1990 U.S. Senior Open Winner and Scores
The 1990 U.S. Senior Open was the 11th time this major championship of senior golf was played. The final round was a duel between Lee Trevino and Jack Nicklaus, with Trevino emerging as the champion.
Winner: Lee Trevino, 275
Where it was played: Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, New Jersey
Tournament dates: July 1-4, 1990
Leader after first round: Lee Trevino, 67
Leader after second round: Lee Trevino, 135
Leader after third round: Jack Nicklaus, 207
What Happened in the 1990 U.S. Senior Open
Lee Trevino won the 1990 U.S. Senior Open after a final-round duel with Jack Nicklaus, outplaying Nicklaus and winning by two strokes. In so doing, Trevino became the fifth golfer to win both the U.S. Open and U.S. Senior Open, achieving that milestone before Nicklaus himself did.In the second round, Gary Player scored a 65 — at the time the lowest second-round score in the tournament's history — that included a stretch of seven consecutive birdies. But it was Trevino, after opening 67-68, who was the 36-hole leader at 135. The score was the then-record low for the first two rounds of a U.S. Senior Open.
Nicklaus took over the lead at the end of the third round by scoring 67 while Trevino shot 73. Nicklaus led by one stroke at that point over Trevino, Player and Jim Dent.
Player and Dent were never really factors in the final round, which came down to Nicklaus and Trevino. But Nicklaus struggled on the front nine, and after Trevino birdied the 10th hole, he moved four in front of Nicklaus.
Nicklaus rallied and was just one stroke behind Trevino when he reached the par-5 17th hole. A birdie would tie the lead. Instead, Nicklaus bogeyed, missing a 4-foot putt for par. Trevino added birdies on Nos. 15 and 16 for good measure, and wound up beating runner-up Nicklaus by two. Trevino scored 67 to Nicklaus' 70 in that final round.
Both Trevino and Nicklaus were in their first years on the Champions Tour. Nicklaus entered the tournament having won two of his previous three senior starts, while for Trevino, the victory here was his sixth in his 13th senior start for the year.
Finishing second to Trevino in a major was a familiar position for Nicklaus, who was runner-up to Trevino in four of Trevino's six major championship victories on the regular tour: the 1968 and 1971 U.S. Opens, the 1972 British Open and 1974 PGA Championship.
Player wound up in a tie for third place. From 1986 through 1992, Player was in the Top 10 of the U.S. Senior Open every year — seven consecutive years, which remains today the tournament record.
Another tournament record set in 1990: Jug McSpaden teed off the tournament at age 81 years, 11 months and 7 days old, the oldest competitor in U.S. Senior Open history. He scored 80-87 and missed the cut. Arnold Palmer, aged 60, also missed the cut.
1990 U.S. Senior Open Final Scores
| Lee Trevino | 67-68-73-67—275 |
| Jack Nicklaus | 71-69-67-70—277 |
| Mike Hill | 72-67-73-69—281 |
| Gary Player | 75-65-68-73—281 |
| Chi Chi Rodriguez | 73-74-68-66—281 |
| Harold Henning | 71-67-75-69—282 |
| Charles Coody | 68-73-72-69—282 |
| Miller Barber | 75-68-67-73—283 |
| Don Bies | 75-69-67-72—283 |
| Jim Dent | 68-68-72-76—284 |
| Terry Dill | 71-73-73-68—285 |
| Orville Moody | 75-69-69-72—285 |
| George Archer | 70-72-72-72—286 |
| Walter Zembriski | 68-73-73-72—286 |
| John Paul Cain | 68-71-76-72—287 |
| Rocky Thompson | 72-73-74-68—287 |
| Bob Charles | 73-71-69-74—287 |
| Dave Hill | 73-69-73-72—287 |
| Jack Rule | 74-71-69-74—288 |
| Joe Jimenez | 74-74-69-72—289 |
| Lou Graham | 70-73-72-74—289 |
| Jim Ferree | 74-70-74-71—289 |
| Al Kelley | 73-73-71-73—290 |
| Dick Hendrickson | 73-71-74-72—290 |
| Ken Still | 68-75-75-72—290 |
| Larry Mowry | 72-74-71-74—291 |
| Doug Sanders | 74-74-77-68—293 |
| John Brodie | 73-73-74-73—293 |
| Jim Albus | 70-72-76-75—293 |
| DeWitt Weaver | 72-75-74-72—293 |
| a-Gary Cowan | 73-71-74-76—294 |
| Lynn Rosely | 73-75-77-69—294 |
| Bob Betley | 75-72-74-73—294 |
| Rives McBee | 73-74-74-73—294 |
| Don Massengale | 74-72-76-73—295 |
| Frank Beard | 77-70-74-74—295 |
| Babe Hiskey | 69-75-73-79—296 |
| Al Geiberger | 77-68-75-76—296 |
| Paul Moran | 74-73-74-75—296 |
| Art Wall | 73-72-77-74—296 |
| Chick Evans | 69-75-77-76—297 |
| Deray Simon | 75-70-75-77—297 |
| Gay Brewer | 72-76-77-72—297 |
| Jack Fleck | 73-73-78-73—297 |
| Jimmy Powell | 74-72-79-73—298 |
| a-Robert Cornett | 76-71-79-72—298 |
| Bobby Breen | 75-74-74-76—299 |
| Chuck Jones | 74-75-78-72—299 |
| a-Vance Moxom | 71-72-78-79—300 |
| Dean Sheetz | 74-73-78-75—300 |
| Art Proctor | 76-71-76-78—301 |
| Lee Elder | 77-70-77-77—301 |
| Charles Mehok | 75-72-79-76—302 |
| a-Paul Erhardt | 72-76-78-76—302 |
| Craig Shankland | 70-74-77-82—303 |
| Robert Pfister | 78-71-76-79—304 |
| J.D. McSwain | 72-77-79-76—304 |
| Marshall Strauss | 74-74-76-82—306 |
| a-Dick Evenson | 71-76-80-79—306 |
| Jim O'Hern | 73-75-81-78—307 |
Sources:
Lader, Martin. "Trevino wins U.S. Senior Open," United Press International, July 1, 1990, https://www.upi.com/Archives/1990/07/01/Trevino-wins-US-Senior-Open/9167646804800/.
PGA Tour. Senior PGA Tour Book 1991, Tournament Summaries, U.S. Senior Open.
PGATour.com. Champions Tour, Tournaments, U.S. Senior Open, Past Results, 1990, https://www.pgatour.com/pgatour-champions/tournaments/2026/u.s-senior-open-championship/S2026512/past-results.
United States Golf Association. U.S. Senior Open, Tournament Records, https://championships.usga.org/content/championships/ussenioropen/u-s--senior-open-records.html.
