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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