The U.S. Open’s top 10 players for peak performance
By Bill Felber
10. Julius Boros, -1.24 peak (1951-1960)
It says something about Julius Boros’ U.S. Open record that although he famously won the 1963 championship – in a three-way playoff that included Arnold Palmer – that memorable victory is not part of his best decade of performance in the event.
Between 1951 and 1960, Boros seven times finished among the top 10, winning in 1952. At Dallas’ Northwood Club in 1952, he overtook Ben Hogan on the final 36-hole push and breezed home four strokes ahead of Porky Oliver, with Hogan another stroke back in third.
He tied Hogan for second, one stroke behind Cary Middlecoff, in 1956, finished third in 1958, and fourth in both 1951 and 1957. Only once during that decade did Boros finish outside the top 25.
Statistically, that consistency allows Boros to just nudge past Palmer into the tournament’s all-time top 10.
Boros’ 1952 victory came with a standard deviation margin over the field of -2.48, making Boros’ win the most dominant since Hogan dominated at Riviera in 1948. He was also two standard deviations superior to the field when he lost to Middlecoff in 1956.
During the 1950s, only twice did Boros turn in a U.S. Open performance that was less than one standard deviation better than the four-round field average.