The United States Open Championship is the annual men's open golf tournament of the United States of America and it is staged by the United States Golf Association each June, scheduled such that the final round is always played on the 3rd Sunday of that month. 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 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.
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 named 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 cash out of a prize fund of $325, plus a $50 gold medal; his club received the Open Championship Cup trophy, 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. American golfers soon began to win regularly and the tournament evolved to become one of the four majors.
Throughout the modern history of the competition, the title has been won almost exclusively by players from the United States. Since 1950, players from only four nations other than the United States have won the championship, most notably South Africa, which has won five times since 1965.
From 2004 to 2006, however, a streak of three consecutive non-American winners has occurred for the first time since the 1900s. These three players, (Retief Goosen, South Africa (2004), Michael Campbell, New Zealand (2005) and Geoff Ogilvy, Australia (2006)) are all from countries in the Southern Hemisphere. No European player has won since Tony Jacklin in 1970.
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. Players may obtain a place by being fully exempt or by competing successfully in Qualifying. The field is 156 players.
Around one 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. [1].
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 [2], 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.
There is no lower age limit and the youngest ever qualifier was 15-year-old Tadd Fujikawa of Hawaii, who qualified in 2006. An 81 Is Nice for a 15-Year-Old, LA Times.com, June 16, 2006.
The purse at the 2006 U.S. Open was $6,800,000, and the winner's share was $1,225,000. In line with the other majors, winning the U.S. Open gives a golfer several privileges that 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, The Open Championship 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.
Am = Amateur ^ 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.
Multiple winners
The following golfers have won the U.S. Open more than once through 2005.4 wins: *Willie Anderson: 1901, 1903, 1904, 1905 *Bobby Jones: 1923, 1926, 1929, 1930 *Ben Hogan: 1948, 1950, 1951, 1953 *Jack Nicklaus: 1962, 1967, 1972, 19803 wins: *Hale Irwin: 1974, 1979, 19902 wins: *Alex Smith: 1906, 1910 *John J. McDermott: 1911, 1912 *Walter Hagen: 1914, 1919 *Gene Sarazen: 1922, 1932 *Ralph Guldahl: 1937, 1938 *Cary Middlecoff: 1949, 1956 *Julius Boros: 1952, 1963 *Billy Casper: 1959, 1966 *Lee Trevino: 1969, 1971 *Andy North: 1978, 1985 *Curtis Strange: 1988, 1989 *Ernie Els: 1994, 1997 *Lee Janzen: 1993, 1998 *Payne Stewart: 1991, 1999 *Tiger Woods: 2000, 2002 *Retief Goosen: 2001, 2004
Oldest champion: Hale Irwin in 1990 at 45 years, 0 months and 15 days. Youngest champion: John McDermott in 1911 at 19 years, 10 months and 14 days. Oldest player to make the cut: Sam Snead in 1973 at 61 years old. He tied for 29th place. Most consecutive victories: 3 by Willie Anderson 1903-1905. Most consecutive opens started: 44 by Jack Nicklaus from 1957 to 2000. Largest margin of victory: 15 strokes by Tiger Woods at Pebble Beach Golf Links in 2000. This is the all-time record for all majors. Lowest score for 72 holes: *272: Jack Nicklaus (63-71-70-68) at Baltusrol Golf Club (Lower Course) in 1980. *272: Lee Janzen (67-67-69-69) at Baltusrol Golf Club (Lower Course) in 1993. *272: Tiger Woods (65-69-71-67) at Pebble Beach Golf Links in 2000. *272: Jim Furyk (67-66-67-72) at Olympia Fields Country Club (North Course) in 2003.Most strokes under par for 72 holes: 12 under (272) by Tiger Woods at Pebble Beach Golf Links in 2000. Most frequent venues: *7 Opens: Baltusrol Golf Club; 1903, 1915, 1936, 1954, 1967, 1980 and 1993. *7 Opens: Oakmont Country Club: 1927, 1935, 1953, 1962, 1973, 1983 and 1994.
There is an extensive records section on the official site here
