1980 U.S. Open Winner and Scores
The 1980 U.S. Open was the 80th time the tournament was played, and Jack Nicklaus won it for the fourth time, sending up cries of "Jack is back!"
Winner: Jack Nicklaus, 272
Where it was played: Baltusrol Golf Club (Lower Course) in Springfield, New Jersey
Tournament dates: June 12-15, 1980
Leader after first round: Jack Nicklaus and Tom Weiskopf, 63
Leader after second round: Jack Nicklaus, 134
Leader after third round: Jack Nicklaus and Isao Aoki, 204
What Happened at the 1980 U.S. Open
Jack Nicklaus began the tournament by tying the 18-hole major scoring record with a 63, and he ended it by establishing a new 72-hole U.S. Open record (since broken) of 272. In-between, he battled Japanese star Isao Aoki.Nicklaus was coming off the first poor year of his pro career. In 1979, he went winless on the PGA Tour for the first time since his pro career started in 1962. He was 40 years old, and many fans and media members assumed he was washed up. Instead, not only did he win this tournament but another major later in the year, the 1980 PGA Championship.
Nicklaus and Tom Weiskopf opened the tournament with scorching rounds of 63, becoming just the second and third golfers to shoot 63 in a U.S. Open. (Nicklaus had a chance at a 62, but missed a 3-foot birdie putt on the 18th.) Weiskopf quickly fell away, however, failing to break 75 in his remaining rounds.
Nicklaus carded a 71 in Round 2 and took a two-stroke lead over, among others, Japan's Isao Aoki. Aoki was the best (at worst, the second-best behind Jumbo Ozaki) Japanese golfer of the time, and had Top 10 finishes in the 1978 and 1979 British Opens. His appearance in the 1980 U.S. Open was just his second in this event. But with back-to-back 68s, Aoki was on Nicklaus' trail. And Aoki caught Nicklaus in the third round, shooting 68 to Nicklaus' 70, tying them for the lead. That set up the final-round showdown between the two golfers grouped together.
In the final round, Aoki bogeyed the second hole and Nicklaus birdied the third, producing a two-stroke lead for Nicklaus. Aoki trimmed the lead to one, but by the back nine Nicklaus led by two again and maintained that margin throughout the back nine. Aoki birdied the final two holes, but so did Nicklaus, and the Golden Bear won by two strokes.
For Nicklaus, it was his record-tying fourth U.S. Open victory (joining Ben Hogan, Bobby Jones and Willie Anderson at four), and his 16th win in a professional major. Nicklaus won only four more times after this on the PGA Tour, but two of those were majors.
Nicklaus' 272 total broke his own tournament record of 275, set in 1967 and also at Baltusrol. At the time, Aoki's 274 was the record-low score in a U.S. Open by a non-winner. Aoki went on to win 51 times total in Japan, once on the PGA Tour and nine times on the Champions Tour.
Future two-time U.S. Open winner Curtis Strange first made the cut in a U.S. Open this year. Future major champions Hal Sutton, Mark O'Meara and Sandy Lyle each made his U.S. Open debut here, and each missed the cut (Sutton and O'Meara as amateurs). Meanwhile, past major winners Dow Finsterwald and Al Geiberger played in their last U.S. Opens, both missing the cut.
Seve Ballesteros was the reigning Masters and British Open champ at the time of the 1980 U.S. Open, but missed his tee time in the second round and was disqualified.
1980 U.S. Open Final Scores
| Jack Nicklaus | 63-71-70-68—272 |
| Isao Aoki | 68-68-68-70—274 |
| Keith Fergus | 66-70-70-70—276 |
| Lon Hinkle | 66-70-69-71—276 |
| Tom Watson | 71-68-67-70—276 |
| Mark Hayes | 66-71-69-74—280 |
| Mike Reid | 69-67-75-69—280 |
| Ed Sneed | 72-70-70-70—282 |
| Hale Irwin | 70-70-73-69—282 |
| Mike Morley | 73-68-69-72—282 |
| Andy North | 68-75-72-67—282 |
| Bruce Devlin | 71-70-70-72—283 |
| Bobby Wadkins | 72-71-68-72—283 |
| Joe Hager | 72-70-71-70—283 |
| Lee Trevino | 68-73-69-74—284 |
| Pat McGowan | 69-69-73-73—284 |
| Bill Rogers | 69-72-70-73—284 |
| Gil Morgan | 73-70-70-71—284 |
| Curtis Strange | 69-74-71-70—284 |
| Joe Inman | 74-69-69-72—284 |
| Craig Stadler | 73-67-69-75—284 |
| Jim Simons | 70-72-71-72—285 |
| J.C. Snead | 69-71-73-72—285 |
| Peter Jacobsen | 70-69-72-74—285 |
| a-Gary Hallberg | 74-68-70-73—285 |
| Jay Haas | 67-74-70-75—286 |
| Mark Lye | 68-72-77-69—286 |
| John Mahaffey | 72-73-69-73—287 |
| David Edwards | 73-68-72-74—287 |
| George Burns | 75-69-73-70—287 |
| Calvin Peete | 67-76-74-70—287 |
| Ben Crenshaw | 72-73-71-72—288 |
| Bob Gilder | 72-68-74-74—288 |
| Jerry McGee | 72-72-70-74—288 |
| Jack Newton | 72-71-74-71—288 |
| Hubert Green | 73-73-65-77—288 |
| Tom Weiskopf | 63-75-76-75—289 |
| Tim Simpson | 70-73-73-74—290 |
| a-Bobby Clampett | 72-74-71-73—290 |
| Rod Curl | 73-71-72-74—290 |
| Gene Littler | 72-68-75-75—290 |
| Jim Dent | 72-72-70-76—290 |
| Artie McNickle | 76-70-72-72—290 |
| Bruce Lietzke | 71-72-70-77—290 |
| Scott Simpson | 73-72-73-73—291 |
| Wayne Levi | 72-71-73-75—291 |
| Charles Coody | 72-71-74-75—292 |
| David Graham | 72-73-72-75—292 |
| Jim Colbert | 72-69-74-77—292 |
| Raymond Floyd | 67-79-71-75—292 |
| Lou Graham | 73-71-72-77—293 |
| Dave Stockton | 73-73-77-70—293 |
| John Cook | 71-71-77-75—294 |
| Fuzzy Zoeller | 75-70-72-77—294 |
| Tommy McGinnis | 69-71-81-74—295 |
| Ron Streck | 72-71-76-77—296 |
| Lance Ten Broeck | 73-71-71-81—296 |
| Chip Beck | 76-70-77-74—297 |
| Jeff Mitchell | 69-75-73-81—298 |
| Phil Hancock | 76-70-75-78—299 |
| Larry Nelson | 70-74-76-79—299 |
| Bobby Walzel | 73-70-81-75—299 |
| Arnold Palmer | 73-73-77-78—301 |
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