The 1980 U.S. Open was the 80th U.S. Open, held June 12–15 at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, New Jersey, west of New York City. Jack Nicklaus set a new tournament scoring record to win his fourth U.S. Open title, two strokes ahead of runner-up Isao Aoki; in fact, as the tournament transpired these two golfers ended up playing all four rounds together.

Nicklaus and Tom Weiskopf began the tournament by shooting a record-tying 63 in the first round on the Lower Course on Thursday. Weiskopf, however, did not shoot better than 75 in any other round and finished 37th. After a second round 71, Nicklaus owned a two-stroke lead over Isao Aoki. Aoki, however, carded a third consecutive round of 68 in the third to tie Nicklaus.

In the final round on Sunday, Nicklaus birdied the 3rd after Aoki recorded a bogey on 2, taking a two-shot lead. Nicklaus, however, could not separate himself from his challenger. After he hit his approach to 3 feet on 10, Aoki made a long putt from the fringe for a birdie. On the 17th Nicklaus holed a 22-footer for birdie while Aoki made his own 5-footer for birdie. And at the 18th Nicklaus rolled in another birdie from 10-feet to win the championship, his sixteenth major title as a professional.

Nicklaus' winning total of 272 established a new U.S. Open standard, breaking the record 275 he set in 1967 on the same Lower Course. He also tied Willie Anderson, Bobby Jones, and Ben Hogan by winning his fourth U.S. Open title. Nicklaus had failed to win a tournament in 1979 for the first time in his career, and at 40 many believed his best days were behind him. He won four more times on the PGA Tour with two majors, including the PGA Championship two months later and the Masters in 1986.

Seve Ballesteros, the reigning champion of the British Open and Masters, was late to the course on Friday, missed his tee time, and was disqualified; he had carded a 75 on Thursday.

The U.S. Open returned to the Lower Course in 1993, and the PGA Championship was played there in 2005 and in 2016.

Course layout

Lower Course Hole123456789Out101112131415161718InTotal Yards4653774381941623884704703742053,3813,3494544281933934094302161856305423,6953,6647,0767,013Par444344443344434443553670 Source:

Lengths of the course for previous major championships:

, par 70 - 1967 U.S. Open , par 70 - 1954 U.S. Open , par 72 - 1936 U.S. Open (Upper Course)

, par 74 - 1915 U.S. Open (Old Course) , par      - 1903 U.S. Open (Old Course)The Old Course was plowed under in 1918

Round summaries

First round Thursday, June 12, 1980 PlacePlayerScoreTo parT1 Jack Nicklaus63−7 Tom WeiskopfT3 Keith Fergus66−4 Mark Hayes Lon HinkleT6 Raymond Floyd67−3 Jay Haas Calvin PeeteT9 Isao Aoki68−2 Mark Lye Andy North Lee Trevino

Second round Friday, June 13, 1980 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Jack Nicklaus63-71=134−6T2 Isao Aoki68-68=136−4 Keith Fergus66-70=136 Lon Hinkle66-70=136 Mike Reid69-67=1366 Mark Hayes66-71=137−3T7 Pat McGowan69-69=138−2 Tom Weiskopf63-75=138T9 Peter Jacobsen70-69=139−1 Tom Watson71-68=139 Source:

Amateurs: Hallberg (+2), Clampett (+6), Sigel (+7), Sindelar (+7), Wagner (+9), Wood (+10), Blake (+11), Sutton (+11), Rassett (+13), Sluman (+15), Clearwater (+16), Mudd (+16), Norton (+16), O'Meara (+16), Bergin (+17), Landers (+20), Chalas (+21), Glickley (+22).

Third round Saturday, June 14, 1980 PlacePlayerScoreTo parT1 Isao Aoki68-68-68=204−6 Jack Nicklaus63-71-70=2043 Lon Hinkle66-70-69=205−5T4 Keith Fergus66-70-70=206−4 Mark Hayes66-71-69=206 Tom Watson71-68-67=2067 Craig Stadler73-67-69=209−1T8 Mike Morley73-68-69=210E Lee Trevino68-73-69=210T10 Bruce Devlin71-70-70=211+1 Hubert Green73-73-65=211 Jay Haas67-74-70=211 Peter Jacobsen70-69-72=211 Pat McGowan69-69-73=211 Mike Reid69-67-75=211 Bill Rogers69-72-70=211 Source:

Final round Sunday, June 15, 1980 PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)1 Jack Nicklaus 63-71-70-68=272 −8 55,0002 Isao Aoki 68-68-68-70=274 −6 29,500T3 Keith Fergus 66-70-70-70=276 −4 17,400 Lon Hinkle 66-70-69-71=276 Tom Watson 71-68-67-70=276T6 Mark Hayes 66-71-69-74=280 E 11,950 Mike Reid 69-67-75-69=280T8 Hale Irwin 70-70-73-69=282 +2 8,050 Mike Morley 73-68-69-72=282 Andy North 68-75-72-67=282 Ed Sneed 72-70-70-70=282 Source:

Amateurs: Gary Hallberg (+5), Bobby Clampett (+10).

Scorecard Final round Hole123456789101112131415161718Par444344443 443444355 Nicklaus −6 −6 −7 −6 −6 −6 −5 −5 −5 −6 −6 −6 −6 −6 −6 −6 −7 −8 Aoki −6 −5 −5 −4 −4 −4 −3 −4 −3 −4 −4 −4 −4 −4 −4 −4 −5 −6 Fergus −4 −4 −3 −4 −4 −4 −5 −5 −5 −4 −4 −4 −4 −4 −4 −4 −3 −4 Hinkle −5 −5 −5 −4 −4 −3 −3 −3 −3 −3 −3 −3 −3 −3 −3 −3 −3 −4 Watson −3 −4 −4 −4 −4 −4 −4 −4 −3 −2 −2 −2 −2 −2 −2 −3 −3 −4 Hayes −3 −3 −3 −2 −2 −2 −1 −1 E −1 E E E E E E E E Reid +1 +2 +2 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +2 +2 +2 +2 +1 +1 +1 E E Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par BirdieBogey Source:

References

External links GolfCompendium.com – 1980 U.S. Open USOpen.com – 1980