The 1987 U.S. Open was the 87th U.S. Open, held June 18–21 at the Olympic Club in San Francisco, California. Scott Simpson passed and held off 1982 champion Tom Watson on the Lake Course to win his only major title by one stroke.

Eleven former champions were in the field and only four made the 36-hole cut.

This was the third U.S. Open at the Lake Course of the Olympic Club, the previous two in 1955 and 1966 ended in playoffs. The U.S. Open returned in 1998 and 2012; both were won by one stroke.

Olympic Club - Lake Course

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Out	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	In	Total
Yards	533	394	223	438	457	437	288	132	433	3,335	422	430	390	186	417	149	609	428	343	3,374	6,709
Par	5	4	3	4	4	4	4	3	4	35	4	4	4	3	4	3	5	4	4	35	70

Lengths of the course for previous major championships:

• 6,719 yards (6,144 m), par 70 - 1966 U.S. Open
• 6,700 yards (6,126 m), par 70 - 1955 U.S. Open

Thursday, June 18, 1987

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Ben Crenshaw	67	−3
T2	Seve Ballesteros	68	−2
	Raymond Floyd
	Tsuneyuki Nakajima
T5	Bernhard Langer	69	−1
	Nick Price
	Denis Watson
T8	Jay Don Blake	70	E
	Lennie Clements
	John Cook
	Dale Douglass
	David Frost
	Sandy Lyle
	Jack Nicklaus
	Jim Thorpe
	Bob Tway
	Mark Wiebe

Friday, June 19, 1987

Place	Player	Score	To par
T1	Tom Watson	72-65=137	−3
	Mark Wiebe	70-67=137
T3	John Cook	70-68=138	−2
	Bernhard Langer	69-69=138
	Tsuneyuki Nakajima	68-70=138
	Jack Nicklaus	70-68=138
	Jim Thorpe	70-68=138
T8	Ben Crenshaw	67-72=139	−1
	Bob Eastwood	73-66=139
	Larry Mize	71-68=139
	Scott Simpson	71-68=139

Amateurs: Alexander (+13), Parker (+13).

Saturday, June 20, 1987

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Tom Watson	72-65-71=208	−2
T2	Keith Clearwater	74-71-64=209	−1
	Scott Simpson	71-68-70=209
4	Lennie Clements	70-70-70=210	E
T5	Seve Ballesteros	68-75-68=211	+1
	Ben Crenshaw	67-72-72=211
	Bernhard Langer	69-69-73=211
	John Mahaffey	72-72-67=211
	Larry Mize	71-68-72=211
	Jim Thorpe	70-68-73=211

Sunday, June 21, 1987

Watson held a share of the lead after 36 holes, then took a one-shot lead over Simpson and Keith Clearwater into the final round. Clearwater, 27, shot a six-under 64 on Saturday to get into the final pair with Watson. Watson struggled out of the gate on Sunday on Olympic's difficult start; he bogeyed the first two holes and the fifth as well. Simpson birdied the first but then had three bogeys in four holes. With consecutive birdies at 8 and 9, Watson carried a one-stroke lead to the back nine. Simpson, a group ahead on the course, took the lead with a 30-footer (9 m) for birdie at 15, but Watson responded with a birdie at 14 to tie. At 16, Simpson sank a 9-footer (2.7 m) for his third straight birdie to take the lead, then Watson missed his from 12 feet (3.7 m) to match. Simpson found a greenside bunker at 17, then hit his sand shot to 6 feet (1.8 m) and saved par. With a par on 18, Simpson was in the clubhouse with a 68 and Watson needed a birdie to a force a Monday playoff. His 35-foot (11 m) putt narrowly missed and Simpson was the champion by a stroke. In the final pairing, Clearwater had trouble both early and late and shot a 79 (+9) to fade to a tie for 31st. Seve Ballesteros finished in solo third place, his best career finish in a U.S. Open.

Place	Player	Score	To par	Money ($)
1	Scott Simpson	71-68-70-68=277	−3	150,000
2	Tom Watson	72-65-71-70=278	−2	75,000
3	Seve Ballesteros	68-75-68-71=282	+2	46,240
T4	Ben Crenshaw	67-72-72-72=283	+3	24,542
	Bernhard Langer	69-69-73-72=283
	Larry Mize	71-68-72-72=283
	Curtis Strange	71-72-69-71=283
	Bobby Wadkins	71-71-70-71=283
T9	Lennie Clements	70-70-70-74=284	+4	15,004
	Tsuneyuki Nakajima	68-70-74-72=284
	Mac O'Grady	71-69-72-72=284
	Dan Pohl	75-71-69-69=284
	Jim Thorpe	70-68-73-73=284

Final round

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
Par	5	4	3	4	4	4	4	3	4	4	4	4	3	4	3	5	4	4
Simpson	−2	−2	−1	E	E	+1	E	E	E	E	E	E	E	−1	−2	−3	−3	−3
Watson	−1	E	E	E	+1	+1	+1	E	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	−2	−2	−2	−2	−2
Ballesteros	E	E	+1	+2	+3	+3	+2	+1	+1	+1	E	+1	+2	+2	+1	+1	+2	+2
Crenshaw	+2	+2	+2	+2	+2	+2	+2	+2	+1	E	+1	+2	+2	+1	+1	+2	+3	+3
Langer	E	E	E	E	E	+1	+1	+1	+1	+1	+1	+2	+2	+1	+2	+2	+2	+3
Mize	+1	+1	E	E	E	+1	+1	+1	+1	E	E	+1	+2	+3	+3	+3	+3	+3
Strange	+3	+3	+3	+3	+4	+4	+4	+3	+2	+2	+2	+2	+2	+3	+3	+3	+4	+3
Wadkins	+2	+2	+3	+3	+4	+4	+4	+4	+4	+3	+3	+3	+2	+3	+3	+3	+4	+3
Clements	E	+1	+2	+2	+3	+4	+3	+3	+3	+3	+3	+3	+4	+3	+3	+4	+4	+4
Clearwater	−1	E	+2	+2	+3	+3	+3	+3	+3	+3	+3	+3	+3	+3	+3	+4	+7	+8

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par

Birdie

Bogey

Double bogey

Triple bogey+

Source:

• GolfCompendium.com: 1987 U.S. Open
• USGA Championship Database
• USOpen.com – 1987

37°42′32″N 122°29′42″W / 37.709°N 122.495°W / 37.709; -122.495