Category: U.S. open

U.S. Open flashback: Q&A with 1987 winner Scott Simpson

Simpson won the 1987 U.S. Open at the Olympic Club in San Francisco.

I flew all the way to Hawaii to meet Scott Simpson and be regaled by his stories.

Well, that’s not totally accurate – I didn’t even know Simpson was living there and had become the men’s golf coach at University of Hawaii – but it truly was one of the highlights of my trip, especially the portion spent on Oahu for the Sony Open of Hawaii.

Simpson, 67, shared so many good stories that I’ve previously posted a story on his longtime partnership with Bill Murray at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and a wide-ranging Q&A, but when the conversation shifted to the U.S. Open, we dove deep enough that I saved that portion for a separate standalone Q&A.

Simpson won the 1987 U.S. Open at The Olympic Club in San Francisco, the crowning achievement of his seven PGA Tour wins between 1980 and 1998. He birdied the 14th, 15th, and 16th holes during the final round to edge Tom Watson by one stroke. He finished with a three-under par total of 277.

Here’s Simpson on the importance of an attitude adjustment when he arrived at The Olympic Club, his magical putting day in the final round and “ranking just slightly ahead of a tuna sandwich” on the thrill meter in one writer’s opinion.

Every player who has qualified for the 2023 U.S. Open so far; 11 LIV Golf players in, Tiger Woods withdraws

Of the 84 players currently exempt in the field, 11 play for LIV Golf.

While the PGA Championship is still visible in the rearview mirror, the next men’s major championship is quickly approaching on the horizon.

On Monday morning the USGA announced 33 players who have earned exemptions into the 2023 U.S. Open, June 15-18, at Los Angeles Country Club, bringing the current tally of exempt players to 84.

Exemptions were awarded to 25 players via their top-60 placement in the Official World Golf Ranking, including Jason Day and LIV Golf’s Patrick Reed. Tyrrell Hatton, No. 18 in the world, was the highest-ranked player who wasn’t previously exempt. After a T-4 at the PGA Championship, Cameron Davis jumped 19 spots to No. 49 and will compete in his first U.S. Open.

Eight other players earned exemptions via three additional categories, including the top five players not already exempt in the current PGA Tour FedEx Cup standings (Hayden Buckley, Mackenzie Hughes, Taylor Montgomery, Andrew Putnam and Nick Taylor) as well as the top two players not already exempt from the 2022 DP World Tour Final Points List (Thriston Lawrence and Jordan Smith). Min Woo Lee joins the field as the highest-ranked player on the current Race to Dubai Rankings who is not otherwise exempt.

Three-time U.S. Open champion Tiger Woods withdrew as an exempt player as he recovers from a recent surgery.

Ten past U.S. Open champions are in the field, including defending champion Jon Rahm, 2023 PGA champion Brooks Koepka and world No. 3 Rory McIlroy. Eleven LIV golfers have also qualified, including fellow past champions Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson and Martin Kaymer, as well as Phil Mickelson, Cameron Smith, Joaquin Niemann, Abraham Ancer, Thomas Pieters, Mito Pereira and Reed.

Here’s the full list of the 84 golfers who are fully exempt into the 2023 U.S. Open (as of Monday, May 22):

