The 21 Greatest US Open Golf Champions of All Time

By YPB Team

From early 20th-century dynasties to modern power players, US Open golf champions span more than a century of grit, drama, and precision — amateur legends alongside multi-major professionals, each claiming their title at the sport's most demanding major.

Brooks Koepka — ranked #11
Brooks Koepka
Two consecutive US Open titles (2017, 2018), becoming the first player to go back-to-back since Curtis Strange and announcing with ruthless efficiency that he had become the sport's preeminent major-tournament performer.
1000pts
Rory McIlroy — ranked #22
Rory McIlroy
McIlroy's staggering 2011 US Open win at Congressional — an 8-shot margin with a record-breaking 268 total — remains one of the most dominant performances in the tournament's modern history, delivered at just 22 years old.
999pts
Arnold Palmer — ranked #33
Arnold Palmer
Palmer's sole 1960 US Open title at Cherry Hills — where he charged from seven shots back with a final-round 65 — stands as one of the most dramatic victories in major history and the defining moment of Arnie's Army.
922pts
Dustin Johnson — ranked #44
Dustin Johnson
DJ's 2016 US Open win at Oakmont arrived under extraordinary circumstances, with Johnson overcoming a controversial pre-round ruling about a ball that moved at address and still closing out the title with a composed one-over final round.
807pts
Tiger Woods — ranked #55
Tiger Woods
Three US Open titles (2000, 2002, 2008), including the mythic 2000 Pebble Beach win by 15 strokes — the greatest margin of victory in major championship history and the most dominant individual performance the sport has ever seen.
807pts
Matt Fitzpatrick — ranked #66
Matt Fitzpatrick
Fitzpatrick's 2022 win at The Country Club, Brookline — the same venue where Francis Ouimet made history 109 years earlier — featured a clutch final-day 68 to hold off Will Zalatoris and marked his graduation into golf's elite tier.
807pts
Wyndham Clark — ranked #77
Wyndham Clark
Clark's thrilling 2023 US Open victory at the Los Angeles Country Club — where he edged Rory McIlroy by a single shot on the final hole — produced one of the most dramatic finishes in recent major championship history.
807pts
Gary Player — ranked #88
Gary Player
Player's 1965 US Open title at Bellerive was part of his legendary career Grand Slam and cemented his position as the greatest international golfer of his generation, proving that the American major could be conquered from overseas.
807pts
Bobby Jones — ranked #99
Bobby Jones
Four US Open victories (1923, 1926, 1929, 1930) as an amateur, culminating in the legendary 1930 Grand Slam — the only golfer ever to win all four majors in a single calendar year before retiring at just 28.
749pts
Payne Stewart — ranked #1010
Payne Stewart
Two US Open titles (1991, 1999), with Stewart's iconic fist-pump on the 18th green at Pinehurst No. 2 in 1999 — made all the more poignant by his tragic death in a plane crash just four months later — among the most emotional moments in golf history.
749pts
Francis Ouimet — ranked #1111
Francis Ouimet
The 20-year-old amateur's 1913 US Open win over British professionals Harry Vardon and Ted Ray at The Country Club, Brookline, is the most historically significant victory in American golf history, widely credited with popularizing the sport in the United States.
749pts
Lee Trevino — ranked #1212
Lee Trevino
Two US Open titles (1968, 1971), with Trevino's unforgettable 1968 upset as an unknown working-class Texan who went shot-for-shot with Jack Nicklaus becoming one of golf's greatest Cinderella stories.
681pts
Jack Nicklaus — ranked #1313
Jack Nicklaus
Four US Open titles (1962, 1967, 1972, 1980) — the Golden Bear's record-tied tally across three decades stands as the benchmark of US Open greatness, driven by the most complete major-championship game in golf history.
681pts
Ben Hogan — ranked #1414
Ben Hogan
Four US Open titles (1948, 1950, 1951, 1953), with the 1950 win at Merion coming just 16 months after a near-fatal bus collision — one of sport's most extraordinary comeback stories, sealed by the most famous 1-iron in golf history.
681pts
Willie Anderson — ranked #1515
Willie Anderson
Four US Open titles including three in a row (1903, 1904, 1905) — the first four-time champion and the only player in history to win three consecutive US Opens, Anderson's record of consecutive wins may never be equaled.
681pts
Jon Rahm — ranked #1616
Jon Rahm
Rahm's clinical 2021 win at Torrey Pines — converting a long eagle putt on the 72nd hole to seal the title by one shot — was a nerve-of-steel performance that capped a tumultuous week of emotion for the Spanish star.
681pts
Hale Irwin — ranked #1717
Hale Irwin
Three US Open titles (1974, 1979, 1990), with Irwin's astonishing 1990 win at Medinah at age 45 making him the oldest US Open champion in history — a record he claimed as a Monday qualifier.
599pts
Curtis Strange — ranked #1818
Curtis Strange
Two consecutive US Open titles (1988, 1989) — the last player to win back-to-back US Opens in the modern era, Strange's dominance in those years made him the clear best golfer in the world.
599pts
Walter Hagen — ranked #1919
Walter Hagen
Two US Open titles (1914, 1919) — Hagen was the first American-born player to win the championship and a founding architect of professional golf as a career, whose showmanship and confidence transformed the sport's public image.
499pts
Ernie Els — ranked #2020
Ernie Els
Two US Open titles (1994, 1997) earned The Big Easy his place among the greats; his effortless swing and ice-cool putting under major pressure made him the most aesthetically admired champion of the 1990s.
499pts
Bryson DeChambeau — ranked #2121
Bryson DeChambeau
Two US Open victories (2020 at Winged Foot, 2024 at Pinehurst), with DeChambeau's power-revolutionizing approach to golf redefining how the US Open's demanding rough and tight fairways could be attacked.
499pts

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