Given the standard that the likes of Scottie Scheffler and Bryson DeChambeau are setting right now, it is extremely difficult to see a surprise winner at the US Open next week at Oakmont.
The US Open is widely considered to be the toughest test in golf. Four of the last five events have been won by a score of six under par. Meanwhile, seven stagings of the US Open since the turn of the century have seen the winner finish even par or worse.
However, there have been some US Opens which have seen some remarkably low scoring. Both Rory McIlroy and Brooks Koepka reached 16 under par when they won in 2011 and 2017 respectively.
It may surprise some to learn that the 36-hole scoring record at the US Open was broken in 2009 when Bethpage hosted the event on the Black Course.
In fact, it was broken by a player who needed to earn his spot through sectional qualifying.
The player who broke the US Open scoring record in 2009 but never won on the PGA Tour
Quite incredibly, the sectional qualifying event in Columbus, Ohio saw both Lucas Glover and David Duval earn their spots in the field for the US Open. Of course, Glover would go on to win, while Duval finished in a tie for second. It was his first top 10 in a major since 2001.
Alongside Duval in second place was Phil Mickelson – the fifth of his six second place finishes in the event – and Ricky Barnes.
Barnes also earned his ticket to Bethpage in Columbus. He had made just six previous appearances in the majors since his bow at the 2000 US Open, and his best result had come at the 2003 Masters when he finished tied for 21st and ended up as the low amateur.
There was also little in his PGA Tour form at the start of 2009 which would provide a hint as to what was to come in New York.
Barnes missed six cuts in 12 events. He had just secured his best result of the year at the St. Jude Classic, but that was a tie for 47th.
His US Open started well, with Barnes posting a three under par 67. That left him tied for third, alongside two major champions in Duval and Todd Hamilton. He was three back of Mike Weir.
But that changed over the second round. Barnes became the first player to end two rounds of a US Open with a score of 132 – breaking the record of 133 set by Jim Furyk and Vijay Singh six years earlier.
Barnes remained one shot clear of Glover with one round to go after both men posted scores of 70. Unfortunately for the former, the final round proved to be a huge disappointment.
Barnes made bogeys on seven of his first 12 holes in the last round. It allowed Glover to win by two.
What followed for Ricky Barnes after his second place finish at the 2009 US Open
Amazingly, that would prove to be the only major Barnes would play in in 2009. He actually missed six cuts in a row later on in the year.
He did finish tied for 10th at the 2010 Masters. But Barnes would never finish in the top two in a PGA Tour event again.
His 353rd appearance on the PGA Tour came at this year’s Corales Puntacana Championship. However, the 44-year-old missed the cut that week.
Barnes has had a really solid career. But there must have been times in the years since where he wondered whether he could have gone to that next level had he been able to just play that final round at the 2009 US Open in level par and become a major champion.
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