U.S. Open at Pebble Beach: Big moments, memorable champs

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Tiger Woods produced a record-setting performance in winning the last U.S. Open at Pebble Beach in 2000.

The Pebble Beach Golf Links opened in Northern California in 1919. Ten years later, it hosted the U.S. Amateur. But not until 1972 did Pebble Beach host its first U.S. Open.

"It's amazing the USGA took so long ... to figure it out to come to this place," Mike Davis, the USGA's senior director of rules and competition, said last month during a news conference. "The only thing I can think of is it must be that some of you claim that it's East Coast bias the USGA has."

Then Davis added, "We're not biased anymore."

Certainly not. This year's U.S. Open will be the fifth played at Pebble Beach. and the second in three years in California (with another one, The Olympic Club, set for 2012).

If taking so long to play the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach was a surprise, it's no surprise why the event keeps coming back.

"Pebble Beach truly is the greatest meeting of land and sea, and the tradition and history is unmatched by any golf course in the world," said Bill Perocchi, the CEO of Pebble Beach.

Certainly, Pebble Beach's four previous U.S. Opens have each produced a memorable champion. Three are in the World Golf Hall of Fame -- Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson and Tom Kite. And the fourth to win at Pebble Beach, Tiger Woods, will one day join them.

Combined, those four have won 202 PGA TOUR events and 41 majors.

There are, as Woods noted recently, no flash-in-the-pan winners among that foursome.

"You have to hit the ball well there," Woods said. "If you look at the guys who have been either champions or who have contended, all of them have been ball-strikers."

As the golf world gets set for the fifth U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, here's an inside look at the previous four and what made each one so special.

Pebble Beach's U.S. Open champions

1972: JACK NICKLAUS The Golden Bear won the third U.S. Open championship of his career, surviving a windy Sunday that literally blew him off his feet at one point. • Click here for full story 1982: TOM WATSON In his first and only U.S. Open win, Watson denied Nicklaus by hitting arguably the most memorable shot in tournament history, a chip on 17 that found its way into the cup. • Click here for full story 1992: TOM KITE He carried the label "Best player without a major" for a long time. But the Texan finally broke through, battling nasty winds during a tense final round. • Click here for full story 2000: TIGER WOODS Fifteen strokes. That's the incredible margin of victory -- a record, of course -- that Woods set by blowing away the field to win his first U.S. Open. • Click here for full story