This Day in Golf History: June 16

Lee Trevino won his first U.S. Open on this date in 1968 on the East Course at Oak Hill C.C. in Rochester, N.Y. He tied the tournament scoring record and finished four shots ahead of second-place Jack Nicklaus. It was also the first PGA Tour win for Trevino, then 28. Also, on today’s date in 1974 was one U.S. Open that will live in golf infamy. Hale Irwin won the championship with a score of seven over par in the famous Massacre at Winged Foot that took down Arnold Palmer and Tom Watson, among others. It was Irwin’s first of three U.S. Open victories, this one by two over runner-up Forrest Fezler. And on this date for Arnold Palmer in the U.S. Open, in 1967 he shot a second-round 68 and would finish second to Nicklaus; in 1974 he shot a final-round 76 for a T-5; in 1977 he shot a first-round 70 and would finish T-19. In 1963 he won the Thunderbird Cl. in a playoff.