The Beginning of the U.S. Open

U.S. Open

As we are getting closer and closer to the second major, we take a look back at the history of the U.S. Open. The 2013 U.S. Open will be held at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa.

Horace Rawlins

The United States Open Championship was first played on October 4, 1895, at Newport Country Club in Newport, Rhode Island. Newport CC, a nine-hole course, held both the U.S. Amateur Championship and the U.S. Open this year.

The U.S. Open was 36-hole event played over one day. Eleven players entered the 1895 tournament, which was won by 21-year-old Horace Rawlins. Mr. Rawlins had arrived in the U.S. in January the same year from England, to take a position at the host club. The total price fund was $335, of which Rawlins received $150 and a gold medal for the first place. His club received custody of the trophy for one year.

For the first 15 years or so, the U.S. Open was dominated by British players. John J. McDermott became the first native-born American champion in 1911 and then again in 1912, and American players soon started to win regularly. The popularity of the tournament surged, and the tournament evolved to become one of the four majors.

Another surge in the popularity of the championship coincided with the amazing career of Georgia amateur Bob Jones. Jones won the Open four times (1923, 1926, 1929, 1930), and spectator tickets were sold for the first time in 1922. The distinct increase in entries caused the USGA to introduce sectional qualifying in 1924.