strange, who a quarter century ago triumphed
at Rochester’s Oak Hill Country Club’s East
Course with a mix of red-hot play and classic
U.S. Open-style resolve. Before Strange, the
last man to repeat had been none other than
Ben Hogan, at Merion and Oakland Hills in
1950 and ’51.
When he arrived in Rochester in the
summer of 1989, Strange was one of the top
players in world golf. And as the defending
U.S. Open champion following his win at
The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., he
should have felt the glare of the spotlight, but
for whatever reason, Strange recalls, “I didn’t
feel all that much pressure outside of what
comes from the U.S. Open itself.”
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And while Oak Hill was a brutally
difficult setup in the traditional U.S. Open
vein––a tree-lined layout featuring tight
fairways, heavy rough, and firm, hard-tohold greens with plenty of pitch and roll––
the course fit his eye.
“I hadn’t won a tournament yet that year,
but I was playing well,” he remembers.
That would’ve seemed to be a bit of an
understatement at the midway mark.
On-and-off rains throughout the week had
softened the greens, and a number of players
took advantage, most notably Strange
himself, who fired a sterling second round
6-under 64 to move into the lead.
“The course was a little more gettable, but
it was still really tough,” he emphasizes. “It
was really about survival.”
WILLING HIS WAY TO A WIN
The demanding Oak Hill course bit back in
the third round, as Strange’s 73 left him three
shots behind the leader, Tom Kite. But
despite losing ground, that tough round still
represented survival, especially considering
what happened to Kite on the final day.
The par-4 fifth at Oak Hill is defined by a
creek that runs the length of the hole,
beginning on the right side and then crossing
the fairway in front of the green. For that
reason, the hole is nicknamed “Double
Trouble.” Playing with a three-shot lead, T
om
Kite discovered the first part of the moniker
by pushing his drive into the water. After
regrouping and playing safely to the green,
though, Kite’s second trouble spot came from
an unexpected place, as the T
exan missed a
putt from just outside tap-in range to card a
crushing triple bogey. His entire lead erased,
Kite fell into a tie with Scott Simpson.
Kite would struggle to a final round 78. He
had “demonstrated the proper way to take
the wheels off a car and drive it into a ditch,”
wrote Dan Jenkins in his Golf Digest story, but
the championship was far from over for the
other contenders.
“I don’t think many people thought Kite
would spit the bit,” Strange says, “But $