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Johnny Miller can rattle off the clubs and distances as if he were recounting his round in the press room today. He remembers all nine birdies at Oakmont Country Club, along with a couple of putts that could have made the score even more spectacular. And he remains convinced -- 34 years later -- that his record-setting 63 led to some U.S. Open misery that still exists.
The memories of a year later at Winged Foot in 1974 are nearly as vivid. Players moaning about brutal course conditions, with rough so deep they had grass stains on their knees. And snide comments directed at Miller, blaming him for the carnage.
As the U.S. Open returns to Oakmont this week for a record eighth time, there are still those who wonder whether Miller's 63 led United States Golf Association officials to purposely alter the course setup to make it play more difficult.
"Absolutely, for sure," said Miller, the longtime NBC television analyst who will work this week's telecast. "One hundred percent, no doubt about it. Actions speak louder than words. The next year … there was nothing like it before, nothing like it after."
That is an opinion USGA officials -- including the man who set up Winged Foot in 1974 -- take issue with. Sandy Tatum, a former USGA president who had a role in setting up the Open courses at Oakmont and Winged Foot, said Miller's low score was not a factor.
"Johnny Miller's 63 did not enter my mind in any way, shape or form," Tatum, 86, said during a recent interview. At the time, he was chairman of the USGA's championship committee. "I was only concerned about trying to set up Winged Foot. It's of some note, but Johnny has, during the telecast of the Open, said that his 63 was basically the reason we set up Winged Foot as we did. He can have that point of view, but it ain't so."
Told of Tatum's comments, Miller quipped, "His nose used to be shorter, too."
The year following Miller's 63, the Open was famously referred to as the "Massacre at Winged Foot." Hale Irwin's winning score of 7-over 287 was the highest in relation to par since 1963, when Julius Boros defeated Arnold Palmer and Jacky Cupit in a playoff after they finished 9-over 293 at The Country Club. Before that, you had to go back to Jack Fleck's playoff victory over Ben Hogan in 1955 at the Olympic Club in San Francisco. They finished at 7-over 287.
"It seemed like every tour pro was on me," Miller recalled of the 1974 Open. "'Thanks a lot, Miller, for that 63. You're the reason we've got rough like this.' It was in response to that. That was by far the toughest rough in history."
The following year, the Open went to Medinah, where the winning score was 3-over. Three years later at Cherry Hills, it was 1-over. And then Jack Nicklaus set the U.S. Open scoring record in 1980 at Baltusrol, shooting 8-under 272. During that Open, both Nicklaus and Tom Weiskopf shot 63 in the opening round.
But if the USGA was mad, there was no backlash after Baltusrol. After Nicklaus' fourth Open title, every winning score was under par until 1995, when Corey Pavin won at Shinnecock Hills at even par -- two years following Lee Janzen's record-tying total of 272 at Baltusrol.
Although Open venues were always difficult and often controversial, the first time since Andy North's 1978 victory that a winning score was over par came last year at Winged Foot, when Geoff Ogilvy was the winner at 5-over 285.
More Controversy
In 2003 at Olympia Fields, Jim Furyk matched the U.S. Open scoring record of 272. During the second round, Vijay Singh shot just the fourth 63 in Open history and for a time seemed poised to break the record.
Since then, we've seen three straight years of difficult conditions, including the final round in 2004 at Shinnecock Hills when many players felt the course was unplayable. Michael Campbell was the only player to match par at Pinehurst in 2005. And last year's winning total was the highest since Irwin won at the same venue 33 years earlier.
Coincidence? "I don't think what happened at Olympia Fields had any bearing," said Fred Ridley, the USGA president in 2004-05. "Shinnecock was a convergence of very unusual circumstances, almost totally unanticipated. I don't think the result was something the USGA was happy about. Walter Driver [now the USGA president], who was the chairman of the championship committee, went to great lengths to articulate the course setup philosophy as it related to the U.S. Open and all the USGA championships.
"The situation as it related to the Shinnecock experience I don't think was any reaction to what was perceived as an easier setup at Olympia Fields. I don't think it was an easier setup. It's a product of where you are. I think most would agree that Olympia Fields is not as difficult as Shinnecock or Pinehurst. It's a good golf course. But most everybody would agree the other two are harder golf courses."
Back to Oakmont
Miller's 63 remains one of the most impressive rounds in the game's history. Although the course had been softened by rain, it's not as if the entire field was having it easy. There were just 24 scores in the 60s during the tournament. Only three broke 70 on the final day.
Miller hit all 18 greens in regulation. His only bogey, at the eighth hole, came when he 3-putted, missing a 3-footer for par that still rankles him to this day. He missed just a single fairway.
And this is a venue that is often considered among the toughest in the country. They say the greens have to be slowed down for the Open. And early reports are that nobody is going to come close to shooting even par for the tournament this year.
If so, will Miller again be to blame?
"One of the great rounds of golf in the history of the Open was played by Johnny Miller," Tatum said. "He got a richly deserved 63. It certainly didn't upset me or the USGA. But I could understand how that general sense existed. A lot of players had a misunderstanding that we were trying to humiliate them. And that's light years from the basic fact."
