In less than two weeks on June 13th to 16th, the USGA will be putting on the 3rd major of the 2024 season. It’s time for the playing of the United States Open Championship. It was only a couple weeks ago at the PGA Championship that Xander Schauffele held off Bryson DeChambeau to take the PGA Championship title. If there’s one thing that is solidifying in the topsy turvy world of professional golf, it’s that the major championships are more relevant than ever. They are really distancing themselves from everything else in the world of professional golf. Here’s everything you need to know about the 2024 U.S. Open.
Where is the U.S. Open Championship being played?
The U.S. Open returns to Pinehurst No. 2 for the first time since 2014 where Martin Kaymer won by three shots over a group of followers. He shot five under for the week, showing that the USGA can definitely setup the course with some teeth. We should expect a more traditional and fierce test of golf. Last year’s event at Los Angeles Country Club left a lot of fans feeling somewhat cheated out of the typical U.S. Open player beatdown. The rough seemed not as severe as usual and the greens not near as fast as usual. The winning score in 2023 was ten under and almost 20 players shot under par for the week. Don’t expect as good a showing this year.
Pinehurst No. 2 was designed back in 1906 by famed golf course architect Donald Ross. The big challenge for the players will be the green complexes. Ross designed the greens to rise from gentle terrain into turtle shaped complexes with lots of pin positions.
The greens will certainly be fast but also require precise approach shots due to the multiple tiers. Errant shots will be rolling way away from the greens to tight lies forcing players to come back up to tough pin positions. Expect to see plenty of putters versus wedges in these scenarios as many players won’t want to deal with the repercussions of pitches left short that roll right back to their feet. Lots non-precise shots will also roll back over the humps and bumps and into the greenside bunkers and waste areas which dominate the layout.
Who’s the defending champion this year?
Whndham Clark outplayed both Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler making some key saves down the stretch. McIlroy fell one shot short making par on all four of the final four holes. Scottie Scheffler was able to birdie two of his last six holes, but just had too much of a deficit to make up and finished three shots back of the winner. Other notables for the week were Cam Smith of Australia, Tommy Fleetwood and Rickie Fowler who lead day one.
How was this year’s field decided?
The USGA used a traditional qualifying system that based exemptions on previous performance in recent U.S. Opens. It also used the OWGR points system allowing full exemptions to the top 60 players in OWGR. Additionally, exemptions were given to FedEx points players on the PGA Tour and a couple players on the DP World Tour in Europe.
One special tradition of the U.S. Open is that anyone with a handicap of .4 or less can try to qualify for the championship through a series of local, sectional and final qualifying stages. This was the main pathway for many of the LIV Golf players to try to get into the U.S. Open as their tour does not get consideration on the OWGR or traditional PGA Tour based points systems. About two thirds of the non-exempt LIV players tried to qualify this way. Sergio Garcia found himself having to use this path as he is no longer exempt due to his move to LIV Golf. He fell just shy missing out on the last spot in a playoff. Several LIV Golfers have full exemption due to winning major championships recently. Those include Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Jon Rahm, Cam Smith, Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson. Tiger Woods, also no longer exempt through traditional qualifying, was given a special exemption.
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