  • Abraham Ancer
  • K.H. Lee
  • Sam Bennett (a)
  • Min Woo Lee
  • Keegan Bradley
  • Shane Lowry
  • Hayden Buckley
  • Hideki Matsuyama
  • Sam Burns
  • Denny McCarthy
  • Patrick Cantlay
  • Matthew McClean (a)
  • Ben Carr (a)
  • Rory McIlroy
  • Wyndham Clark
  • Adrian Meronk
  • Corey Conners
  • Phil Mickelson
  • Joel Dahmen
  • Keith Mitchell
  • Cameron Davis
  • Francesco Molinari
  • Jason Day
  • Taylor Montgomery
  • Bryson DeChambeau
  • Taylor Moore
  • Weny Ding (a)
  • Collin Morikawa
  • Harris English
  • Joaquin Niemann
  • Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira
  • Alex Noren
  • Tony Finau
  • Mito Pereira
  • Matt Fitzpatrick
  • Victor Perez
  • Tommy Fleetwood
  • Thomas Pieters
  • Ryan Fox
  • J.T. Poston
  • Rickie Fowler
  • Aldrich Potgieter (a)
  • Adam Hadwin
  • Seamus Power
  • Brian Harman
  • Andrew Putnam
  • Padraig Harrington
  • Jon Rahm
  • Tyrrell Hatton
  • Patrick Reed
  • Russell Henley
  • Lucas Herbert
  • Xander Schauffele
  • Tom Hoge
  • Scottie Scheffler
  • Max Homa
  • Adam Scott
  • Billy Horschel
  • Cameron Smith
  • Viktor Hovland
  • Jordan Smith
  • Mackenzie Hughes
  • Jordan Spieth
  • Sungjae Im
  • Scott Stallings
  • Dustin Johnson
  • Sepp Straka
  • Martin Kaymer
  • Justin Suh
  • Si Woo Kim
  • Adam Svensson
  • Tom Kim
  • Nick Taylor
  • Chris Kirk
  • Sahith Theegala
  • Kurt Kitayama
  • Justin Thomas
  • Brooks Koepka
  • Aaron Wise
  • Matt Kuchar
  • Gary Woodland
  • Thriston Lawrence
  • Cameron Young

Players still have a few chances to gain access to the U.S. Open.

The top two point earners in the four-event 2023 DP World Tour U.S. Open Qualifying Series (DS Automobiles Italian Open, Soudal Open, KLM Open and Porsche European Open), will earn spots, as will the winner of the NCAA Div. I Men’s Golf Championship (May 26-31) and any multiple winners of full-point PGA Tour events. Golfers may also play their way in to the top 60 of the OWGR before Monday, June 12, or via open qualifying.

The first of 10 final U.S. qualifiers begins Monday, May 22, in Dallas, while Japan finished its qualifier earlier in the day. England completed its 36-hole international qualifier May 16. The other 36-hole final qualifiers in the U.S. will be held at 10 additional sites beginning June 5.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=none image=]

Q&A: Golf Channel’s Morgan Pressel played U.S. Open courses Los Angeles CC and Pebble Beach in back-to-back days. What did she think?

“I absolutely loved LACC. … It has great character, is very undulating … it’s stunning.”

Morgan Pressel made history when she first qualified for the U.S. Women’s Open at the tender age of 12. Her appearance at Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club back in 2001 led to a significant increase in teens and pre-teens signing up for Women’s Open qualifying, forever changing the makeup of the championship.

Pressel, of course, went on to clinch a major championship title at age 18 when she won the 2007 Kraft Nabisco (now the Chevron). After 16 seasons on the LPGA, the former prodigy shifted focus to her work in television. She’s now lead analyst for LPGA coverage on Golf Channel/NBC and adds the U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club to her work schedule next month.

The USGA recently held back-to-back media days for the men’s and women’s U.S. Opens, and Pressel participated in both, teeing it up at LACC for the first time as well as Pebble Beach Golf Links, which hosts the Women’s Open for the first time in July. It’s also the first U.S. Open for the North Course at LACC.

[pickup_prop id=”31523″]

Golfweek was on hand for both media days and caught up with Pressel to talk about the significance of both venues and her key takeaways. The following are excerpts from that conversation:

What did PGA Tour pros learn about this year’s U.S. Open venue? We asked six of them including reigning champ Matt Fitzpatrick

“The greens are really the defense for the golf course.” — Adam Scott on L.A. Country Club, site of the 123rd U.S. Open

LOS ANGELES — It’s a mere seven-mile drive — which could stretch a good hour in the city’s gridlock — to get from famed Riviera Country Club, circa 1926, in Pacific Palisades to venerable Los Angeles Country Club, which is even older, dating to 1896, and occupies nearly a mile of frontage on both sides of Wilshire Boulevard between Beverly Hills to the east, Century City to the south, Westwood to the west, and Bel Air to the north.

