Breakfast With Benz U.S. Open at Oakmont retrospective: Larry Nelson's sparkling weekend in 1983

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 Tuesday’s entry, we look back at the 1983 event won by Larry Nelson.

For as legendary as Johnny Miller’s final round 63 was at the U.S. Open in 1973, Larry Nelson’s last two rounds at Oakmont Country Club a decade later were just as good.

Nelson barely made the cut, shooting 75-73 over the first two days. But then he shot 132 over the last two rounds, a new tournament record for the last 36 holes, breaking Gene Sarazen’s 51-year-old mark of 136.

“Most people don’t realize just how special Larry Nelson’s weekend was in 1983,” Moore said. “He shoots a great round on Saturday to get right back in the mix, and he continues that great play on Sunday. I personally believe he’s one of the most underrated players of his generation.”

Nelson was never a golfer until he served in Vietnam.

“He would later tell Golf Digest that he learned of the game from his foxhole mate, a guy named Ken Hummel,” Moore recounted. “He would say, ‘Up to that point, I really thought golf was a sissy sport, but the guy that told me about it hadn’t shaved in about two weeks. He hadn’t bathed in longer than that, and he had an M-16, and I didn’t really want to tell him what I really thought of golf.’”

Nelson tried the sport and never gave it up.

“I think a big reason why he was so successful, not just here, but in his career, especially in major championships, goes back to his service in Vietnam,” Moore said. “He would later say that his service in Vietnam, being in conflict, really put into perspective playing championship golf. He said you learn to accept things more rationally after you serve in combat. You make a bogey here or there, it’s still better than what you dealt with in Southeast Asia or whatever service you’re in. So I think he really had the perfect mindset.”

A couple of hurdles Nelson had to deal with during that final round were the weather and fending off future Hall of Famer Tom Watson.

“A storm comes in, and play is suspended for the rest of (Sunday). Had play not been suspended? Maybe Tom Watson wins in a runaway,” Moore said. “But he comes back out Monday morning, and he just doesn’t have it like he did the day before. In fact, he shoots 38 on the back nine to ultimately lose by a shot to Larry Nelson. Nelson came back out, and he absolutely stuffs the wedge on 14 to make a birdie.”

Nelson closed out with two pars, a birdie and a bogey over the last four holes to finish the back nine at 1-under 34.

“He’s overshadowed by the likes of Jack (Nicklaus) and Tom Watson and, later, Greg Norman and Nick Faldo. But Larry Nelson won 10 times on the PGA Tour. He won three major championships, two PGAs (1981, ‘87) and the U.S. Open here,” Moore said. “He really had the mettle to make it. He’s not one of those, you know, surprise champions.”

Also, during the podcast, Moore and I talk about changes to the course over time at Oakmont, Arnold Palmer’s last made cut at a U.S. Open, and Watson’s history at Oakmont.

On Wednesday, we’ll discuss the 1994 U.S. Open at Oakmont, which overlapped with one of the most memorable days in American sports history.