The 1990 U.S. Open was the 90th U.S. Open, held June 14–18 at Course No. 3 of Medinah Country Club in Medinah, Illinois, a suburb northwest of Chicago. Hale Irwin became the oldest U.S. Open champion by defeating Mike Donald at the 91st hole, the first in sudden-death, after the two tied in the 18-hole Monday playoff. It was Irwin's third U.S. Open title, with previous wins in 1974 and 1979. Implemented decades earlier, it was the first use of sudden-death in the U.S. Open; the last tie in a playoff was in 1946. Sudden death was needed again in 1994 and 2008.

It was the third U.S. Open at Medinah, which previously hosted in 1949 and 1975. It later hosted the PGA Championship in 1999 and 2006, and the Ryder Cup in 2012.

Irwin was without a PGA Tour win in five years and 11 years removed from his last U.S. Open victory in 1979; he received a special exemption from the USGA to enter the tournament. Irwin began the final round in a tie for 20th place, four strokes back of leaders Billy Ray Brown and Donald. Playing well ahead of the leaders, Irwin fired a round of 67, which included a 45-foot (14 m) birdie putt at the 72nd hole. After the putt dropped, he provided the championship with its enduring image as he took a "victory lap" around the green, high-fiving spectators. Irwin, however, had not won the championship yet as there were still golfers on the course with a chance to overtake him. Donald made par saves from 35 feet (11 m) on the 12th and from 15 feet (5 m) on the 14th before making bogey at the 16th. A two-putt par on the last tied him with Irwin, forcing an 18-hole Monday playoff. Brown and Nick Faldo finished a stroke out of the playoff in a tie for third place.

In the playoff, Donald took a two-shot lead to the 16th tee. Needing a birdie, Irwin responded with a brilliant 2-iron approach and sank the putt to get within one. After both players parred the 17th, Irwin made par at the last, giving Donald a chance to win the championship. His par putt, however, narrowly slid by, implementing sudden-death for the first time in U.S. Open history. (Previous playoff ties went on to play additional full rounds, the last of which was in 1946.) Irwin needed just one more hole, recording a birdie at the par-4 1st to win the championship.

At 45 years and 15 days, Irwin became the oldest winner of the U.S. Open, surpassing the record set in 1986 by Raymond Floyd by 15 months. The oldest winner of a major is Phil Mickelson, 50 at the 2021 PGA Championship.

Curtis Strange attempted to win his third consecutive U.S. Open; he began the final round just two off the lead, but a final round 75 dropped him back to 21st place. Amateurs Phil Mickelson and David Duval made their major championship debuts, finishing in 29th and 56th place, respectively.

Scoring conditions were ideal throughout the week, with a record 39 under-par rounds in the first round and 47 in the second. A total of 28 players finished the tournament under-par, a new U.S. Open record.

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Out	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	In	Total
Yards	385	180	412	434	526	445	581	190	426	3,582	577	402	462	199	545	384	426	168	440	3,603	7,185
Par	4	3	4	4	5	4	5	3	4	36	5	4	4	3	5	4	4	3	4	36	72

Source:

Thursday, June 14, 1990

Place	Player	Score	To par
T1	Scott Simpson	66	−6
	Tim Simpson
	Jeff Sluman
T4	Mike Donald	67	−5
	Steve Jones
T6	Mark Brooks	68	−4
	John Huston
T8	Emlyn Aubrey	69	−3
	Billy Ray Brown
	Hale Irwin
	Bob Tway

Friday, June 15, 1990

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Tim Simpson	66-69=135	−9
2	Jeff Sluman	66-70=136	−8
3	Mike Donald	67-70=137	−7
4	Mark Brooks	68-70=138	−6
T5	Hale Irwin	69-70=139	−5
	Scott Simpson	66-73=139
T7	Billy Ray Brown	69-71=140	−4
	Jim Gallagher Jr.	71-69=140
	John Huston	68-72=140
	Ian Woosnam	70-70=140

Amateurs: Duval (E), Mickelson (+1).

