U. S. Open Golf
It is the second of the four major championships in golf and is on the official schedule of both the PGA Tour and the European Tour. It is staged by the United States Golf Association (USGA) in mid-June, scheduled so that, if there are no weather delays, the final round is played on the third Sunday, which is Father's Day.
From 2008, it will also be an official money event on the Asian Tour, with 50% of Asian Tour members' earnings counting towards the Order of Merit.
The U.S. Open is staged at a variety of courses, set up in such a way that scoring is very difficult with a premium placed on accurate driving.
Open play is characterized by tight scoring at or around par by the leaders, with the winner emerging at around even par. Open course is seldom beaten severely, and there have been many over-par wins (in part because par is usually set at 70 except for the very longest courses).
Normally, an Open course is quite long and will have a high cut of primary rough (termed "Open rough" by the American press and fans), hilly greens (such as at Pinehurst No. 2 in 2005, which was described by Johnny Miller of NBC as "like trying to hit a ball on top of a VW Beetle"), and pinched fairways (especially on what are expected to be less difficult holes).
Some courses that are attempting to get into the rotation for the U.S. As with any professional golf tournament, the available space surrounding the course (for spectators, among other considerations) and local infrastructure also factor into deciding which courses will host the event.
The U.S.
Open is the only one of the four major championships which does not go immediately to a playoff if two or more players are tied at the end of the four rounds. Open gone to sudden death after the playoff round, most recently in 2008 when Tiger Woods defeated Rocco Mediate on the first playoff hole.
The U.S.
Of golf's broadcast television partners, NBC is the only one to provide four days of major tournament coverage (CBS and ABC, which air the Masters, the British Open, and the PGA Championship between them, only provide weekend coverage of their respective tournaments).
History
The first U.S. It was a 36-hole competition and was played in a single day.
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.
In the beginning, the tournament was dominated by experienced British players until 1911, when John J. American golfers soon began to win regularly and the tournament evolved to become one of the four majors.
Michael Campbell holding U.S.
Since 1950, players from only five nations other than the United States have won the championship, most notably South Africa, which has won five times since 1965. These four players, South African Retief Goosen (2004), New Zealander Michael Campbell (2005), Australian Geoff Ogilvy (2006) and Argentine Ángel Cabrera (2007), are all from countries in the Southern Hemisphere.
No European player has won since Tony Jacklin of England in 1970.
The 2008 edition of the Open ended in a tie between Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate, forcing an 18-hole playoff the following day. Open is open to any professional, or to any amateur with an up-to-date USGA Handicap Index not exceeding 1.4.
Players (male or female) may obtain a place by being fully exempt or by competing successfully in qualifying. The field is 156 players.
About half of the field is made up of players who are fully exempt from qualifying.
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.
Potential competitors who are not fully exempt must enter the Qualifying process, which has two stages. The PGA European Tour uses conversion rates at the time of the tournament to calculate the official prize money used in their Order of Merit rankings (€5,241,402 in 2007).
Open gives a golfer several privileges that make his career much more secure, if he is not already one of the elite players of the sport. Open champions are automatically invited to play in the other three majors (the Masters, the Open Championship (British Open), and the PGA Championship) for the next five years, as well as the Players Championship, and they are exempt from qualifying for the U.S.
Open have the choice of joining the PGA Tour either within 60 days of winning, or prior to the beginning of any one of the next five tour seasons.
The top 15 finishers at the U.S. Open victories, with four victories each. Hale Irwin is the oldest winner of the U.S.
Tiger Woods holds the distinction of being the most strokes under par for 72 holes, he was 12 strokes under par (−12) when he won in 2000.
Records
Oldest champion: Hale Irwin in 1990 at 45 years, 15 days.
Youngest champion: John McDermott in 1911 at 19 years, 315 days.
Oldest player to make the cut: Sam Snead in 1973 at 61 years old.