# 1987 U.S. Open (golf)

The 1987 U.S. Open was the 87th U.S. Open, held June 18–21 at the Olympic Club in San Francisco, California. Scott Simpson passed and held off 1982 champion Tom Watson on the Lake Course to win his only major title by one stroke.
Eleven former champions were in the field and only four made the 36-hole cut.
This was the third U.S. Open at the Lake Course of the Olympic Club, the previous two in 1955 and 1966 ended in playoffs. The U.S. Open returned in 1998 and 2012; both were won by one stroke.

## Course layout

Olympic Club - Lake Course
| Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Out | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | In | Total |
| Yards | 533 | 394 | 223 | 438 | 457 | 437 | 288 | 132 | 433 | 3,335 | 422 | 430 | 390 | 186 | 417 | 149 | 609 | 428 | 343 | 3,374 | 6,709 |
| Par | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 35 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 35 | 70 |
Lengths of the course for previous major championships:
* 6,719 yards (6,144 m), par 70 - 1966 U.S. Open
* 6,700 yards (6,126 m), par 70 - 1955 U.S. Open

## Round summaries
### First round

Thursday, June 18, 1987
| Place | Player | Score | To par |
| 1 | Ben Crenshaw | 67 | −3 |
| T2 | Seve Ballesteros | 68 | −2 |
| T2 | Raymond Floyd | 68 | −2 |
| T2 | Tsuneyuki Nakajima | 68 | −2 |
| T5 | Bernhard Langer | 69 | −1 |
| T5 | Nick Price | 69 | −1 |
| T5 | Denis Watson | 69 | −1 |
| T8 | Jay Don Blake | 70 | E |
| T8 | Lennie Clements | 70 | E |
| T8 | John Cook | 70 | E |
| T8 | Dale Douglass | 70 | E |
| T8 | David Frost | 70 | E |
| T8 | Sandy Lyle | 70 | E |
| T8 | Jack Nicklaus | 70 | E |
| T8 | Jim Thorpe | 70 | E |
| T8 | Bob Tway | 70 | E |
| T8 | Mark Wiebe | 70 | E |

### Second round

Friday, June 19, 1987
| Place | Player | Score | To par |
| T1 | Tom Watson | 72-65=137 | −3 |
| T1 | Mark Wiebe | 70-67=137 | −3 |
| T3 | John Cook | 70-68=138 | −2 |
| T3 | Bernhard Langer | 69-69=138 | −2 |
| T3 | Tsuneyuki Nakajima | 68-70=138 | −2 |
| T3 | Jack Nicklaus | 70-68=138 | −2 |
| T3 | Jim Thorpe | 70-68=138 | −2 |
| T8 | Ben Crenshaw | 67-72=139 | −1 |
| T8 | Bob Eastwood | 73-66=139 | −1 |
| T8 | Larry Mize | 71-68=139 | −1 |
| T8 | Scott Simpson | 71-68=139 | −1 |
Amateurs: Alexander (+13), Parker (+13).

### Third round

Saturday, June 20, 1987
| Place | Player | Score | To par |
| 1 | Tom Watson | 72-65-71=208 | −2 |
| T2 | Keith Clearwater | 74-71-64=209 | −1 |
| T2 | Scott Simpson | 71-68-70=209 | −1 |
| 4 | Lennie Clements | 70-70-70=210 | E |
| T5 | Seve Ballesteros | 68-75-68=211 | +1 |
| T5 | Ben Crenshaw | 67-72-72=211 | +1 |
| T5 | Bernhard Langer | 69-69-73=211 | +1 |
| T5 | John Mahaffey | 72-72-67=211 | +1 |
| T5 | Larry Mize | 71-68-72=211 | +1 |
| T5 | Jim Thorpe | 70-68-73=211 | +1 |

