Tag: Bob Jones Award

Tiger Woods named USGA’s 2024 Bob Jones Award recipient

“He is in a class of his own when it comes to the impact he has made on the game.”

The USGA has given the 2024 Bob Jones Award — the organization’s highest honor — to 15-time major champion Tiger Woods.

“This award goes beyond playing performance, recognizing the lasting impact of one person’s journey that has forever changed the image and growth of golf,” said Mike Whan, CEO of the USGA, in a statement. “There are very few who stand alongside Tiger Woods in terms of on-course accomplishments, and he is in a class of his own when it comes to the impact he has made on the game and future generations who will play it.”

The nine-time USGA winner has impacted the world of golf on and off course thanks to his charitable work with his TGR Foundation.

“Bob Jones was a pillar of our game because of the integrity with which he played it, and I’m truly humbled to receive the award that bears his name and join the many who have received it before me who continue his legacy,” said Woods in a statement. “It’s especially fitting to receive this honor from the USGA, which has meant so much to my career and the entire game of golf.”

Woods won three straight U.S. Junior Amateurs (1991-93) and three straight U.S. Amateurs (1994-1996).

“Throughout his playing career and along with his incredible work outside the ropes, Tiger Woods has quite literally changed the game, and he has done it while embodying the characteristics recognized by this award and shared by others who have received it,” said Fred Perpall, USGA president, in a statement. “His impact on the game is incalculable, and there is no doubt that golf would not be the same without Tiger in it.”

‘Monkey see, monkey do:’ Xander Schauffele shoots the second 62 in U.S. Open history, ties record set 22 minutes earlier

Xander Schauffele shot a 62 about 22 minutes after Rickie Fowler did so at LACC.

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LOS ANGELES – On the 50th anniversary of Johnny Miller shooting 63 to win the 1973 U.S. Open, two Southern California natives shattered the mark within 22 minutes of each other, posting rounds of 8-under 62 at Los Angeles Country Club’s North Course to share the opening-round lead at the 123rd U.S. Open.

Rickie Fowler, 34, of Murrieta, California, carded 10 birdies and two bogeys to set the mark, but it didn’t take long for him to have company as Xander Schauffele, 29, of San Diego, matched the historic 62 with a bogey-free performance.

“It’s not really what you expect playing a U.S. Open,” said Schauffele of how he and Fowler shot five strokes better than the next best score in the morning wave. “But monkey see, monkey do. Was just chasing Rickie up the leaderboard. Glad he was just in front of me.”

U.S. Open: Leaderboard, tee times, hole-by-hole

There had been 66,448 rounds in majors since 1983 and just one 62 before Thursday’s opening round at LACC. The pair of 62’s matched the all-time lowest 18-hole score in any of the four men’s majors, previously belonging solely to South Africa’s Branden Grace, who set the mark in the third round of the 2017 British Open at Royal Birkdale.

“It was a great day,” Fowler said. “Close to a dream start.”

Playing two groups behind Fowler, Schauffele had a 24-foot birdie putt on his closing hole for 61.

“I think the USGA will be a bit frustrated that the number was that low today. I don’t think you’ll be seeing too much of that over the weekend,” said world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler. “I didn’t see 8-under out there today.”

Schauffele, No. 6 in the world, is making his seventh start at the U.S. Open and hasn’t finished outside the top 15 in the championship — T-14 last year, with the other five finishes all in the top seven. Schauffele took advantage of a cloud-covered day where the marine layer never burned off in the morning, making for good scoring conditions and allowing for aggressive play.

“The sun didn’t come out and it was misting this morning, so I’d say the greens held a little bit more moisture than anticipated for myself at least,” Schauffele said. “I think it made the greens sort of that more holeable speed almost, and then coming into greens you’re able to pull some wedges back. And then the fairways are a little bit softer, too, because of that sort of overcast, and without the sun out it’s not drying out much. I think fairways are easier to hit and greens are a little bit softer.”

Schauffele capped off his birdie barrage with birdies at two of his last three holes. At No. 7, he drew what he called “a tomahawk 4-iron” to the 258-yard par-3, which rolled inside 10 feet.

“That’s pretty much all I have in my body,” he said.

