Activities Sports & Athletics 1997 US Open Scores and Tournament Recap Ernie Els Won First for a Second Time Share PINTEREST Email Print Ernie Els of South Africa tees off on the 18th green at the end of the third round watched by Tom Lehman of the USA during the 1997 US Open. David Cannon/Getty Images Sports & Athletics Golf Golf Tournaments Basics History Gear Golf Courses Famous Golfers Baseball Basketball Bicycling Billiards Bodybuilding Bowling Boxing Car Racing Cheerleading Cricket Extreme Sports Football Gymnastics Ice Hockey Martial Arts Professional Wrestling Skateboarding Skating Paintball Soccer Swimming & Diving Table Tennis Tennis Track & Field Volleyball Other Activities Learn More by Brent Kelley Brent Kelley is an award-winning sports journalist and golf expert with over 30 years in print and online journalism. Updated April 27, 2018 The 1997 U.S. Open was played on the Blue Course at Congressional Country Club, whose par-3 closing hole is unusual in major championship golf. This was the first U.S. Open as a pro for Tiger Woods, who was coming off a record-setting victory at the 1997 Masters. Woods wasn't a factor here, however, finishing tied for 19th. Tom Lehman was the third-round leader, and Lehman was in the mix until hitting into the water on the next-to-last hole of the tournament. He finished in third place. That left Ernie Els and Colin Montgomerie -- who had been part of an 18-hole playoff at the 1994 U.S. Open, won by Els -- to battle it out. But Monty bogeyed the 71st hole to Els' par, and that proved the difference. Els finished as the champion, one stroke ahead of Montgomerie. It was Els' second win a major, his fourth overall win on the PGA Tour. 1997 U.S. Open Scores Results from the 1997 U.S. Open golf tournament played at the par-70 Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland (a-amateur): Ernie Els $465,000 71-67-69-69--276 Colin Montgomerie $275,000 65-76-67-69--277 Tom Lehman $172,828 67-70-68-73--278 Jeff Maggert $120,454 73-66-68-74--281 Bob Tway $79,875 71-71-70-70--282 Jim Furyk $79,875 74-68-69-71--282 Olin Browne $79,875 71-71-69-71--282 Jay Haas $79,875 73-69-68-72--282 Tommy Tolles $79,875 74-67-69-72--282 Scott McCarron $56,949 73-71-69-70--283 Scott Hoch $56,949 71-68-72-72--283 David Ogrin $56,949 70-69-71-73--283 Loren Roberts $47,348 72-69-72-71--284 Stewart Cink $47,348 71-67-74-72--284 Billy Andrade $45,348 75-67-69-73--284 Bradley Hughes $40,086 75-70-71-69--285 Jose Maria Olazabal $40,086 71-71-72-71--285 Davis Love III $40,086 75-70-69-71--285 Nick Price $31,915 71-74-71-70--286 Lee Westwood $31,915 71-71-73-71--286 Tiger Woods $31,915 74-67-73-72--286 Paul Stankowski $31,915 75-70-68-73--286 Hal Sutton $31,915 66-73-73-74--286 Len Mattiace $24,173 71-75-73-68--287 Scott Dunlap $24,173 75-66-75-71--287 Edward Fryatt $24,173 72-73-73-69--287 Steve Elkington $24,173 75-68-72-72--287 Paul Goydos $17,443 73-72-74-69--288 Paul Azinger $17,443 72-72-74-70--288 Payne Stewart $17,443 71-73-73-71--288 Mark McNulty $17,443 67-73-75-73--288 Hideki Kase $17,443 68-73-73-74--288 Fuzzy Zoeller $17,443 72-73-69-74--288 Kelly Gibson $17,443 72-69-72-75--288 Jeff Sluman $17,443 69-72-72-75--288 Justin Leonard $13,483 69-72-78-70--289 Grant Waite $13,483 72-74-72-71--289 Steve Stricker $13,483 66-76-75-72--289 Mark O'Meara $13,483 73-73-71-72--289 Stuart Appleby $13,483 71-75-70-73--289 John Cook $13,483 72-71-71-75--289 Frank Nobilo $13,483 71-74-70-74--289 Darren Clarke $10,491 73-74-73-70--290 Phil Mickelson $10,491 75-68-73-74--290 Fred Funk $10,491 73-70-72-75--290 Chris Perry $10,491 70-73-71-76--290 Craig Parry $10,491 70-74-69-77--290 Jesper Parnevik $8,496 72-75-73-71--291 David Duval $8,496 74-73-70-74--291 Nick Faldo $8,496 72-74-69-76--291 David White $7,786 70-72-73-77--292 Lee Janzen $7,138 72-73-75-73--293 Jack Nicklaus $7,138 73-71-75-74--293 Hale Irwin $7,138 70-73-76-74--293 Fred Couples $7,138 75-72-72-74--293 Peter Teravainen $7,138 71-73-74-75--293 Paul Broadhurst $7,138 77-69-72-75--293 Larry Mize $6,530 70-74-76-74--294 Clarence Rose $6,530 72-71-73-78--294 Chris Smith $6,270 77-69-74-75--295 Duffy Waldorf $6,270 73-73-73-76--295 Rodney Butcher $6,270 73-74-70-78--295 Steve Jones $6,270 72-75-69-79--295 Tom Watson $6,120 72-74-72-78--296 Dave Schreyer $6,000 68-73-82-74--297 Ben Crenshaw $6,000 73-74-76-74--297 Brad Faxon $6,000 72-74-76-75--297 Tom Kite $5,742 75-69-82-72--298 Mike Hulbert $5,742 73-73-77-75--298 Greg Kraft $5,742 77-69-76-76--298 John Morse $5,742 71-74-76-77--298 Stephen Ames $5,742 73-73-75-77--298 Thomas Bjorn $5,742 71-75-73-79--298 Jimmy Green $5,550 75-72-79-73--299 Randy Wylie $5,467 71-76-77-76--300 Andrew Coltart $5,467 74-71-76-79--300 Dick Mast $5,275 73-69-83-76--301 Greg Towne $5,275 71-73-83-74--301 Vijay Singh $5,275 71-76-77-77--301 Perry Parker $5,275 75-71-77-78--301 Donnie Hammond $5,275 75-71-76-79--301 Jacob Ferenz $5,110 72-75-80-76--303 Marco Dawson $5,055 75-71-80-78--304 Slade Adams $5,000 71-74-78-83--306 Continue Reading