During the third round Jason Sobel, shared some US Open trivia. The lowest under par scores for players anywhere during a round at the Open.

This one is suspicious to me.

Here is a list of the most strokes under par at any point in U.S. Open history:

12 -- Tiger Woods (fourth round), Pebble Beach Golf Links, 2000
12 -- Gil Morgan (third round), Pebble Beach Golf Links, 1992
11 -- Jim Furyk, Olympia Fields C.C. (North Course), Olympia Fields, Ill., 2003
9 -- Ben Hogan, Riviera C.C., Los Angeles, Calif., 1948
9 -- Jack Nicklaus, Baltusrol G.C. (Lower Course), Springfield, N.J., 1980

I'm 90% certain Nicklaus never reached -9. He finished -8, 272 for that Open. He did that by making birdie on the last two holes. Nicklaus began Sunday tied with Isao Aoki, with Tom Watson, Keith Fergus, Lon Hinkle, and Mark Hayes within 2 shots of the lead.

After a 2nd hole bogey by Aoki, Nicklaus never was out of sole possession of the lead. But did he get to -9. The only player other than Aoki to make any real challenge was Fergus, but he never got closer than one behind. What the USGA is claiming is(Sobel and ESPN are getting this info right off their records section) effectively saying that Nicklaus lost three strokes to par sometime on Sunday. I have zero recollection of that happening.

Nicklaus played a steady round, not one that by the USGA's description would require at least four bogeys by the Golden Bear.

Another questionable bit of info from the USGA.

In the final round, Nicklaus went ahead by one stroke when Aoki made a bogey 5 at the second hole. Nicklaus birdied the par-4 third hole from five feet to go two strokes ahead. Aoki birdied the eighth hole to cut his deficit to one stroke, but he bogeyed the ninth as Nicklaus made par, and never again was he closer than two strokes. As they stood on the 17th tee, they remained two strokes apart. Both men birdied the 17th, Nicklaus from 20 feet, Aoki from five feet.

Aoki's putt on 17 was about 10 feet not five. This I'm less sure than Nicklaus never getting to -9(By reading the above accurately, Nicklaus would have had to birdie two holes and bogey three between holes 9 and 16. He's -7 after Aoki's 8th hole birdie and we know he was -6 when teeing off 17) but I'd say my chances of being right are about 70%. And I'm again working from memory. I used to own Mark McCormick's  the year in golf books for 78-80 and the Nicklaus birdie on 17 was his shot of the year. Unfortunately I don't have the book now and Sports Illustrated's The Vault doesn't give enough detail.  I've repeatedly shown the sloppy recordkeeping of the LPGA, World Golf Hall of Fame, and the PGA. I'm betting once I get something to cross check this by, I'll be right.