Records are made to broken (or matched)? Maybe. But for 107 years at least one U.S. Open record has stubbornly refuted that old saw.
In 1913, Francis Ouimet — a 20-year-old amateur with a caddie at his side who was half Ouimet’s age — pulled off golf’s version of the Miracle on Ice when he upended British giants Ted Ray and Harry Vardon to win the U.S. Open at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass.
It was Ouimet’s first appearance in the Open, and in the century-plus since his stirring victory, no other Open rookie has matched the feat. Not Ben Hogan (who missed the cut in his first Open), or Arnold Palmer (MC), or Jack Nicklaus (MC), or Tiger Woods (WD!).
But on Sunday, in the final round of the 120th U.S Open at Winged Foot — 107 years to the day that Ouimet prevailed — 21-year-old Matthew Wolff has an opportunity to match Ouimet’s record.
Wolff, of course, is no Ouimet — he’s far more established. Wolff is an NCAA champion, a PGA Tour winner, the 36th-ranked player in the world. Ouimet? Sure, he was a rising star on the Boston golf scene and a Massachusetts Amateur champ, but to get in the field at Brookline, he had to lobby for time off from his job at a sporting goods store. Different times, man.
Which isn’t to say a Wolff win wouldn’t still mightily impress. For his part, the former Oklahoma State Cowboy sounds mentally girded for the challenge that awaits at wicked Winged Foot West.
“Yes, it is really early in my career, but I feel like I have the game, like I said, to win,” Wolff said after his third-round 65 that gave him a two-stroke advantage over his nearest chaser, Bryson DeChambeau.
“Collin won at 23,” Wolff added of Collin Morikawa, who won the PGA Championship in August. “I’m 21, and I’m not saying that it’s going to happen, but I mean, I put myself in a really good spot, and obviously I’m feeling really good with my game, so I’m just going to keep on doing what I’m doing and whatever happens happens.”
That whatever could well mean history.