Saturday, June 16, 1990

Place	Player	Score	To par
T1	Billy Ray Brown	69-71-69=209	−7
	Mike Donald	67-70-72=209
T3	Mark Brooks	68-70-72=210	−6
	Larry Nelson	74-67-69=210
	Tim Simpson	66-69-75=210
	Jeff Sluman	66-70-74=210
T7	Larry Mize	72-70-69=211	−5
	José María Olazábal	73-69-69=211
	Craig Parry	72-71-68=211
	Mike Reid	70-73-68=211
	Curtis Strange	73-70-68=211
	Fuzzy Zoeller	73-70-68=211

Sunday, June 17, 1990

Place	Player	Score	To par	Money ($)
T1	Hale Irwin	69-70-74-67=280	−8	Playoff
	Mike Donald	67-70-72-71=280
T3	Billy Ray Brown	69-71-69-72=281	−7	56,878
	Nick Faldo	72-72-68-69=281
T5	Mark Brooks	68-70-72-73=283	−5	33,271
	Greg Norman	72-73-69-69=283
	Tim Simpson	66-69-75-73=283
T8	Scott Hoch	70-73-69-72=284	−4	22,236
	Steve Jones	67-76-74-67=284
	José María Olazábal	73-69-69-73=284
	Tom Sieckmann	70-74-68-72=284
	Craig Stadler	71-70-72-71=284
	Fuzzy Zoeller	73-70-68-73=284

Amateurs: Phil Mickelson (E), David Duval (+5).

Final round

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
Par	4	3	4	4	5	4	5	3	4	5	4	4	3	5	4	4	3	4
Irwin	−3	−2	−2	−2	−2	−2	−3	−3	−3	−3	−4	−5	−6	−7	−7	−7	−7	−8
Donald	−8	−9	−9	−9	−9	−9	−9	−9	−9	−9	−9	−9	−9	−9	−9	−8	−8	−8
Brown	−7	−7	−7	−7	−8	−8	−6	−7	−6	−6	−7	−7	−7	−7	−7	−6	−7	−7
Faldo	−5	−5	−5	−5	−6	−6	−6	−6	−6	−6	−7	−7	−7	−8	−8	−7	−7	−7
Brooks	−6	−6	−5	−5	−5	−4	−4	−4	−5	−5	−5	−6	−5	−5	−4	−4	−5	−5
Norman	−2	−2	−2	−2	−3	−4	−4	−5	−5	−6	−6	−6	−7	−6	−6	−6	−5	−5
Simpson	−6	−6	−6	−6	−6	−5	−5	−5	−6	−6	−6	−6	−5	−5	−5	−5	−5	−5
Nelson	−6	−6	−6	−4	−5	−3	−3	−2	−2	−2	−3	−3	−2	−1	−1	−2	−3	−3
Sluman	−6	−6	−6	−5	−4	−4	−4	−4	−4	−3	−4	−4	−4	−4	−3	−3	−3	−3

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par

Birdie

Bogey

Double bogey

Source:

Monday, June 18, 1990

Place	Player	Score	To par	Sudden death	Money ($)
1	Hale Irwin	38-36=74	+2	3	220,000
2	Mike Donald	37-37=74	+2	x	110,000

• Irwin and Donald tied in the 18-hole playoff at 74 (+2).
• The sudden-death playoff began on hole #1 (385 yd., par 4), which Irwin (3) birdied and Donald (x) did not.

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
Par	4	3	4	4	5	4	5	3	4	5	4	4	3	5	4	4	3	4
Irwin	E	E	E	E	+1	+1	+1	+1	+2	+2	+3	+4	+4	+3	+3	+2	+2	+2
Donald	−1	E	E	+1	+1	+2	+2	+2	+1	+1	+2	+2	+2	+1	+1	+1	+1	+2
Sudden-death Playoff
Irwin	−1
Donald	x

Birdie

Bogey

Source:

• USGA Championship Database