Ranking the 5 U.S. Opens played at Pebble Beach

3. 1972 – Jack Nicklaus

Jack Nicklaus already had plenty of good memories of Pebble Beach by the time he arrived on the Monterey Peninsula for the 1972 U.S. Open. He had won his second U.S. Amateur title here in 1961 and in January had won the Bing Crosby Pro-Am.

Nicklaus held at least a share of the lead after each of the first three rounds, taking a one-shot advantage over three players into Sunday’s final round. By the time he made the turn he was ahead by four, but on a difficult day at Pebble Beach where the scoring average reached 78.8, it wouldn’t be an easy finish.

Nicklaus’ tee shot on the 10th hole went over the cliff and onto the beach below. After taking a drop he made double bogey, decreasing his lead to two shots. His approach at the par-three 12th flew over the green and he had to scramble to save bogey and suddenly the lead was just one. Nicklaus, though, recovered by making birdie at the 15th hole from just past 10 feet.

Regaining his four-shot lead over Lee Trevino and Arnold Palmer heading to the 17th, Nicklaus hit what would become one of his most iconic shots. He took out 1-iron at the difficult par-three. On his backswing, though, he felt that he had swung too much to the outside so made a quick adjustment in mid-motion. His ball bounced once off the green, then hit the flagstick and stuck a foot from the hole for an easy birdie.

“That’s actually one of the shots that I’ve played in my whole career that I was probably most proud of,” he recalled. “I knew what my situation was. I made a slight mistake taking it back, I realized it, I adjusted to it and I hit the shot just flush and put the ball obviously even better than I thought I could put it.”

Nicklaus went on to win by three shots over Bruce Crampton at two-over. The victory was his third U.S. Open title and 11th major championship, tying Walter Hagen for most all-time. He went on to win a fourth U.S. Open in 1980 and finished his career with 18 majors.