It was a popular choice this week among competitors at the Genesis Invitational to sneak over to LACC (North), where the 123rd U.S. Open will be staged from June 15-18, and do an advance reconnaissance mission. Even Tiger Woods popped over on Monday to ride around in a cart and begin strategizing on how to navigate his way around the layout where he’ll make a bid for a fourth U.S. Open title.

Here’s what defending champion Matt Fitzpatrick, Adam Scott, Rory McIlroy, Max Homa, Tommy Fleetwood and Shane Lowry had to say about the venue for the third major of the year in June.

Spotted: Tiger Woods visits Los Angeles Country Club (North), site of the 2023 U.S. Open, and 4 other things we learned

Woods will make his PGA Tour return later this week at his Genesis Invitational.

LOS ANGELES — I was taking a tour of Los Angeles Country Club (North), site of the 123rd U.S. Open and T-13 in Golfweek’s Best Classic Courses, when three-time U.S. Open champion Tiger Woods rolled on to the first tee.

The member, who was kind enough to show me around, actually asked me, “Who is that?” and when I broke the news that it was the 15-time major winner in the flesh and blood looking fit as a fiddle, he responded, “Are you kidding? Holy … ”

Woods, who announced on Friday that he was ready to play in an actual PGA Tour event at this week’s Genesis Invitational, was there with his right-hand man Rob McNamara. I was tempted to whip out my phone and take a photo but I’m pretty sure I would have been summarily escorted off the property. But I witnessed Tiger being given a U.S. Open yardage book and some helpful tips from a club official and then he hopped in a golf cart to tour the course, which sits in Beverly Hills. Tiger didn’t have any clubs on his cart, but he stopped to watch Hero Motors CEO Dr. Pawan Munjal, who sponsors Tiger’s silly-season event in the Bahamas, tee off at the first.

Woods, who won the 2000, 2002 and 2008 U.S. Opens, skipped last year’s national championship at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts, to concentrate on playing in the British Open at St. Andrews. It appears he’s prepping for a pursuit of a fourth U.S. Open title in June.

[pickup_prop id=”31820″]

Here are four more things I learned about the U.S. Open in June at LACC.

USGA announces that men’s and women’s NCAA champions will now receive U.S. Open exemptions

NCAA champions will have a brand new perk for 2023: a U.S. Open exemption.

NCAA champions will have a brand new perk for 2023: a U.S. Open exemption.

The USGA has announced that among its new exemption categories, the men’s and women’s NCAA champions will have a spot in their respective U.S. Open fields, should they remain amateur.

The 2023 NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championship will be held May 19-24 at Grayhawk Golf Club, in Scottsdale, Arizona. The men’s championship will be held one week later at Grayhawk.

“I think it’s really, really cool,” said 2021 champion Rachel Heck, “especially with how big collegiate golf is getting now that the NCAA Championship is televised.

“The winner can become a fan favorite.”

In addition, the 2023 Latin America Amateur Champion will receive an exemption (must be an amateur) as well as the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour season points leader and the top five players in 2022-23 FedExCup standings as of May 22, 2023, not otherwise exempt.

Latin America Amateur Championship
Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira of Argentina lifts the Latin America Amateur Championship trophy at the beach alongside The Open trophy, The Masters trophy and the US Open trophy following the Final Round of the 2023 Latin America Amateur Championship being played at the Grand Reserve Golf Club in Puerto Rico on Sunday, January 15, 2023. (Photo: LAAC)

The 2023 U.S. Open will be staged June 15-18 at Los Angeles Country Club while Pebble Beach Golf Links will host the women’s championship for the first time July 6-9. Sectional qualifying for the USWO will be held through June 7.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=01evcfxp4q8949fs1e image=]

Louis Oosthuizen teeters on missing three majors next season as three LIV golfers earn spots in 2023 British Open

Oosthuizen is teetering on the brink of missing three majors in 2023.

