1985 U.S. Open Winner and Scores

The 1985 U.S. Open was the 85th time the tournament was played. Andy North won this major championship for he second time.

Winner: Andy North, 279

Where it was played: Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan

Tournament dates: June 13-16, 1985

Leader after first round: T.C. Chen, 65

Leader after second round: T.C. Chen, 134

Leader after third round: T.C. Chen, 203

What Happened at the 1985 U.S. Open

The 1985 U.S. Open is remembered as much for the golfer who lost it (T.C. Chen) as for the golfer who won it (Andy North). That's because Chen raced out to record-tying scores in the early round, then suffered disaster in the final round with a rarely seen flub.

Chen, from Taiwan, was trying to become the first Asian golfer to win a major. And he was doing a very good job of it. He opened with a course-record 65 at Oakland Hills that included the first double eagle in U.S. Open history (holing out his approach shot on the par-5 second hole).

Chen followed with a 69, tying the 36-hole U.S. Open scoring record at the time. In the third round, Chen again carded 69, and tied the then-record 54-hole tournament score.

North, meanwhile, had a second-round 65 and was one behind at that point; then shot 70 in the third round and was two behind.

In the final round, Chen increased his lead over North to four strokes after four holes. But on No. 5, disaster struck. Chipping out of a fluffy lie, Chen's club slid underneath the ball, weakly popping it up, and his club struck the ball a second time on his follow-through. A double hit. With the penalty — and Chen's ensuing 3-putt — he had had a quadruple bogey 8.

That one hole didn't doom Chen (he didn't even lose the lead, falling into a tie with North), but he never really recovered from it, either. Chen had a share of the lead as late as the 13th hole, but had two later bogeys and carded a 77.

North, Chen and Dave Barr shared the lead and traded the lead through the 13th hole, then North made his move. Or rather, North held his ground while Chen suffered his two bogeys and Barr added two of his own.

North wound up winning at 1-under par, the only player to finish under par, with Chen, Barr and Denis Watson one stroke behind.

For North, it was was his second U.S. Open victory, and just the third PGA Tour win of his injury-plagued career. It was also North's final major — and final win on the PGA Tour. North never again finished in the Top 25 at any major.

And Chen? He won his only PGA Tour event at the 1987 Los Angeles Open, and won several times in Japan afterward. But his double-hit is what he's best-known for. Chen's initials stand for "Tze-Chung," but after the double-hit at the 1985 U.S. Open, he was often called "Two-Chip" Chen.

1985 U.S. Open Final Scores

Andy North 70-65-70-74—279
Dave Barr 70-68-70-72—280
Denis Watson 72-65-73-70—280
T.C. Chen 65-69-69-77—280
Payne Stewart 70-70-71-70—281
Seve Ballesteros 71-70-69-71—281
Lanny Wadkins 70-72-69-70—281
Johnny Miller 74-71-68-69—282
Fuzzy Zoeller 71-69-72-71—283
Jack Renner 72-69-72-70—283
Corey Pavin 72-68-73-70—283
Rick Fehr 69-67-73-74—283
Tom Kite 69-70-71-74—284
Hale Irwin 73-72-70-70—285
Greg Norman 72-71-71-72—286
Andy Bean 69-72-73-72—286
Joey Sindelar 72-72-69-73—286
Scott Simpson 73-73-68-72—286
Don Pooley 73-69-73-71—286
Mark O'Meara 72-67-75-72—286
Tony Sills 75-70-71-70—286
Jay Haas 69-66-77-74—286
Gil Morgan 71-72-72-72—287
Tom Sieckmann 73-73-70-71—287
David Graham 73-72-74-68—287
David Frost 74-68-74-71—287
Hal Sutton 74-71-74-68—287
Mike Reid 69-75-70-73—287
Raymond Floyd 72-67-73-75—287
Fred Funk 75-70-72-70—287
Peter Jacobsen 71-73-72-72—288
Bruce Lietzke 72-71-74-71—288
Curtis Strange 71-68-76-73—288
Scott Hoch 73-72-71-73—289
Jim Thorpe 73-69-74-73—289
Loren Roberts 74-71-74-70—289
Skeeter Heath 70-70-77-72—289
a-Scott Verplank 77-69-74-69—289
Bill Glasson 70-71-75-74—290
Larry Mize 72-73-70-75—290
John Mahaffey 72-70-75-73—290
Larry Nelson 71-71-77-71—290
Fred Couples 66-78-73-73—290
Ronnie Black 71-69-76-75—291
Danny Edwards 72-69-73-77—291
Tim Simpson 74-72-72-74—292
Jeff Sanders 71-75-73-73—292
Bobby Wadkins 72-69-75-76—292
Ed Fiori 72-71-76-73—292
Wayne Levi 75-71-70-76—292
Frank Conner 74-68-77-73—292
Bill Israelson 71-72-75-75—293
Rafael Alarcon 73-72-72-76—293
Dick Mast 71-71-77-74—293
Morris Hatalsky 71-72-77-73—293
Peter Oosterhuis 73-71-76-74—294
Brad Faxon 71-72-77-75—295
Ken Mattiace 74-72-73-77—296
Lee Rinker 74-69-75-78—296
Gene Sauers 70-73-80-73—296
Ken Green 73-73-79-74—299
Bob Eastwood 72-73-80-74—299
Jeff Grygiel 73-70-76-81—300
a-Jay Sigel 76-69-78-79—302
Curt Byrum 71-75-80-76—302
Gregory Chapman 75-71-80-78—304

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1984 U.S. Open - 1986 U.S. Open

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