Schauffele is the only player with a top-20 finish in each of the last five majors (finished T-13 at the 2022 PGA Championship, followed by finishing T-14 at the U.S. Open at The Country Club, T-15 at The Open Championship at St. Andrews, T-10 at the 2023 Masters and T-18 at Oak Hill last month). Like Fowler, Schauffele’s bidding for his first major title, but knows that there is much more work to be done. As reporters interviewed Schauffele’s caddie Austin Kaiser about his historic round, Schauffele stepped in and said to him, “Dude, it’s just Thursday, my man.”

But if either Schauffele or Fowler shoot 67 or lower on Friday, they will also own the 36-hole U.S. Open scoring mark too.

“I’m anticipating the sun to come out just as much as every West Coast person out here,” Schauffele said. “I’m thinking the course is going to firm up a little bit.”

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Johnny Miller on ‘the choke factor,’ his magical 63 at the U.S. Open 50 years ago and in praise of Bobby Jones

Johnny Miller was behind the microphone one more time.

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LOS ANGELES – Johnny Miller was behind the microphone one more time.

On Wednesday, on the eve of the 123rd U.S. Open at LACC, the occasion was to talk about receiving the Bob Jones Award, the USGA’s highest honor. Miller, 76, who won two USGA titles in a Hall of Fame career and retired as lead analyst for NBC Sports in 2019, has made few public appearances in recent years.

“I’ve been sort of not available for press things since I retired, and just wanted to sort of walk away like ‘Dandy’ Don Meredith. Remember how he walked away? I was like, that’s cool,” Miller said, referencing the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback turned ABC Monday Night Football announcer.

But this was different. Given his accomplishments in the game and the way he became equally beloved and hated for his announcing, Miller fields numerous requests to be honored and given awards and usually turns them down. But the Bob Jones Award celebrates more than performance on the course; it recognizes an individual who demonstrates the spirit, personal character and respect for the game exhibited by Jones, the winner of nine USGA championships.

“I thought Bobby Jones might have been the greatest golfer ever,” Miller said. “A lot of people go to other players like Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus, but when you think of what he was able to accomplish in his 20s, it was crazy. He was amazing. I was sort of always a fan of Bobby Jones. I thought he was a gentleman’s champion. Really just an amazing person.”

Family ties

And so Miller attended a dinner ceremony on Tuesday evening and received a standing ovation when he finished speaking. He admitted he became emotional, realizing that this might be his final public bow in a career worth celebrating. The part that brought him to tears was hearing his son, Todd, speak, recounting the trip he made to Oakmont in 2016, his first visit to the famed Pennsylvania club since his father won there in 1973 and shot his record 63.

“We’re really tight, the two of us, and he made me sort of break down, in a nice way,” Johnny said. “I don’t mind breaking down if it’s from the heart.”

On the Monday morning after Dustin Johnson claimed the 2016 U.S. Open, Todd recounted how he played Oakmont and as he marched down the first hole he felt a closeness to his dad.

“I never felt those emotions before on the golf course,” he said.

About that final-round 63

Oakmont is hallowed ground for Johnny. It’s where in the final round of the 1973 U.S. Open he erased a six-stroke deficit to win his first major with a remarkable 63 that was voted the greatest round of the 20th century.

“I shot it on Sunday and it was enough to win the U.S. Open. There will be guys that will shoot 61 or 62, but can they do it on Sunday to win? That’s what makes the round what it is,” Miller recalled.

Fifty years have come and gone since that fateful day but Miller’s memories are tattooed to his brain. His recall of that round is remarkable.

“I knew after four holes,” he said. “I was six strokes back and I birdied the first four holes and I knew that I was in the running. The hair on the back of my neck sort of stood up when I said that to myself: ‘You’ve got a chance to win.’ That made the adrenaline just start pumping.”

He still bites his lip at the memory of his 3-putt at the eighth hole, the lone blemish on his scorecard that day.

“After I three-putted I went from sort of choking to getting a little bit mad,” Miller recalled. “Not mad where I’d throw a club, but mad like what the heck are you doing, man? It was like, you’ve got a chance to win the U.S. Open and now you’re missing these short putts.”

He settled down and birdied 8 and added three more circles on the card at Nos. 11, 12 and 14.

“I still didn’t know if what I was doing was going to be good enough to win, so I still had the gas pedal down,” he said.

He lipped out for birdie at 17 on the high side. At 18, he swung with all his might.

