5. Palmer's Charge (1960)
At the time, this was seen as a superb Open, full of final round drama with the lead changing hands multiple times before Arnold Palmer emerged triumphant as a hugely popular if wholly unexpected winner. Time has not diminished the drama, but in retrospect has added an entire “clash of generations” sub-plot which adds a lot to the events of the day. Palmer started the final round trailing by seven shots, drove the first green at Cherry Hills Country Club and birdied six of the first seven holes. In the end he shot 65 to win by two shots. On its own, that would make for a memorable Open. However, the lead changed hands several times and boiled down to a three-way battle between the old generation, Ben Hogan, the next generation, amateur Jack Nicklaus, and the current generation, Palmer. Hogan perhaps should have won, playing the seventeenth with a one shot lead before bogeying the hole from the middle of the fairway and triple-bogeying the last. It marked the end of the Hogan era and introduced the world to “Ohio Fats”, the plump kid with the crew cut who would become Palmer’s nemesis for years to come ...
6. Jack's Arrival (1962)
As ever, Oakmont threw up a brilliant Open, even if once more it was only with the passage of time that the true relevance became clear. This was scripted to be Arnold Palmer’s Open, being held barely forty miles from his hometown of Latrobe in Western Pennsylvania. He had won six tournaments already in 1962 including the Masters, and the Phoenix Open by twelve shots – from Jack Nicklaus, who had recently turned pro. After three rounds Arnie was tied with Bobby Nichols and leading Nicklaus by two shots. After eight holes he was leading by three, but he began missing putts and by day’s end was tied with Nicklaus. This was despite perhaps the most partisan crowd in major history abusing Jack every step of the way. The crowd called him “Fat Jack”, and stood in the trees carrying signs saying, “Hit it here Jack”. Jack said later that he hadn’t noticed any of this, but his own fans did and his father’s friend Woody Hayes in particular had to be pulled away several times from confrontations. Arnie’s putting problems continued in the play-off and Jack pulled away to win a tremendous battle. There was a shambolic finish when Arnie “conceded” Jack’s putt on the eighteenth, only for officials to point out it was a stroke play contest and to insist the marker be replaced and to have Jack putt out. In the end, Palmer outplayed everyone tee to green, but had a torrid time with the flatstick. Overall, Arnie had thirteen three-putts and Jack had only one. Unbelievably, time showed this to be the classic changing of the guard. It was Nicklaus’ first professional win and the first of his eighteen majors, but it also marked the shifting of power. Arnie featured in two further play-offs for the US Open, but didn't win either. Actually, Jack’s win was foretold in very non-PC fashion by none other than Arnie himself. Asked on the eve of the tournament who he felt had a chance, he told his fans to, “watch out for the fat kid”!
