Johnny Miller: San Francisco's Own
Johnny Miller (b. April 29, 1947) is the last San Francisco-born-and-raised player to win a major championship, and the city shaped every stage of his career. He grew up in the Ingleside neighborhood off Ocean Avenue; by eight his father was taking him to Harding Park, which the boy treated as his personal proving ground (Caddie Hall of Fame).
Caddie yard to Olympic Club
At 12, Miller started caddying at the San Francisco Golf Club — looping for the city's business leaders and, several times, Bing Crosby (Caddie Hall of Fame). In 1963 the Olympic Club invited him into its Junior Golf Section, where he became the top player on the junior team; he won the 1964 U.S. Junior Amateur and graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School in 1965 (Wikipedia).
Then came the audition that announced him: when the 1966 U.S. Open arrived at his home-away-from-home Olympic Club, the 19-year-old amateur qualified — and finished eighth (Wikipedia).
The 63
On June 17, 1973, Miller started the final round of the U.S. Open at Oakmont six shots back and shot 63 — hitting all 18 greens in regulation — to win by one over John Schlee. It stood for half a century as the defining single round in championship golf (USGA). Three years later he closed with 66 at Royal Birkdale to win the 1976 Open Championship by six over Jack Nicklaus and a 19-year-old Seve Ballesteros (The Open). He won 25 times on Tour.
The booth
From 1990 to February 2019, Miller was NBC's lead golf analyst — 29 years of a candor television golf hadn't heard before, retiring at the Waste Management Phoenix Open with Paul Azinger succeeding him (ESPN). With Venturi at CBS and Rosburg at ABC, he completed a remarkable fact: for decades, every major American network's golf voice came from San Francisco.
