1,000-to-1 Long Shot Andrew Landry Eyeing Biggest Upset in US Open History

In an era of hot takes and social media, using terms like "greatest ever" has all the impact and permanence of a 140-character tweet.

As in, 20 minutes later, it’s been buried and forgotten with the swipe of a finger.

Yet, as utterly unheralded Andrew Landry continues to impress with his play at the U.S. Open this week, "biggest" and "greatest" are not merely throwaway terms designed to attract eyeballs for a few nanoseconds.

While it sounds hyperbolic, a victory by the unknown, feisty Texan on Sunday would rank as the greatest upset in a century of U.S. Open history, if not the entirety of the modern Grand Slam.

That’s not just subjective blather, either. It stands on firmer ground than the greens at Pennsylvania's notoriously punitive Oakmont Country Club.

Entering the week buried at No. 624 in the world rankings, the PGA Tour rookie generated not a single whiff of attention. By Saturday night, after playing in the final group and remaining within two shots of leader Shane Lowry, he hadn’t just turned heads—he was making them spin.

At three under, no player was closer on the leaderboard to Lowry, who had finished 14 holes when play was suspended. Yet nobody was farther off the radar than Landry when the week at Oakmont began.

Here’s the proof.

At the Westgate Las Vegas Hotel, which boasts one of the largest sportsbooks in Sin City, Landry began the week as a 1,000-to-1 long shot. How much action did the first-year PGA Tour player generate? According to Westgate’s longtime golf oddsmaker, Jeff Sherman, exactly one bet was placed on Landry, for the scintillating sum of $5:

Sure, there have been some eye-popping surprise winners over the years, but the last player to win the U.S. Open in his first major championship appearance was the now-legendary Francis Ouimet 103 years ago. It was such an epic upset, they eventually wrote books and made a movie about it.

Landry, 28, hasn’t finished better than T-41 in his 11 PGA Tour starts, and that came last week in Memphis, Tennessee. Before shooting 66 in the opening round, he hadn’t posted a score lower than 68 all season. His first-round tally set a new record for lowest opening 18 in the nine Opens staged at Oakmont, breaking by one the mark held by Hall of Famers Ben Hogan and Gary Player.

There have been other temblors in terms of upsets, but nothing truly comparable with Landry’s potential tectonic impact. For instance, Y.E. Yang stared down Tiger Woods, playing in the same Sunday pairing, to win the 2009 PGA Championship. But Yang was a veteran international player at the time, ranked No. 110 in the world.

American rookie Ben Curtis won his first major start when he claimed the title at the 2003 British Open, where he held off players such as Vijay Singh, Woods, Davis Love and Thomas Bjorn. But he’d just finished 13th at the Western Open and was a 300-to-1 bet entering the week, per BBC.

The world ranking began in 1986. In that span, Curtis (No. 396) and former PGA Championship winner Shaun Micheel (169) represent the lowest-ranked players to hoist major championship chrome. As Golf Channel's Justin Ray noted, their rankings combined were well shy of Landry’s current position:

Still something close to an afterthought when Round 3 began late Saturday afternoon, Landry was perhaps the steadiest man in his threesome, playing alongside favorite Dustin Johnson and American veteran Scott Piercy in the final group off the tee.

“I think I did a really good job out there,” he said, per Golf Channel's Ryan Lavner. “No nerves, very comfortable.” 

He had one birdie and one bogey, while everybody else needed Dramamine to keep track of their uneven scorecards. There was nothing fluky about it, either. He hit seven of 10 fairways and nine of 13 greens, and at one stage, spanning the second and third rounds, he went 18 holes without a bogey.

For the week, though he stands just 5'7" and weighs 150 pounds—he looked like the sign boy standing next to the 6'4" Johnson—Landry ranks 10th in driving distance (295.6 yards), 10th in greens in regulation (35 of 49—71.43 percent) and ties for ninth in putting average (1.59 per hole).

The week was a bigger bolt from the blue than the thunderstorms that wrecked the first day of play. As a struggling rookie, he ranks No. 203 on the seasonal FedEx Cup list—a mere 10 points ahead of senior standout Bernhard Langer, who doesn’t even play on the PGA Tour anymore. If the season ended today, Landry would be losing his card for next season and missing the FedEx playoff series.

While some expressed the opinion that Landry was at a disadvantage because he has to return at 7 a.m. ET Sunday to complete the last few holes of his third round, it probably beats sitting around in his hotel room all day, waiting to play in the afternoon.

He certainly seems poised to continue his assault on dark-horse history.

“I'm fine,” he said. “I'm tired, I'm ready to get some sleep. I'm pretty pooped, and I'm ready to get some rest and get back out here.” 

Steve Elling covers golf for Bleacher Report. You can follow him at @EllingYelling. All advanced stats are from the official U.S. Open website, and quotes are firsthand unless otherwise noted.