Sports

LONE OPEN TITLE TOPS PALMER’S LIST

Nobody knows U.S. Open heartbreak like Arnold Palmer. The King played in 32 Opens, but only once did he emerge victorious. Thirteen times, Arnie finished in the top 10, and five times he was the runner-up, losing three 18-hole playoffs in a five-year span. With a little luck and a better putter, Palmer might have won five, maybe six Opens.

US OPEN TEE TIMES

FIRST ROUND SCORES

GALLERY: US Open Flooded

GALLERY: US Open First Round

Arnie, who will celebrate his 80th birthday in September, was asked by The Post to list his “most memorable” U.S. Opens. Here they are:

1. 1960 (Cherry Hills) — “I think it’s pretty obvious why it’s No. 1 on my list,” said Arnie, who was seven strokes back starting the final round. He began his charge by driving the 346-yard first hole and making a two-putt birdie en route to a 65 that enabled him to hold off a 47-year-old Ben Hogan and a 20-year-old amateur named Jack Nicklaus.

2. 1962 (Oakmont) — Despite three-putting 11 greens, Arnie could have won the championship with a 10-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole. That putt didn’t fall, leaving Palmer to face “Fat Boy” the next day in an 18-hole playoff. “Are there any good putters in the crowd?” Arnie asked his army after losing to Nicklaus by three shots. “He can give me a lesson tonight.”

3. 1973 (Oakmont) — “It must have been a good day for grass to grow,” Arnie moaned, “because I left a whole lot of putts short.” During the final round, Palmer was tied for the lead but he missed a four-foot birdie putt on 11 and bogeyed three straight holes starting at 12. He finished tied for fourth behind Johnny Miller, who won with a record-setting 63.

4. 1966 (Olympic Club) — “I’ve spent four decades trying to explain what happened,” said Arnie, who led Billy Casper by seven shots with nine holes to play. But Palmer stumbled home with a 39, needing a 6-footer for par on the 72nd hole to finish off a 71. Casper, meanwhile, shot a 32 on the back, forcing Palmer into yet another playoff. The next day, Arnie was up two shots with eight holes to play but gave back six shots and lost 69-73.

5. 1963 (The Country Club) — “Frankly, it hurt like hell,” Arnie said of his second straight loss in an Open playoff. Arnie’s low point? He missed a 2-foot putt on the 71st hole and finished tied with Julius Boros and Jacky Cupit. In the playoff, Palmer needed three hacks to escape from a tree stump on the 11th hole and finished six shots behind the easy-swinging Boros.

6. 1967 (Baltusrol) — “Jack was a different animal altogether, completely unlike anyone I’d ever chased,” said Arnie, who went head-to-head with Nicklaus and again came in second, four shots back. On the final day, they started dead even, but Jack, starting at No. 3, birdied five of the next six holes and never looked back. Palmer’s 69 was good enough to make him the second non-winning player in Open history to break 280.

7. 1972 (Pebble Beach) — “It got to be ridiculous,” Arnie said of his putting. In the final round, he missed an 8-foot birdie putt at 14 that could have given him the lead. He bogeyed the next two holes and closed with a 4-over 76 to finish in third place, four shots back as Nicklaus captured the third of his four Open titles.

8. 1974 (Winged Foot) — After day two, Arnie shared the lead with Gary Player, Ray Floyd and Hale Irwin at 3-over. In the third round, Palmer shot a 73 and trailed leader Tom Watson by two shots. On Sunday, Arnie three-putted the second hole from 12 feet en route to a 76 and fifth place, five shots behind Irwin, who finished at 7-over.

rwimbish@nypost.com