Miller's '73 Open changed Oakmont

An account by Johnny Miller, an American professional golfer, of how hearing voices helped him win the 1973 American Open.

The final round got under way and Miller said he began hearing voices in his head. .... "I did have a clear, three voices come into my head; open your stance way up," Miller said. "The first two times it said it to me, I was sort of down. I was really down.

Source: O - R Online, 17/06/2007

OAKMONT - Johnny Miller moves under a heavy burden at Oakmont Country Club. It was his final-round 63 in the 1973 U.S. Open that gave him the championship and sparked a transformation of this golf course into the hardest in the world.

Oakmont's gripping rough, hard fairways, deep bunkers and speedy greens have frustrated golfers for decades and it was all because of Miller's 63. Oakmont's caretakers wanted a course that surrendered 73s, not 63s. So an effort began to turn it into what it is today: a beast of a course.

This might not have happened had it not been for a clairvoyant who followed Miller around the course, a mysterious letter found in his locker, an overnight rain before the finals that slowed the greens and a series of voices in his head that helped him correct his swing.

"I would have loved to have had Ben Hogan caddying for me," Miller said, "because he would have said, 'You've got to be kidding me.'"

The weirdness began with a woman who followed Miller through his practice rounds. Two days before the tournament began, she approached him.

"She said, 'You're going to win the U.S. Open on the 18th green," Miller recalled. "I said, 'Yeah, how are you doing? Do you want an autograph?' She didn't want an autograph, just wanted to tell me I was going to win the Open."

Miller saw her again the next day and had the same conversation. When he got his tee times for the first two rounds, Miller found his playing partner was Arnold Palmer.

Just great.

"Maybe tougher than playing with Tiger (Woods) now, was playing with Arnold in Pittsburgh in 1973," Miller said.

Miller made it through the first two rounds at 2-under, two shots better than Palmer. But in Saturday's round, Miller realized he did not have his notebook that showed the yardages around each hole.

"In those days, there were no sprinkler heads, nothing," Miller said. "If there are any greens in the world that one or two yards can make the difference between birdie and bogey, it's these. There were no lasered or measured yardages, just a guy's walk. One guy might say that par-3 is 173, 174. Another guy maybe 176. ... I did all my own yardages ... because my iron game was very precise."

Miller's wife retrieved his book in time for the back nine but he finished the round with a five-over-par 76.

"I was looking for the lady then," he said. "You're wrong I was going to tell her. I've blown myself out of this thing."

Before Sunday's final round, Miller found a letter in his locker with no return address. He tore it open and read it.

"It said, 'You're going to win the U.S. Open,'" Miller said. "I thought, 'Well, you're wrong, too, pal."

The final round got under way and Miller said he began hearing voices in his head.

"I did have a clear, three voices come into my head; open your stance way up," Miller said. "The first two times it said it to me, I was sort of down. I was really down. I started to believe this lady. I was thinking I got through (playing with) Arnold, the lady is still here and things are going good. Maybe I was going to win."

Suddenly, his approach shots were perfect, 18 of them below the pin and within birdie distance. He needed only 29 putts, finished with an eight-under 63 and beat John Schlee by a stroke, Tom Weiskopf by two and Palmer, Lee Trevino and Jack Nicklaus by three.

"Players ask me, 'Geez, how did you shoot that?" Miller said. "They are acting like they can't do it. But they can do it. If I did it, I'm nothing that special. I was a good iron player but Tiger could do it and Phil (Mickelson) could do it."

Just to be safe, they might want to bring a clairvoyant and listen to the little voices in their heads.

"You can say what you want," Miller said. "It sounds like I'm bragging but the bottom line is that it was a crazy round."