The Top Event in Men’s Golf? It’s an Open and Shut Case

The U.S. Open is the most cherished prize worldwide in men’s golf, according to a specially chosen pool of judges made up of players and journalists.

The panel, consisting of golfers Andy Bean and Bob Murphy, CBS television golf analyst Ken Venturi, and seven golf writers, were asked by the Lakeland Ledger what they felt were the most prestigious golf tournaments in the world.

Of the ten panelists, eight voted the U.S. Open the most prestigious. None of them ranked the tournament below first place, but one writer selected the Masters, British Open and U.S. Open as equally prestigious.

The consensus was the U.S. Open is the most prestigious because it has the best field year after year. Unlike the Masters, the U.S. Open holds qualifying rounds so the best amateurs and professionals go head to head.

The U.S. Open is also moved from year to year, providing more challenge to players because they never know what to expect.

“It’s the premier golf event in the world, period,” said Murphy, who captured this year’s Canadian Open. “The others are great to win, but when you win the U.S. Open, you’ve done something above winning.”

Rounding out the top five tournaments chosen by the group were the British Open, the Masters, the PGA Championship and the Tournament Players Championship. Also receiving votes were the Canadian Open and the Memorial.

The British Open, while garnering two first-place votes, was generally considered to be far behind the U.S. Open, according to the Ledger panel.

In addition to Venturi, Murphy and Bean, the panel included golf writers Gordon White of the New York Times, Bob Green of the Associated Press, Bob Fowler of the Orlando Sentinel, Thomas Boswell of the Washington Post, Owen Canfield of the Hartford (Conn.) Courant, Ross Goodner of Golf Digest and Steve Hershey of USA Today.