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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.

  1. 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
  2. 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
  3. 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.
    877pts
  4. 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.
    692pts
  5. 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.
    692pts
  6. 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.
    692pts
  7. 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.
    692pts
  8. 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.
    692pts
  9. 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.
    600pts
  10. 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.
    600pts
  11. 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.
    600pts
  12. 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.
    491pts
  13. 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.
    491pts
  14. 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.
    491pts
  15. 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.
    491pts
  16. 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.
    491pts
  17. 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.
    360pts
  18. 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.
    360pts
  19. 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.
    0pts
  20. 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.
    0pts
  21. 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.
    0pts

#usa310#sports648#historical25#golf30#legends375#all-time318

Comments

Bobby Jones won four of these as an amateur and quit at 28. Woods has three, including a 15-stroke win at Pebble Beach, the largest in major history: https://youpick.best/articles/tiger-woods-vs-jack-nicklaus-ranked

YP
ypb-team·Aug 21·
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