“I guess I hit the longest drive of the day on 18 and then hit an iron shot that I mean, you couldn’t see the flag from the ball when it landed,” he said. “It hit the top of this little ridge instead of hopping up which would have put me like within five feet of the hole. It stopped and then rolled back down the hill, and I hit this putt and it went down in the hole on the high side, down in the hole and kind of came out.

“So, you know, it wasn’t like I shot 63 by holing out a bunker shot or chipping it in from off the green or by making a 60-footer or even a 40-footer or even a 30-footer. It was just a great round of golf. … it was like somebody was helping me up there. It was not a normal round.”

The ‘choke’ factor

As an announcer, Miller was anything but a run-of-the-mill analyst. He revolutionized the role.

“It’s not like I just lollygagged around and see how wonderful everything is. It was always like I put myself out there,” he said. “The greatness of golf is the choke factor. I don’t care if you’re playing for a milkshake or $5 Nassau or whatever. The greatness of golf is whether you can make that putt to win, and to ignore that is sort of missing the greatest part of golf, no doubt. Nobody wanted to talk about it.”

Only on the subject of his family did Miller get choked up, his eyes red and glassy. For one hour, Miller had the microphone again. If it is his last public appearance, he did it once more with feeling.

Rickie Fowler shoots 62, records lowest round in U.S. Open history

Rickie Fowler had 10 birdies at the 123rd U.S. Open.

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LOS ANGELES — There have been six golfers to shoot a 63 in the U.S. Open. In the 123rd rendition of the national championship, Rickie Fowler one-upped them all.

Teeing off at 8:02 a.m. local time alongside Justin Rose and Jason Day, who each ended their victory droughts earlier this year, Fowler birdied his first (the 10th hole) to get things going. He made the turn in 32 and the promptly birdied Nos. 1, 2 and 3 to get to 6 under. Another birdie on No. 6 got him to 7 under and put him on track for a 63.

Fowler, who didn’t qualify for the last two U.S. Opens, got into some trouble on the 537-yard par-5 8th, sending his tee shot into a barranca down the right side. No problem. Fowler got it back on the fairway, hit his third to about 25 feet then drained a bending birdie putt to to get 8 under.

Facing a long birdie putt on the par-3 9th, his final hole of the day, he needed a two-putt from 57 feet for a 62 and he got it.

“I knew there was birdies to be made out here, but you have to drive it well and get the ball in position first. Yeah, did that, and from there just managed our way around really well,” he said.

It’s the first 62 ever in the U.S. Open and just the second in major championship history. Brendan Grace had a 62 in the 2017 Open Championship. About 20 minutes later, Xander Schauffele joined the 62 Club when he parred the 9th hole to cap an 8-under round.

NBC Sports reports that in 66,448 rounds in all four majors (since 1983) prior to Thursday, Grace had the only 62. Now there are three of them.

Fowler was 8 under Thursday. Johnny Miller shot an 8-under 63 in the final round at Oakmont 50 years ago to the day. Justin Thomas’s 63 in 2017 at Erin Hills was a 9-under round.

Fowler hasn’t won since the 2019 WM Phoenix Open. This season, he’s posted eight top-10s in his last nine starts, with a missed cut at the PGA Championship the lone blemish during that run.

After his round he noted that he wasn’t feeling comfortable with his swing or putting earlier in the week but something clicked Wednesday.

“He’s been trending in the right direction,” said Fowler’s caddie Ricky Romano said. “It just all came together today.”

Fowler is 11th in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin rankings; he’s 45th in the Official World Golf Ranking but it just last September when he sunk to No. 185 in the OWGR, his worst ranking in more than 12 years. Fowler had a stretch of 60 events with just four top-10s. He had 10 more missed cuts (24) than he had top-25 finishes.

But things have turned around and heading into LACC this week, Fowler has posted 12 top-25 finishes and just two missed cuts in 17 starts.

“It’s definitely been long and tough,” Fowler said. “A lot longer being in that situation than you’d ever want to. But it makes it so worth it having gone through that and being back where we are now.”

But he knows it’s only 18 holes of a 72-hole tournament.

“There’s still plenty of golf to be played,” he said. “It’s going to be tough tomorrow [Friday] afternoon. But at least got out of the gate and we’re off to, like I said, a good start.”