### Final round

Sunday, June 21, 1987
Watson held a share of the lead after 36 holes, then took a one-shot lead over Simpson and Keith Clearwater into the final round. Clearwater, 27, shot a six-under 64 on Saturday to get into the final pair with Watson. Watson struggled out of the gate on Sunday on Olympic's difficult start; he bogeyed the first two holes and the fifth as well. Simpson birdied the first but then had three bogeys in four holes. With consecutive birdies at 8 and 9, Watson carried a one-stroke lead to the back nine. Simpson, a group ahead on the course, took the lead with a 30-footer (9 m) for birdie at 15, but Watson responded with a birdie at 14 to tie. At 16, Simpson sank a 9-footer (2.7 m) for his third straight birdie to take the lead, then Watson missed his from 12 feet (3.7 m) to match. Simpson found a greenside bunker at 17, then hit his sand shot to 6 feet (1.8 m) and saved par. With a par on 18, Simpson was in the clubhouse with a 68 and Watson needed a birdie to a force a Monday playoff. His 35-foot (11 m) putt narrowly missed and Simpson was the champion by a stroke. In the final pairing, Clearwater had trouble both early and late and shot a 79 (+9) to fade to a tie for 31st. Seve Ballesteros finished in solo third place, his best career finish in a U.S. Open.
| Place | Player | Score | To par | Money ($) |
| 1 | Scott Simpson | 71-68-70-68=277 | −3 | 150,000 |
| 2 | Tom Watson | 72-65-71-70=278 | −2 | 75,000 |
| 3 | Seve Ballesteros | 68-75-68-71=282 | +2 | 46,240 |
| T4 | Ben Crenshaw | 67-72-72-72=283 | +3 | 24,542 |
| T4 | Bernhard Langer | 69-69-73-72=283 | +3 | 24,542 |
| T4 | Larry Mize | 71-68-72-72=283 | +3 | 24,542 |
| T4 | Curtis Strange | 71-72-69-71=283 | +3 | 24,542 |
| T4 | Bobby Wadkins | 71-71-70-71=283 | +3 | 24,542 |
| T9 | Lennie Clements | 70-70-70-74=284 | +4 | 15,004 |
| T9 | Tsuneyuki Nakajima | 68-70-74-72=284 | +4 | 15,004 |
| T9 | Mac O'Grady | 71-69-72-72=284 | +4 | 15,004 |
| T9 | Dan Pohl | 75-71-69-69=284 | +4 | 15,004 |
| T9 | Jim Thorpe | 70-68-73-73=284 | +4 | 15,004 |

#### Scorecard

Final round
| Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| Par | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 |
| Simpson | −2 | −2 | −1 | E | E | +1 | E | E | E | E | E | E | E | −1 | −2 | −3 | −3 | −3 |
| Watson | −1 | E | E | E | +1 | +1 | +1 | E | −1 | −1 | −1 | −1 | −1 | −2 | −2 | −2 | −2 | −2 |
| Ballesteros | E | E | +1 | +2 | +3 | +3 | +2 | +1 | +1 | +1 | E | +1 | +2 | +2 | +1 | +1 | +2 | +2 |
| Crenshaw | +2 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +1 | E | +1 | +2 | +2 | +1 | +1 | +2 | +3 | +3 |
| Langer | E | E | E | E | E | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +2 | +2 | +1 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +3 |
| Mize | +1 | +1 | E | E | E | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | E | E | +1 | +2 | +3 | +3 | +3 | +3 | +3 |
| Strange | +3 | +3 | +3 | +3 | +4 | +4 | +4 | +3 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +3 | +3 | +3 | +4 | +3 |
| Wadkins | +2 | +2 | +3 | +3 | +4 | +4 | +4 | +4 | +4 | +3 | +3 | +3 | +2 | +3 | +3 | +3 | +4 | +3 |
| Clements | E | +1 | +2 | +2 | +3 | +4 | +3 | +3 | +3 | +3 | +3 | +3 | +4 | +3 | +3 | +4 | +4 | +4 |
| Clearwater | −1 | E | +2 | +2 | +3 | +3 | +3 | +3 | +3 | +3 | +3 | +3 | +3 | +3 | +3 | +4 | +7 | +8 |
Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
    Birdie Bogey Double bogey Triple bogey+
Source: