The 1986 U.S. Open was the 86th U.S. Open, held June 12–15 at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Shinnecock Hills, New York. Raymond Floyd won his fourth and final major, two strokes ahead of runners-up Chip Beck and Lanny Wadkins. It was Floyd's only U.S. Open title and he became its oldest winner, a record he held for four years.

The opening round on Thursday had high winds with occasional heavy rain; the best score was Bob Tway's even-par 70, with Greg Norman a stroke behind. Norman led after 36 holes, and took the lead into the final round, a stroke ahead of Lee Trevino and Hal Sutton, but a 75 dropped him back six strokes to twelfth place. Norman led each of the four major championships in 1986 after 54 holes, but won just once, at The Open Championship.

During the final round, ten players either led or shared the lead; after Floyd birdied the par-3 11th, he was part of a nine-way tie for first. Floyd began the round three strokes back and separated himself from the pack with a bogey-free 66. After the birdie at 11, he saved par at 12, then recorded another birdie at 13 to tie for the lead. Floyd took sole possession of the lead after the 14th, then added another birdie at the 16th. After finishing his round, he was two strokes ahead of his closest pursuers: Wadkins and Beck both shot 65 to climb the leaderboard and shared second place. They tied the course record, set earlier in the day by Mark Calcavecchia.

With the win, Floyd became the oldest winner of the U.S. Open at , surpassing the long-standing record of Ted Ray from 1920 by several months (Julius Boros was also 43 in 1963). It was Floyd's fourth and final major championship, and he only won twice more in his career. At age 46, Masters champion Jack Nicklaus overcame an opening round 77 and tied for eighth, his last top-ten finish at the U.S. Open. Hale Irwin won his third U.S. Open at age 45 in 1990 in a playoff and remains the oldest champion; in 1986, he was the only former champion in the field to miss the cut. Boros remained the oldest winner of a modern major at age 48 at the PGA Championship in 1968, until Phil Mickelson broke the record to become the oldest winner of a major at age 50 at the PGA Championship in 2021.

Entering this championship, Floyd had played in 21 U.S. Opens and had only two finishes in the top ten. His best result was a tie for sixth in 1965; he finished eighth in 1971, fifteen years earlier. His winner's share in 1986 was more than double his previous career earnings at the U.S. Open.

It was the second U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, which previously hosted 90 years earlier in 1896. The championship returned in 1995, 2004, 2018, and 2026.

Course layout

Hole123456789Out101112131415161718InTotalYards3942264534085354711883674473,4894091584723774443975441724503,4236,912 Par434454344354344445343570 Source:

Round summaries First round Thursday, June 12, 1986 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Bob Tway70E2 Greg Norman71+1T3 Rick Fehr72+2 David Frost Kenny Knox Tsuneyuki Nakajima Denis Watson Tom WatsonT9 Gary Koch73+3 Bob Lohr Jodie Mudd

Second round Friday, June 13, 1986 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Greg Norman71-68=139−1T2 Lee Trevino74-68=142+2 Denis Watson72-70=142T4 Raymond Floyd75-68=143+3 Bob Tway70-73=143 Tom Watson72-71=143T7 David Frost72-72=144+4 Bernhard Langer74-70=144 Tsuneyuki Nakajima72-72=144 Mac O'Grady75-69=144 Payne Stewart76-68=144 Bobby Wadkins75-69=144 Lanny Wadkins74-70=144

Amateurs: Randolph (+10), Fleming (+11), Watts (+17), Lewis (+22), Daly (+24)

Third round Saturday, June 14, 1986 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Greg Norman71-68-71=210ET2 Hal Sutton75-70-66=211+1 Lee Trevino74-68-69=2114 Bob Tway70-73-69=212+2T5 Raymond Floyd75-68-70=213+3 Mark McCumber74-71-68=213 Mike Reid74-73-66=213 Payne Stewart76-68-69=213 Denis Watson72-70-71=213T10 Lennie Clements75-72-67=214+4 Ben Crenshaw76-69-69=214 Bernhard Langer74-70-70=214 Scott Verplank75-72-67=214 Tom Watson72-71-71=214

Final round Sunday, June 15, 1986 PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)1 Raymond Floyd 75-68-70-66=279 −1 115,000T2 Chip Beck 75-73-68-65=281 +1 47,646 Lanny Wadkins 74-70-72-65=281T4 Hal Sutton 75-70-66-71=282 +2 26,269 Lee Trevino 74-68-69-71=282T6 Ben Crenshaw 76-69-69-69=283 +3 19,009 Payne Stewart 76-68-69-70=283T8 Bernhard Langer 74-70-70-70=284 +4 14,500 Mark McCumber 74-71-68-71=284 Jack Nicklaus 77-72-67-68=284 Bob Tway 70-73-69-72=284 Source:Amateur: Randolph (+11).

Scorecard Hole 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 101112131415161718Par434454344 434444534 Floyd +3+3+3+2+2+2+2+2 +2+2+1+1EEE−1−1−1 Beck +6+6+6+5+6+7+6+6+6+5+4+3+2+2+1+1+1+1 Wadkins +6+5+5+5+5+5+5+5+5 +5+4+4+4+3+2+1+1+1 Sutton EEE+1E+1+1+1E EE+1+1+1+2+2+2+2 Trevino EE+1+1E+1+1+1+2 +2+2+2+2+3+3+2+2+2 Norman E E +1 +1 +1 +2 +1 +1 +2 +3 +4 +4 +5 +4 +5 +5 +5 +5 Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par {|class="wikitable" span = 50 style="font-size:85%; |- |style="background: Pink;" width=10| |Birdie |style="background: PaleGreen;" width=10| |Bogey

References

External links GolfCompendium.com: 1986 U.S. Open GolfStats.com; 1986 U.S. Open USOpen.com – 1986