Tom D’Angelo from the Palm Beach Post contributed to this article.

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Miller time: Johnny Miller named recipient of the USGA’s Bob Jones Award

“Johnny’s contributions to our game are significant, and honoring him with the Bob Jones Award reflects everything he means to the game.”

Former U.S. Open winner Johnny Miller, who served as lead TV analyst for the national championship for more than two decades, was named the recipient of this year’s Bob Jones Award.

“Johnny’s contributions to our game are significant, and honoring him with the Bob Jones Award reflects everything he means to the game and everything the game means to him,” said Mike Whan, CEO of the United States Golf Association.

Miller, 76, will receive the association’s highest honor, which recognizes character, respect and a commitment to sportsmanship in the game of golf, during a ceremony in Los Angeles, site of this year’s U.S. Open, on June 13.

Miller was known throughout his career for his commitment to fair play and excellence – the same traits embodied by the award’s namesake. Bob Jones was a nine-time USGA champion whose integrity and spirit are considered the gold standard in golf. The award has been presented annually by the USGA since 1955.

“This is such a great honor to receive the Bob Jones Award,” said Miller, who was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1998. “It was always about the USGA events for me. Growing up at The Olympic Club was such a privilege because it was a U.S. Open course and my father always told me that’s the one I needed to win, the U.S. Open.”

Miller did so in remarkable fashion, producing one of the greatest rounds in major-championship history at the 1973 U.S. Open, when he shot a final-round 63 to come from six strokes back and win by one at Oakmont (Pa.) Country Club.

Miller, a San Francisco native who played collegiately at Brigham Young University, also became the first player to win both a U.S. Junior Amateur (1964) and U.S. Open title, an accomplishment since matched by Tiger Woods in 2000 and Jordan Spieth in 2015.

“When I think of my career, I think of the turning points and winning the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship was definitely one of those,” said Miller. “The USGA has played such an important role in my career and in my life. Being a recipient of the Bob Jones Award is the highest honor you can receive from the USGA, and I am truly honored for it to come on the 50th anniversary of my 1973 U.S. Open Championship win.”

Following his playing career, Miller turned to broadcasting, which allowed him to spend more time at home with his family, which now includes his wife, Linda, six children and 24 grandchildren.

He joined NBC Sports in 1989 as a part-time analyst and eventually became one of the most recognizable voices in the game as the network’s lead golf analyst, serving as a central figure in U.S. Open broadcasts for more than two decades. In addition to his on-air success, Miller pursued a passion for golf course architecture, designing and renovating more than 30 golf courses.

Miller joins the likes of Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Mickey Wright and Nancy Lopez as recipients of the Bob Jones Award.

Miller created the Johnny Miller Champ Foundation, inspired by the nickname his father, Larry, gave him and focused on nurturing junior golfers, fostering positive coaching and promoting the dreams and aspirations of young athletes. For more than 40 years, Miller has been helping American Indian Services provide scholarships and educational programs to Native Americans in pursuit of higher education. In that time, he has participated in 140 golf fundraisers for American Indian Services that have raised approximately $20 million for students in need of financial support.

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Se Ri Pak named Bob Jones Award recipient for 2020

During a 20-year career, Se Ri Pak won 39 times, including five majors.

The United States Golf Association has announced that Se Ri Pak is the 2020 recipient of the Bob Jones Award.

Pak, a World Golf Hall of Famer who won the 1998 U.S. Women’s Open, is being recognized as “an individual who demonstrates the spirit, personal character and respect for the game exhibited by Jones, winner of nine USGA championships.”

Pak won 39 times in her 20-year career. She won four other majors in addition to the ’98 Open, which she claimed as the youngest winner of the event at the time.

The Bob Jones Award has been handed out since 1955. Pak will receive the award during the week at the 2020 U.S. Open in June at Winged Foot Golf Club in New York.

Other USGA honorees for 2020 are: Lon Haskew, recipient of the Joe Dey Award for meritorious service as a volunteer; Dr. William Meyer, the USGA Green Section Award recipient for his work in sustainability through agronomic advancements; Kevin Robbins, author of The Last Stand of Payne Stewart, who will receive the Herbert Warren Wind Book Award.

Those three will receive their awards at the USGA Annual Meeting on Feb. 29.

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