8 Golfers Who Won Both the U.S. Open and U.S. Senior Open

Winning the U.S. Open is hard. Winning the U.S. Senior Open is also hard. Winning them both over the course of one's career? That's something only eight golfers so far have done.

Both tournaments are USGA national championships. The U.S. Open is one of the four majors of men's professional golf; the U.S. Senior Open is one of the five majors of senior men's professional golf. The U.S. Senior Open was first played in 1980, so only then did it become possible for any golfer to win both titles.

And it didn't take long until the first golfer pulled off that double. Arnold Palmer did it in 1981. Palmer, winner of the 1960 U.S. Open, won the U.S. Senior Open in 1981, just the second year that senior major existed.

The List: Winners of U.S. Open and U.S. Senior Open

These are the eight golfers who have achieved this career double so far:
  • Arnold Palmer: Won the U.S. Open in 1960, won the U.S. Senior Open in 1981
  • Billy Casper: Won the U.S. Open in 1959 and 1966, won the U.S. Senior Open in 1983
  • Gary Player: Won the U.S. Open in 1965, won the U.S. Senior Open in 1987 and 1988
  • Orville Moody: Won the U.S. Open in 1969, won the U.S. Senior Open in 1989
  • Lee Trevino: Won the U.S. Open in 1968 and 1971, won the U.S. Senior Open in 1990
  • Jack Nicklaus: Won the U.S. Open in 1962, 1967, 1972 and 1980; won the U.S. Senior Open in 1991 and 1993
  • Hale Irwin: Won the U.S. Open in 1974, 1979 and 1990; won the U.S. Senior Open in 1998 and 2000
  • Jim Furyk: Won the U.S. Open in 2003, won the U.S. Senior Open in 2021
That list is absolutely stacked with all-time greats. Seven of the eight golfers are either World Golf Hall of Fame members or will be (at the time of writing Furyk was not yet, but he will be). And six of them are true giants of the game's history: Palmer, Casper, Nicklaus, Player, Trevino, Irwin.

And there is Orville Moody. Moody had exactly one win on the PGA Tour. But if you are only going to win once, make it a U.S. Open. On the senior circuit, though, Moody won 11 times, including a second senior major at the 1989 Senior Players Championship.

Nicklaus and Irwin are the only golfers who have pulled off the U.S. Open/U.S. Senior Open double twice. Meaning, each won both of the tournaments at least twice. Nicklaus had four U.S. Open titles and two U.S. Senior Opens titles; Irwin won the U.S. Open three times and the U.S. Senior Open twice.

Also note that Nicklaus and Palmer won the U.S. Amateur Championship. So far, they are the only two golfers who won all three of those USGA championships — the Amateur, Open and Senior Open.

Related articles:

Popular posts from this blog