Uploaded June 2016 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
At the time, Sports Illustrated writer and World Golf Hall of Fame Member Dan Jenkins called it “golf the way it ought to be played.” Fast-forward 43 years later and Johnny Miller’s 63 in the final round of the 1973 U.S. Open remains the standard to which all Major final rounds are measured. It isn’t just that Miller turned in the lowest single-round score in U.S. Open history; it was how he did it and who he did it against.
Johnny Miller started the final round at 3-over par and six shots off the lead, trailing fellow Hall of Famers Arnold Palmer, Julius Boros, Lee Trevino, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Sir Bob Charles. These golfers had already combined to win 35 Majors, exactly 35 more than Miller who had yet to win his first. Not only that, he slayed the mighty Oakmont Country Club, one of the most difficult courses in the U.S. Open rotation.
At the time, Sports Illustrated writer and World Golf Hall of Fame Member Dan Jenkins called it “golf the way it ought to be played.” Fast-forward 43 years later and Johnny Miller’s 63 in the final round of the 1973 U.S. Open remains the standard to which all Major final rounds are measured. It isn’t just that Miller turned in the lowest single-round score in U.S. Open history; it was how he did it and who he did it against.
Johnny Miller started the final round at 3-over par and six shots off the lead, trailing fellow Hall of Famers Arnold Palmer, Julius Boros, Lee Trevino, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Sir Bob Charles. These golfers had already combined to win 35 Majors, exactly 35 more than Miller who had yet to win his first. Not only that, he slayed the mighty Oakmont Country Club, one of the most difficult courses in the U.S. Open rotation.
