The United States Open Championship is an annual men's golf tournament staged by the United States Golf Association each June. It is one of the four major championships in men's golf and is on the official schedule of both the PGA TOUR and the PGA European Tour. The U.S. Open is staged at a variety of courses, and they are usually set up in such a way that low scoring is very difficult and there is a premium on accurate driving.
History
The first U.S. Open Men's Championship was played on October 4, 1895 on a nine-hole course in Newport, Rhode Island. It was a thirty six hole competition and was played in a single day. Ten professionals and one amateur entered. The winner was a 21-year-old Englishman called Horace Rawlins who had arrived in the U.S. in January that year to take up a position at the host club. He received $150 dollars out of a cash prize fund of $325 plus a $50 dollar gold medal and for his club, the Open Championship Cup, which was presented by the USGA.
In the beginning, the tournament was dominated by experienced British players until 1911 when John J. McDermott became the first native-born American winner. Very quickly American golfers began to win and the tournament evolved to become one of the four majors.
Qualification and prizes
The U.S. Open is open to any professional, or to any amateur with an up-to-date USGA Handicap Index not exceeding 1.4. The field is 156 players. Players may obtain a place by being fully exempt or by competing successfully in Qualifying.
Around half of the field is made up of players who are fully exempt from qualifying. There are seventeen full exemption categories, including winners of the U.S. Open for the last ten years and the other three majors for the last five years, the top 30 from the previous year's PGA Tour money list, the top 15 from the previous year's European Tour money list, and the top 50 in the Official World Golf Rankings as of two weeks before the tournament.
Would be competitors who are not fully exempt must enter the Qualifying process, which has two stages. Firstly there is Local Qualifying, which is played over 18 holes at over 100 courses around the United States. Many leading players are exempt from this first stage, and they join the successful local qualifiers at the Sectional Qualifying stage, which is played over 36 holes at several sites in the U.S. and one each in Europe and Japan.
The purse at the 2005 U.S. Open was $6,500,000, and the winner's share was $1,170,000. In line with the other majors, winning the U.S. Open gives a golfer several privileges which make his career much more secure, if he is not already one of the elite of the sport. U.S. Open champions are automatically invited to play in the other three majors (The Masters, British Open and the PGA Championship) for the next five years, and are exempt from qualifying for the U.S. Open itself for ten years. They also receive membership on the PGA TOUR for the following five seasons and invitations to THE PLAYERS Championship for five years.
The top fifteen finishers at the U.S. Open are fully exempt from qualifying for the following year's Open, and the top eight are automatically invited to the following season's Masters.
Winners
Year Champion Country Venue Location
2005 Michael Campbell New Zealand Pinehurst Resort, Course No. 2 Pinehurst, North Carolina
2004 Retief Goosen South Africa Shinnecock Hills Golf Club Southampton, New York
2003 Jim Furyk United States Olympia Fields Country Club Olympia Fields, Illinois
2002 Tiger Woods United States Bethpage State Park, Black Course Farmingdale, New York
2001 Retief Goosen South Africa Southern Hills Country Club Tulsa, Oklahoma
2000 Tiger Woods United States Pebble Beach Golf Links Pebble Beach, California
1999 Payne Stewart United States Pinehurst Resort, Course No. 2 Pinehurst, North Carolina
1998 Lee Janzen United States Olympic Club, Lake Course Daly City, California
1997 Ernie Els South Africa Congressional Country Club, Blue Course Bethesda, Maryland
1996 Steve Jones United States Oakland Hills Country Club, South Course Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
1995 Corey Pavin United States Shinnecock Hills Golf Club Southampton, New York
1994 Ernie Els South Africa Oakmont Country Club Oakmont, Pennsylvania
1993 Lee Janzen United States Baltusrol Golf Club, Lower Course Springfield, New Jersey
1992 Tom Kite United States Pebble Beach Golf Links Pebble Beach, California
1991 Payne Stewart United States Hazeltine National Golf Club Chaska, Minnesota
1990 Hale Irwin United States Medinah Country Club, Course No. 3 Medinah, Illinois
1989 Curtis Strange United States Oak Hill Country Club, East Course Rochester, New York
1988 Curtis Strange United States The Country Club Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts
1987 Scott Simpson United States Olympic Club, Lake Course Daly City, California
1986 Ray Floyd United States Shinnecock Hills Golf Club Southampton, New York
1985 Andy North United States Oakland Hills Country Club, South Course Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
1984 Fuzzy Zoeller United States Winged Foot Golf Club, West Course Mamaroneck, New York
1983 Larry Nelson United States Oakmont Country Club Oakmont, Pennsylvania
1982 Tom Watson United States Pebble Beach Golf Links Pebble Beach, California
1981 David Graham Australia Merion Golf Club, East Course Ardmore, Pennsylvania
1980 Jack Nicklaus United States Baltusrol Golf Club, Lower Course Springfield, New Jersey
Many early U.S. Opens were won by English and Scottish golfers who learned the game in their own country and moved to America as adults to take up positions as club professionals. Their original countries are shown unless they are known to have become U.S. citizens before their victories, as is the case with English born and raised Jim Barnes and Scottish born and raised Tommy Armour. Harry Vardon and Ted Ray made only short term visits to the U.S. to play tournament golf. |
