ust as 1980 is synonymous with the “Miracle on Ice” for
hockey fans, so is 1973 synonymous with Johnny Miller’s
63-stroke U.S. Open win at Oakmont Country Club for
golf fans. “Yet its history had never been probed in the
way I was confident we could do with archival sources,” says
Steve Schlossman, of Lakemont Drive.

The “we” in the previous sentence is Schlossman, a
Carnegie Mellon University history professor, and Adam
Lazarus, a freelance sports writer. They co-authored
Chasing Greatness, a book that documents not only
Miller’s 63 strokes, a final round score unsurpassed at
any of the four major golf championships since, but also
chronicles the entire ensemble of the 1973 Oakmont
Country Club U.S. Open. That group included hall-of-
famers Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus.

Lazarus met Schlossman in Schlossman’s The Rise of
Modern Golf, 1860-2010 class at CMU, the only golf history course offered by
a college or university in the country. Lazarus “impressed me a lot,” Schlossman
says. “He had a special flair for telling a story.” After Lazarus graduated, he
got together with Schlossman, who was looking to write about the Oakmont
Country Club.

“We looked at all the famous tournaments that had been there,” Lazarus says.

“We looked at all the newspapers from those times, and when we got to 1973
it just sort of stood out.” The two researched a whole year before they had a
“glimmer” of a contract, Schlossman says. But after contacting only two literary
agents, they secured a publisher. As part of later research, Schlossman visited
the Oakmont Country Club and tried to replicate Miller’s and Palmer’s putts so
Ellie Shaul, a 2010 Mt. Lebanon
graduate, has been chosen to play
for the Ultimate Frisbee U.S. Junior
National Team in the World Flying Disc
Federation Junior Ultimate Championships.

Shaul, of Ella Street, began playing in an
ultimate frisbee league four years ago, but had been
playing for fun since well before then. Eighty players
were invited to try out for the national team, and of
those, 21, plus three alternates, were accepted. The
championships will be held August 2 to 7 in Heilbronn,
Germany. Shaul and the rest of the U.S. Junior National
Team will stay at a school near the tournament fields.

Erin Caffee
J he could better comprehend their difficulty.

New American Library, a branch of Penguin, released
Chasing Greatness in May. It is available at Borders Books
and Music, Joseph-Beth Booksellers and
amazon.com. Schlossman will be sign-
ing copies of the book at the
United States Golf Association
merchandise tent during the U.S.

Women’s Open in Oakmont July
5-11.