To be able to talk about it, to have that legacy in my family, to be able to tell people my dad shot a 63 in the U.S. Open, a record that’s stood for 43 years? Records in sports don’t last that long. – Todd Miller
Todd Miller leaves today for Pittsburgh where, for the first time in his life, he will walk the fairways at Oakmont during the U.S. Open. He will see, feel and soak in the ambience of where his father, Johnny Miller, fired a record final round 63 to win the championship. It’s been called the greatest 18 holes ever played.
“I’ve played Pebble Beach and the Old Course at St. Andrew's,” said Todd. “When I was there, I had a feeling those were special places, courses with history, places that really made an impact on you when you are there. I’m hoping that is what I will feel when I go to Oakmont. I think it will be.”
All his life, Todd has heard his father talk of his spectacular round that day in 1973, a final day charge from six shots down in a tie for 13th after Saturday, to win by one on Sunday. “People ask him about it, and he gets emotional when he talks about it. It does mean a lot to him because that day, he felt he was inspired.”
Two weeks ago, when asked to give a talk in church, Todd talked to his father again about the Open victory because he wanted his topic to be on listening to that small voice that often prompts and directs God’s children to good things and happiness.
Johnny, now a TV analyst and member of the hall of fame, recounted to Todd how at the driving range before the final round he heard a distinct voice telling him to open up his stance. He had a few balls left in his range bucket and tried it and hit several perfect iron shots. He went with it that final day.
“He had never done that before,” said Todd. Johnny was 26 and had hit balls since the age of five when his dad set up a canvas target in the garage. He’d had a college career and impressive PGA Tour debut, but Johnny had never tried that adjustment until that day.
What transpired has been called “The Miracle at Oakmont” in the annals of golf lore. Miller made four consecutive birdies to start his round. He hit all 18 greens on a course considered the toughest in the country, if not the world.
On a layout that features 210 sand bunkers, the famous “Church Pew” row of grass and sand, fairways lined with ditches, rough that is ankle-deep and circus greens that rival the undulation and wicked breaks of Pinehurst, Johnny Miller put on a spectacular display of iron play. He was accurate, deadly and rattled the leaders behind him.
Miller’s average birdie putt was 9 feet. He had 29 putts. Of the nine of his full iron approach shots, three were 4-irons that finished 15 feet from the hole and four were within 6 feet, according to Jamie Diaz of Golf Digest.
Using a calculation “strokes gained,” Golf World Magazine makes the claim Johnny Miller’s 63 at Oakmont that final day in 1973 is the “greatest 18 holes ever played.”
“I don’t care where you play,” said Todd, now an assistant golf coach at BYU. “If you shoot 63, you’ve had an amazing round, whether at Oakmont or Glendale. But to do it on the final day of the U.S. Open Championship, in USGA conditions? Well, that’s saying something.”
As Father’s Day approaches, you can imagine the pride Todd and his siblings have in this gem of a story.
Todd says it really hit him when he watched an old NBC video on Youtube entitled, “The Miracle at Oakmont,” in which producers had found and interviewed Johnny’s caddy, a Pittsburgh native named Lou Beaudine, who’d come back to town to see his mom.
In the clip, Beaudine explains how back in that day players couldn’t bring their own caddy, that players and caddies were paired up by drawing names out of bowl.
“The paper kind of stuck to my finger,” said Beaudine. “It was Johnny Miller. Imagine that luck.”
Beaudine describes the miracle, how both he and Johnny were in a daze that day, that everything came together in a remarkable round that will never be forgotten. The previous day, Miller had shot a 76 and was all over the golf course. He’d forgotten his yardage book that round and was discouraged and embarrassed himself.
But the next day, it was a new game, a rewind, a perfect example of why golf is so challenging, so rewarding, so perplexing. Miracles do happen.
“For me to watch that clip, to listen to the caddy, see him get emotional about it, it really sunk in to me,” Todd said. “To be able to talk about it, to have that legacy in my family, to be able to tell people my dad shot a 63 in the U.S. Open, a record that’s stood for 43 years? Records in sports don’t last that long.”
This week at Oakmont, there will be rounds under par, some in the 60s, but it is unlikely any player in the field will shoot a 63.
Todd Miller’s first visit to Oakmont is a long-anticipated trip. He hopes on Monday, after the Open concludes, he will be able to play Oakmont, walk the course with his clubs and play a round, see just how good those 4-iron shots were.
I’m sure he’ll find a connection. I’m sure the USGA and Oakmont members would give him this walk, this chance, this memory.
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