DID YOU KNOW - US OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP – FACTS ABOUT MERION AND EUROPEAN TOUR MEMBERS
• The US Open Championship is being staged at Merion’s East Course for the fifth time. The previous winners were: Olin Dura (1934), Ben Hogan (1950), Lee Trevino (1971) and David Graham (1981).
• In 1981 David Graham made history by becoming the first Australian to win the US Open Championship, beating George Burns and Bill Rogers by three strokes.
• Merion’s East Course holds the distinction of staging more USGA events than any other course. This year’s US Open Championship will be their 18th tournament.
• Two of the US Open Championships have required an 18 hole play-off to decide the winner; in 1950 Ben Hogan beat Lloyd Mangrum and George Fazio and in 1971 Lee Trevino defeated Jack Nicklaus.
• Bobby Jones won the 1930 US Amateur Championship at Merion and created history by claiming the then ‘Grand Slam’ after previously winning the US Open Championship and Open Championship crowns and the British Amateur Championship.
• Italian Edoardo Molinari won the 2005 US Amateur Championship over Merion’s East Course, beating Dillon Dougherty 4 and 3 in the final to become the first Italian to win the event. The current US Open Championship, Webb Simpson also competed that year.
• The last time the US Open Championship was held at Merion in 1981 there were just four European Tour Members competing. They were: Seve Ballesteros, Sandy Lyle, Mark McNulty and Greg Norman.
• In 2013 there will be a total of 43 European Tour Members. Of those 43, Chris Doak, Jamie Donaldson, Estanislao Goya, Morten Ørum Madsen, Thorbjørn Olesen, John Parry, Eddie Pepperell and Jaco Van Zyl will be making their US Open Championship debuts. Indeed for Doak, Parry, Pepperell and Van Zyl, it will be their first taste of Major Championship golf.
• Of the 43 European Tour Members competing, 12 have previously tasted Major success before. Of the 12, five have won the US Open Championship. They are: Ernie Els (1994 and 1997), Michael Campbell (2005), Angel Cabrera (2007), Graeme McDowell (2010) and Rory McIlroy (2011).
