Breakfast With Benz U.S. Open at Oakmont retrospective: Goodbye Arnold Palmer, hello Ernie Els in 1994

Next week, Oakmont Country Club will host its 10th U.S. Open championship. This week at “Breakfast with Benz,” we are flashing back to memories of each of the last five U.S. Opens that have been held at the course in our podcast series with David Moore, a golf historian and the curator of collections at Oakmont.

For Wednesday’s entry, we look back at the 1994 event won by Ernie Els.

The 1994 U.S. Open at Oakmont was memorable for lots of reasons. Not least of which was the date of Friday’s round.

“June 17, 1994,” Moore said. “One of the most consequential days in sports history in the latter half of the 20th century.”

As chronicled in an ESPN “30 for 30” documentary with that date as the title, the U.S. Open was one of numerous huge moments in sports going on that day. The commencement of the 1994 FIFA World Cup. The Rangers had their ticker tape parade for winning the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1940. The New York Knicks played the Rockets in Game 5 of the NBA Finals. And Ken Griffey Jr. hit home run No. 30 in Game 65, breaking Babe Ruth’s record.

But all those events were dwarfed by the infamous white Bronco chase of O.J. Simpson, which captivated the world on live television.

For those who were at Oakmont that day, though, they were treated to one of the most memorable images in Pittsburgh sports history: Western Pa. legend Arnold Palmer tipping his hat to fans in attendance as he walked toward the 18th green of his final U.S. Open.

“There was so much happening in the sports world, but Arnold Palmer playing his last U.S. Open was still pretty national news,” Moore insisted. “The next day after he played that final round, the white Bronco chase pretty much dominated the front pages. But in a lot of newspapers, there was still a column about Arnold Palmer playing in his last U.S. Open.”

The 64-year-old native of Latrobe had not played in a U.S. Open since it was last at Oakmont in 1983. However, the USGA granted Palmer an exemption to play in his home region one last time. As an amateur, Palmer’s first U.S. Open was at Oakmont when Ben Hogan won it in 1953.

“One of the (Oakmont) members and his wife stood on the 18th green when Arnold played his final hole in the U.S. Open,” Moore recounted. “He said, ‘I’ve been to a lot of championships in this city. I’ve been able to do a lot of things. There was not a more special moment in sports in Pittsburgh than when Arnold Palmer said goodbye to the U.S. Open. The applause was thunderous. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house.’”

Palmer finished with a plus-16 158 and didn’t make the cut. Fighting back tears, he’d tell ESPN after his round, “It’s been 40 years and when you walk up the 18th and you get an ovation like that. I guess that says it all.”

Moore says Palmer’s personality and style made the game of golf more tangible to the masses in the 1950s and 1960s.

“Before Arnold Palmer, golf was a strictly white-collar game. Coming from Latrobe, being the son of a greenskeeper, coming from a steel area, Arnold looked like the guy that just finished his shift in the Edgar Thomson Works,” Moore said. “He came along right at the perfect time, at the advent of television. He just made the game appeal to all classes of people and all races of people. I think that’s why he got such a special send-off in 1994. People realize just how important Arnold Palmer had been to sports for the last 40 years.”

Another storyline for that U.S. Open was the oppressive Western Pa. heat that week.

“The heat index every day was 105-110,” Moore said. “It got so serious that Allegheny County actually brought in water buffaloes. They gave out free water because they didn’t want the spectators to suffer from heat stroke, or worse, out on the golf course.”

The event also produced a noteworthy winner, Ernie Els. It was the first of four major championships for Els, who was only 24 years old. He’d claim 18 other titles on the PGA Tour and 28 more in Europe.

“If Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson never played professional golf, Ernie Els would have probably won eight or nine majors. He would have probably completed the career Grand Slam,” Moore said.

But the victory wasn’t easy for Els. He needed to outlast Colin Montgomery and Loren Roberts in an 18-hole playoff on Monday after they all finished Sunday’s play tied at 5-under 279.

Montgomery was eliminated after the 18 holes, but Els and Roberts remained tied until Els won the tournament on the second hole of sudden death.

“It is not pretty golf. If you look at the final scores from the playoff, Colin Montgomery shoots a 78, which is 7-over-par. Ernie starts bogey, triple, before he turns it around in the middle of the round and ends up tying Loren Roberts with a 3-over 74,” Moore recalled.

Also, during the podcast, we talk about a controversial shot from that tournament, an early push from Jack Nicklaus, and Montgomery’s memorable black shirt.

On Thursday, we take a look back on the 2007 U.S. Open at Oakmont, won by Angel Cabrera.