U.S. Open: Ranking the 25 Most Dominant Performances in History
By Bill Felber
6. Billy Casper, 1966, Olympic, -3.00
The Casper-Palmer battle remains one of the legendary chapters in U.S. Open history.
The details are deeply etched into golf’s history book, but for the record: Palmer shot a second round 66 and led by three strokes through three rounds. His front nine 32 on Sunday gave him a seven-stroke lead and appeared to wrap up the title.
So certain were both competitors of the outcome that as they made the turn for the final nine holes, Casper remarked to Palmer that he might be hard-pressed to hold second place from the charging Jack Nicklaus. “Don’t worry, Bill,” Palmer is said to have assured him. “I’ll help you.”
Palmer later admitted to focusing too much on beating Ben Hogan’s tournament scoring record, taking needless risks that led to bogeys. When Casper made up two strokes on both the 15th and 16th holes, Palmer’s advantage was suddenly down to one shot.
At the 17th, another Palmer bogey gained Casper a tie and set up a Monday playoff. It was a rerun, Palmer building a two-stroke lead on the front nine and hen giving it all away on the back. When Palmer played the 14th through 16th in four over par, Casper built an eventual four-stroke winning margin.
“It’s like a dream,” Casper said afterward.