With Oakmont having played host to seven previous U.S. Open championships, the memories run deep and long for a course about to enter its ninth decade as a cornerstone to the nation's tournament. Post-Gazette golf writer Gerry Dulac ranks the 10 greatest Oakmont Moments:

No. 1: Johnny Miller's final round 63
In what is considered the greatest round in golf history, Johnny Miller birdied the first four holes en route to a course-record 63 and won the 1973 U.S. Open on a day when none of the third-round leaders bettered 70. Miller hit all 18 greens and made only one bogey -- a three-putt at the par-3 eighth -- en route to overcoming a six-shot deficit and winning his first major championship. He even lipped-out makeable birdie putts on the final two holes.

No. 2: Jack beats Arnie in '62 playoff
In a major tournament that signaled the changing of the guard in professional golf, Jack Nicklaus, 22, beat hometown favorite Arnold Palmer in an 18-hole playoff to win the first of his 18 major championships. Palmer three-putted 11 times in 90 holes on Oakmont's slick greens; Nicklaus had just one three-putt -- on the first hole of the final round. Nicklaus did not know it at the time, but the pro-Palmer crowd at Oakmont treated him unfairly, angering one of his supporters in the crowd -- the late former Ohio State football coach Woody Hayes.

No. 3: Local club pro Sam Parks wins in '35
In one of the most shocking upsets in Open history, South Hills Country Club pro Sam Parks used his knowledge of the local course to beat the likes of Gene Sarazen and Walter Hagen with a score of 299, despite bogeys on three of the final four holes. Parks was like any other club professional at the time, tending to the business of his pro shop and playing the occasional PGA event in the summer.

No. 4: Ben Hogan wins his fourth Open
At age 40, just four years after a car crash nearly killed him, Ben Hogan became only the third player to win four U.S. Open titles, and he did it in impressive style -- beating Sam Snead by six shots with a back-nine charge in the final round in 1952. Hogan began the final 36 holes Saturday with a two-shot lead, but Snead, who had never won the Open, held the lead after nine holes in the morning round. Hogan never backed down and, despite his age and weary body, birdied the last two holes to finish at 283.

No. 5: Tommy Armour's 3-iron birdie on 18
In the first U.S. Open at Oakmont in 1927, Tommy Armour of Scotland hit one of the most memorable shots in tournament history -- a 3-iron from 190 yards for birdie at the final hole -- to force a Monday playoff with Harry "Lighthorse" Cooper. Armour won the 18-hole playoff, 76 to 79, for his first victory as a professional. The field included Bobby Jones, who had two victories and two runner-up finishes in the four previous Opens and won the U.S. Amateur two years earlier at Oakmont.

No. 6: Larry Nelson's 62-foot birdie putt on 16
Larry Nelson and Tom Watson were tied for the lead on the final day of the 1983 U.S. Open when a heavy rain postponed play and forced six players to come back Monday morning. On his first hole of the morning, Nelson made an improbable 62-foot birdie putt at the par-3 16th, giving him a one-shot lead and leading to his second major title. Nelson played the final 36 holes at Oakmont in 10-under 132, a U.S. record for two rounds.

No. 7 Arnold Palmer's final Open appearance
The heat index was well over 100 during the '94 Open, but everyone in attendance had chills when Arnold Palmer walked to the 18th green in the second round in what was his final appearance in a U.S. Open. Palmer, 64, who won the 1960 Open, wanted to make his final appearance at Oakmont, the course about 40 miles from his hometown of Latrobe. In a rare and emotional scene, Palmer broke down and cried in the interview room and was given a standing ovation by members of the media.

No. 8: Ernie Els wins in oppressive heat
Els, 24, certainly didn't charge down the stretch to win his first major title in the 1994 Open. He bogeyed Nos. 16 and 18 on the final day to drop into a three-man playoff with Loren Roberts and Colin Montgomerie. And he started bogey-triple bogey Monday after taking a drop from a bush on the second hole. But he played 1-under the rest of the way, though he never took the lead from Roberts until he made par at No. 11, the 20th hole of the day, for the win.

No. 9: Phil Rodgers makes 8 at No. 17
Rodgers finished third in the 1962 Open, missing out on a playoff between Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer by two shots, despite taking a quadruple-bogey 8 at No. 17, the shortest par 4 on the course. It happened in the first round when Rodgers' tee shot at the 296-yard hole became lodged in one of the small evergreen trees that used to line the left side of the fairway. Rodgers could have taken a one-stroke penalty for an unplayable lie and played again from the tee, but he elected to hit the ball out of the tree. It took him three whacks before the ball finally became dislodged from the scruffy branches. Rogers shot 74 that day, but the 8 kept him from a playoff and left him in a third-place tie with Bobby Nichols.

No. 10: Ernie Els gets favorable yet incorrect ruling
Ernie Els had to go 20 extra holes to win the 1994 U.S. Open at Oakmont, but he got some unexpected help in the final round. Els started the final round with a two-shot lead and badly pulled his tee shot on the first hole into the thick, gnarly rough on the left side. Els was given a free lift without penalty from USGA rules chairman Trey Holland because an ABC camera crane was between Els' ball and the first green. Holland said Els was entitled to relief because the crane was a temporary immovable object, even though the driver of the crane was sitting in the truck and easily could have moved it out of the way. It turned out to be an incorrect ruling, a mistake Holland admitted later. After a free drop, Els knocked a 5-iron on the green and three-putted for bogey. But even he conceded he probably would have made double bogey or worse if he didn't get the drop.