The United States Senior Open will be contested this week at Scioto Country Club in Columbus, the place where Jack Nicklaus learned to play golf.
Scioto was also the site of the 1968 U.S. Amateur championship and it was 48 years ago that senior veteran Bruce Fleisher pulled one of golf’s great upsets.
Fleisher was a lanky kid out of Miami who won the National JuCo title playing for Miami-Dade. No big deal. But he had the week of a lifetime at Scioto in 1968.
Fleisher won with an even-par total of 284 on the famous Donald Ross design. There was only one sub-par round that week and it came on the final day when then University of Virginia law student Marvin “Vinnie” Giles III shot an incredible closing 65 and set a course record but came up a shot short of Fleisher.
Fleisher went on to spend most of his career as a club professional but did play on the PGA Tour and won the 1991 New England Classic. But he made his mark on the Champions Tour with 18 victories, including the 2001 U.S. Senior Open.
Fleisher may not be a contender this week but he will have some great memories of a great course and the win of a lifetime.
