ESPN 2008 US Open

Updated: June 6, 2008, 6:25 AM ET

Playoff win over Faldo at '88 Open changed Strange's life

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By Bob Harig
ESPN.com
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Curtis Strange ponders the question for a moment, perhaps trying to come up with something philosophical or poignant, before blurting out the simple answer you would naturally expect anyway about the most significant occurrence in his professional life.

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AP Photo/Jim GerberichCurtis Strange needed to play 18 extra holes at the 1988 U.S. Open, but it was well worth it to earn his first U.S. Open title.

"I remember everything, I remember it all!" Strange said when asked what he recalled about his victory 20 years ago in what would become the first of his back-to-back wins at the U.S. Open.

There is no forgetting such an event. There was the pre-tournament hype that suggested Strange, then 33, with his hair already starting to turn slightly gray, was one of the best golfers in the world. In the final round, there was the three-putt bogey at The Country Club's 17th hole, one that could have cost him the tournament. Then there was the up-and-down from a bunker for par at the 18th to tie Nick Faldo. And the 18-hole playoff the next day.

There were thoughts about his father, Tom, a former club pro who had passed away when Curtis was just 14. Then there was the sheer determination not to let the opportunity get away, not to dwell on the mistakes of the final round and to make sure he took care of business against Faldo in the playoff to win the 1988 U.S. Open in Brookline, Mass.

"I kind of had it under control, I lost it at 17, and then I was fortunate at 18," Strange recalled. "And I was desperately trying to not get down, to make sure I was up for the playoff. And I was.

"I never, ever had one feeling of disappointment. I couldn't allow myself that. The next day was going to be the most important day of my life, in my golf career. Honestly, I didn't think about having the tournament won on the 17th and then fighting to get in a playoff. The next day was too important. All of the things that were evolving about Nick and I and The Country Club. It was too important of a day to not go out there and let it go."

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Rick Stewart /Getty ImagesAfter winning the 1988 U.S. Open at The Country Club, Strange successfully defended his U.S. Open title the next year at Oak Hill (above). He was the first player to win back-to-back U.S. Opens since Ben Hogan in 1950 and '51.

At 53, Strange is a frequent competitor on the Champions Tour after working for eight years as a golf analyst for ABC. He will return to the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines as a part of ESPN's and NBC's television coverage June 12-15.

Twenty years ago, Strange was at the peak -- but also near the end, though few knew that -- of his winning ways. He ended up winning four times in 1988, including the Memorial Tournament just a few weeks before his U.S. Open triumph. He became the first player to surpass $1 million in earnings in a season and won the money title for the third time, also getting voted PGA Player of the Year.

"Curtis was a very consistent player, I guess you would call it a deep thinker or intense player," said Faldo, who is an analyst for The Golf Channel and CBS. "He drove well, played steady, played a lot of good shots, good short game. He was just a good pro, handled his game very well. He didn't hit any flashy shots, just manufactured it around and in the right way."

At the time, Faldo was the reigning British Open champion, having won the first of his six major titles the previous summer at Muirfield. But he could not overcome Strange.

The Englishman remembered hitting a 6-iron approach at the 16th hole in regulation into a bunker as a shot he'd like to have back among those on the way to an even-par 71. Strange shot 72, and both finished the tournament at 6-under-par 278.

Then, in the playoff, Strange led by one through the front nine and saw Faldo bogey three of the final four holes as the American won by four, 71 to 75.

"I found it very difficult to get into it," Faldo said. "To come back on Monday, that really felt like anticlimax, people packing up and everything. And you got one-tenth of the gallery, and I guess I couldn't quite get into it."

Strange had no such issues.

"We didn't say two words to each other," Strange said. "And that's how it should have been. We were cordial, didn't mean we weren't gentlemen. But that was an important day for both of us. You're standing between me and that trophy, and I'm going to get on any vehicle and run you over to get it.

"I was playing well at the time, I thought I was pretty well-established and it didn't make any difference to me who I was playing. As good as he was, he wasn't intimidating to me. I was on equal footing, I thought. I had to believe that."

We didn't say two words to each other. And that's how it should have been. We were cordial, didn't mean we weren't gentlemen. But that was an important day for both of us. You're standing between me and that trophy, and I'm going to get on any vehicle and run you over to get it.

-- Curtis Strange, on competing in a playoff with Nick Faldo at the 1988 U.S. Open

The victory was the 15th of Strange's career. And it changed his life.

"That's when you realize the U.S. Open is different, how big the U.S. Open is," he said. "Recognition. Opportunities. Demands. Respect. It just all changes -- and all for the good. There are demands we don't like, but it's all part of the game. It's not always what you bargained for, but it's all good."

Strange was known as a fierce competitor who wasn't afraid to give a caddie an earful or stew over a missed shot or putt. His legendary passion saw him stomp off a few courses in anger.

For his career, Strange managed only two more wins after his victory at The Country Club. Sixteen of those 17 titles came in the 1980s.

"Curtis could channel that kind of intensity positively," said Bruce Lietzke, a fellow Champions Tour pro and friend of Strange's. "If he made a bogey, it made him so mad, but he would always turn that into four birdies in a row."

Strange finished the 1988 season with a victory at the Nabisco Championship, which is now the Tour Championship.

Then he successfully defended his U.S. Open title the next year at Oak Hill, becoming the first player since Ben Hogan in 1950 and '51 to win the tournament in consecutive years.

Strange set his sights on becoming the first player since Willie Anderson (1903-05) to win three straight U.S. Opens, a quest that consumed him.

"I had a chance to do something that only one person before in the history of golf had done," he said. "There wasn't a day I didn't think about the U.S. Open. I tried to downplay it, but it was hard. Everywhere I went, people asked about it. If I was at Doral, the Open came up. It was hard not to. That entire year leading up to the Open, I thoroughly enjoyed it because it kept me on edge. It kept me focused. It kept me thinking about that one goal."

AP Photo/Paul BattagliaAlthough Curtis Strange's PGA Tour career led him to the winner's circle 17 times, he has yet to win on the Champions Tour.

Strange shot a third-round 68 to move within two shots of the lead heading into the final round at Medinah in 1990. But he shot 75 and tied for 21st. Strange was just 35, but he never won again on the PGA Tour.

"I don't think I'll ever know why," Strange said. "It was after going for the three [in a row] that I kind of lost a lot of drive. I kind of burned out almost. I think burnout would be as close to describing my feeling as anything else."

Strange posted just two top-10 finishes in major championships after that and never again finished better than 40th on the PGA Tour money list. Lanny Wadkins made him a captain's pick at the 1995 Ryder Cup, which was played at Oak Hill, where Strange had won his second Open. But the magic did not return, and Strange lost three matches, including a final-day singles encounter with Faldo, as the U.S. team lost.

Strange also captained the 2002 U.S. Ryder Cup team and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame last year.

His Champions Tour career has not gone as well as he hoped, with Strange finishing no better than third in any event in his four seasons.

"I'm having trouble accepting the fact that I'm not playing as well," Strange said.

But he has no trouble remembering what happened 20 years ago at the U.S. Open.

"It's been a fantastic 20 years," Strange said. "A lot going on, good golf, bad golf. TV. Senior tour. It's been fun. But when you really do think about all of the things and details that have transpired over 20 years, it's a long time. A lot of shots have been hit. A lot of hours on the range. A lot of rounds played.

"But it's been fantastic. It's all been good. The best part of it is you're always the Open champion."