He’s the two-time US Open champion who was disqualified from an event after fans saw him breaking the rules

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The US Open is widely regarded as the toughest golf tournament to win in the professional game.

While The Masters might be the most awe-inspiring major and The Open Championship the most prestigious, The US Open is arguably the most exciting to watch.

The fact of the matter is that average golfers enjoy watching the best players in the world struggle.

J.J. Spaun won the US Open this year, and it was a real war of attrition at Oakmont, just like it has been nearly every other year previously.

The US Open has a reputation of making the most elite golfers in the world look distinctly average at times.

However, there are numerous players who have managed to thrive while navigating the tough tests presented by the USGA at the US Open.

One man in particular won two of his national championships but just two months after his second US Open triumph, he experienced a really unfortunate incident at one PGA Tour event.

Why two-time US Open champion was disqualified from a PGA Tour event

Back in 1993, Lee Janzen won the US Open at Baltusrol after shooting rounds of 67, 67, 69 and 69 to finish on eight-under par, two strokes clear of the runner-up, Payne Stewart.

Then, five years later at The Olympic Club in San Francisco, Janzen won his national championship for the second time, as history repeated itself with Stewart finishing in second place once again.

Two US Open trophies are evidence of what a gritty competitor the now 60-year-old was throughout his career.

However, two months after his win at The Olympic Club, he was disqualified from what was known at the time as the NEC World Series of Golf at Firestone in Akron, Ohio.

Janzen took longer than the allotted 10 second time allowance while waiting for his ball to drop into the cup on the 17th hole during his opening round of the tournament.

However, he wasn’t picked up on his rules infraction at the time of the incident.

Fans contacted the PGA Tour during the second round of the tournament and Janzen was subsequently disqualified – on his 34th birthday no less – for signing for an incorrect scorecard on day one.

If his error was noticed at the time, his birdie on the 17th would have become a par with the addition of the penalty stroke he would have incurred for waiting too long before his ball finally dropped in the hole.

It’s an incredibly harsh rule but one which everyone who has played at even an average level will surely be fully aware of.

Lee Janzen’s career PGA Tour career in numbers

Janzen enjoyed a wonderfully successful career on the PGA Tour – one that spanned more than three decades.

Whilst he was far from a superstar name, he was one man who the best players in the world did not want to get into a dogfight with.

The two-time US Open champion was not afraid of winning either.

Here are his career results on the PGA Tour:

Considering those numbers above, it would be fair for Janzen to feel aggrieved that he is not in the World Golf Hall Of Fame.

As well as his two US Open victories, Janzen won a Players Championship and was a member of two US Ryder Cup teams.

His career on the PGA Tour was a mightily impressive one with numerous highlights, but the incident at Firestone in 1998 is one that he will undoubtedly have tried his best to forget!