The USGA has accepted a record 10,187 entries, including 15 champions, for the 123rd U.S. Open Championship at The Los Angeles (Calif.) Country Club’s North Course. The U.S. Open will be held at the club for the first time on June 15-18, 2023.
The number of entries eclipses the total of 10,127 accepted for the 2014 U.S. Open at Pinehurst Resort & Country Club’s Course No. 2. It is the 11th consecutive time and the 14th time overall that entries have surpassed the 9,000 mark, and just the second time entries have exceeded 10,000. The USGA accepted entries for the 2023 U.S. Open from golfers in all 50 states, including 1,282 from host state California, as well as Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia and 87 foreign countries.
“The U.S. Open is unique in major championship golf in that the qualifying process provides thousands of professional and amateur golfers with diverse backgrounds from around the world the opportunity to follow their dream and earn a place in the field,” said USGA Chief Championships Officer John Bodenhamer. “We look forward to returning to Los Angeles for the first time in 75 years, welcoming the 156 players to the championship and showcasing The Los Angeles Country Club.”
Matt Fitzpatrick, who joined four-time champion Jack Nicklaus as the only golfers to have won the U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur at the same venue when he triumphed at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., last June, leads a total of 52 players who are fully exempt into the field.
Joining Fitzpatrick are 10 other U.S. Open champions who are fully exempt from having to qualify: Bryson DeChambeau (2020), Dustin Johnson (2016), Martin Kaymer (2014), Brooks Koepka (2017, 2018), Rory McIlroy (2011), Jon Rahm (2021), Justin Rose (2013), Jordan Spieth (2015), Gary Woodland (2019) and Tiger Woods (2000, 2002, 2008).
Local qualifying, conducted over 18 holes at 109 sites in 44 U.S. states and Canada, will take place between April 17-May 22. Those players who advance out of local qualifying will join a group of locally exempt players in final qualifying, which will be conducted over 36 holes at 10 U.S. and three international sites. Final qualifying returns to England for the first time since 2019 on May 16, while two qualifiers are set for May 22, one in Texas and one in Japan, and 10 are scheduled on Monday, June 5: two in Ohio and one each in California, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, Washington and Canada.
Four U.S. Open champions – Geoff Ogilvy (2006), Lucas Glover (2009), Graeme McDowell (2010) and Webb Simpson (2012) – are registered for the 123rd championship and are exempt into final qualifying. McDowell is scheduled to play in Dallas, Texas, on May 22, while Ogilvy, Glover and Simpson will attempt to qualify on June 5; Ogilvy and Glover in Columbus, Ohio, and Simpson in Toronto, Canada.
To be eligible, a player must have a Handicap Index® not exceeding 1.4, or be a professional. Eric Spencer, a 51-year-old amateur from Bloomfield, Mich., submitted his entry just 15 seconds before the deadline of 5 p.m. EDT on April 12. Benjamin Knott, a 32-year-old amateur from Boston, Mass., was the first entrant on Feb. 22.
The number of fully exempt players will increase with the inclusion of the top 60 point leaders and ties from the Official World Golf Ranking®, as of May 22 and June 12. The winner of the PGA Championship (May 18-21) and any multiple winners of PGA Tour events that award a full-point allocation for the season-ending Tour Championship will also earn exemptions. Also, the top five players in the 2022-23 FedExCup Standings as of May 22 who are not otherwise exempt, will secure a place in the field.
Additionally, as part of a transitional plan for the return of final qualifying in Europe for the first time since 2019, U.S. Open exemptions will be awarded to the top two players from the 2022 DP World Tour Final Points List, who are not otherwise exempt, as of May 22, and the top player from the 2023 Race to Dubai Rankings, who is not otherwise exempt, as of May 22. Also, the exemption for the DP World Tour U.S. Open Qualifying Series will be modified from last year and the top two players from the series, who are not otherwise exempt, will earn exemptions. Those two players will be the top aggregate point earners from four DP World Tour events (DS Automobiles Italian Open, Soudal Open, KLM Open and Porsche European Open) that will be contested between May 4 and June 4.
The U.S. Open returns to Los Angeles for the first time since 1948, when Ben Hogan won the first of his four U.S. Opens with a 72-hole score of 276 (8 under par), two strokes better than Jimmy Demaret, at The Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades.
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