U.S. Open winners by year: List of past champions, payouts, major history

Winning the prestigious U.S. Open will almost always come in near the top of any golfer's career highlights. 

The tournament's long and illustrious history has allowed for most of the sport's greatest to have at least one moment of jubilation hoisting the trophy. While the winners often vary from year to year, there is a prime opportunity for history in 2019 as Brooks Koepka tries to become just the second golfer to ever win three straight U.S. Open tournaments.

If you're basing your predictions off which golfers have had the most success at Pebble Beach — the course for this year's tournament — two members of this year's field, Graeme McDowell (2010) and Tiger Woods (2000), have recorded U.S. Open victories there. 

The tournament has been in existence since 1895, so the list of winners is long. Here is all of them, as well as what you can expect the payouts to be for this year's top finishers.

U.S. Open winners by year

While Koepka aims for his third straight win — a feat only accomplished by Willie Anderson from 1903-1905 — there are four golfers who have won a record four total U.S. Opens: Anderson, Jack Nicklaus, Bobby Jones and Ben Hogan. Before Koepka went back-to-back last year, Curtis Strange in 1988-1989 was the last to repeat.

The last golfer to win the U.S. Open and Masters in the same year — which Tiger Woods can accomplish again — was Jordan Spieth. Koepka will try to be the first since Woods in 2000 to win the U.S. Open and PGA Championship in the same year.

*Note: The U.S. Open was cancelled in 1917-1918 due to World War I and from 1942-1945 due to World War II. 

How much does the U.S. Open winner make?

The winner this year will get $2,250,000 of the $12,500,000 purse. It is tied with the Players Championship for the richest purse in all of golf. The first-place payout increased a total of $90,000 from the 2018 total.

Although we know the winner's share, the full list of payouts has not yet been released. A rundown of the 2018 totals should offer some insight into what this year's payouts will look like. Of course, any ties would cause the list to go a little awry, but this is the best estimation. 

U.S. Open history

The oldest American-based major, the U.S. Open was established in 1895 and has been a 72-hole, four-round tournament since 1898. It is known for being notoriously challenging, with an added difficulty given to the courses it is played on. The tournament is traditionally held in the middle of June so that the final round on Sunday aligns with Father's Day.

Horace Rawlins won the inaugural tournament, which was played over four days on a nine-hole course at Newport Country Club in Rhode Island and featured a field of just 11 golfers. Since then, the U.S. Open record books have been decorated with golf's best. Rory McIlroy has the 72-hole record for best score (65-66-68-69), which he set in 2015, while Tiger Woods' 15-stroke victory in 2000 is the largest winning margin.

A total of 19 U.S. states have hosted the tournament, with Wisconsin becoming the 19th in 2017. New York (19) and Pennyslvania (17) have been the most frequent locations. Despite being called the United States Open, the West Coast has only hosted the tournament 16 times, with 13 of those coming in California.