Unless the R&A announces a change in the criteria for earning spots in the British Open, South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen will have a chance to play next July at Royal Liverpool because he won the 2010 British Open at St. Andrews. All past winners are given a spot in the field until they reach age 60.

However, after tying for second at the 2021 PGA Championship, then being the runner-up at the U.S. Open and tying for third at the British Open that same year, Oosthuizen is teetering on the brink of missing the other three majors in 2023.

Last week, Golfweek explained to readers how pros earn spots in all four major championships, and while each uses a slightly different set of criteria to fill out their field, maintaining a high spot on the OWGR is a primary method elite golfers use. For instance, golfers ranked 50 or better on Dec. 31, 2022 can expect to get an invitation to compete in the 2023 Masters.

As of Monday morning, Oosthuizen is No. 49.

The OWGR does not award points for performances in LIV events, so like most LIV golfers, Oosthuizen’s spot on the OWGR has slowly risen since he was suspended from the PGA Tour. In his case, Oosthuizen has risen from No. 21 in early July to No. 49 on November 20. If he goes higher than 50, and he likely will in the next week or two, Oosthuizen will not meet any of the traditional criteria used by the Augusta National Golf Club to warrant an invitation. He also won’t have an exemption into next season’s PGA Championship. As for the U.S. Open, Oosthuizen will likely need to go through qualifying to get into the field at Los Angeles Country Club because the OWGR cutoff for an exemption has traditionally been No. 60 two weeks before sectional qualifying (May 23, 2023) or on the day of sectional qualifying (June 6, 2023).

Three other LIV golfers are likely feeling better than Oosthuizen on Monday because they appear to have earned spots in the field at the 2023 British Open.

Traditionally, golfers who finish in the top 30 in the DP World Tour’s Race to Duabi earn a spot in the following year’s British Open. Rory McIlroy won on Sunday, but Spain’s Adrian Otaegui finished 15th and fellow Spaniard Pablo Larrazabal finished 23rd. England’s Richard Bland finished 24th.

Those performances do not earn them a spot in any of the other three major championships and their world rankings of 98 (Otaegui), 86 (Larrazabal) and 89 (Bland) are not high enough to earn exemptions either.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=01evcfxp4q8949fs1e image=https://golfweek.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

Why is the Official World Golf Ranking so important to LIV Golf? And how do pros qualify for majors?

Maintaining a high spot on the OWGR allows golfers who have never won a major to earn exemptions into future majors.

When stars like Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau joined LIV Golf, many focused on the nine-figure contracts these major champions reportedly signed, and their suspensions from the PGA Tour. Then Brooks Koepka signed with LIV, followed by Bubba Watson, Joaquin Niemann and the 2022 Players Championship and British Open winner, Cameron Smith.

But starting in September, the conversation shifted to the value of something that money can’t buy, at least not yet — Official World Golf Ranking points. In a statement on Sept. 21, LIV Golf commissioner Greg Norman stated that not only should LIV Golf competitors start getting OWGR points for their performances, but they should also retroactively get points for LIV events they had already played.

In the following weeks, Patrick Reed, Graeme McDowell and other LIV golfers questioned the legitimacy of the rankings if LIV players continued to be denied points for LIV events.

The rankings are crucial to LIV Series golfers for reasons that go beyond pride. Maintaining a high spot on the OWGR allows golfers who have never won a major championship to earn exemptions into future majors, and while each championship uses slightly different criteria to create its field, they each reward golfers with a high rank at specific times with an exemption into their tournament.

As of now, the governing bodies of golf’s four major championships — Augusta National Golf Club, the PGA of America, the United States Golf Association and the R&A — have not announced any changes to qualifying criteria for 2023. If nothing changes, the exemption lists below will be how professional golfers get into the field of next season’s Masters Tournament, PGA Championship, U.S. Open and British Open, along with the ways that professional golfers who compete on the LIV Series have already earned spots.