Charlie Woods is going to have to wait to play in the U.S. Open.
Charlie Woods is going to have to wait to play in the U.S. Open.
The 15-year-old son of Tiger Woods played Thursday in local qualifying for the United States Golf Association’s national championship, set for June 13-16 at Pinehurst No. 2 in North Carolina. Charlie played at The Legacy Golf & Tennis Club in Port St. Lucie, Florida, and he shot 9-over 81.
Charlie’s round featured a bogey on his opening hole, the par-4 first. He then doubled the par-5 second. A pair of pars followed before his lone birdie on the front, but another double the next hole, the par-4 sixth, had him turn in 4-over 40.
On the back nine, he had another double, three bogeys and five pars for a 41.
Only the top-five placers and two alternates will advance out of local qualifying.
Charlie Woods on the third hole at the 2024 U.S. Open qualifying at the Legacy Golf and Tennis Club in Port St. Lucie, Florida. (Photo: Eric Hasert/Treasure Coast News)
With his appearance in the PGA Tour pre-qualifier and U.S. Open local qualifying, it shouldn’t be surprising to see the young Woods attempt to qualify for the U.S. Junior Amateur at Oakland Hills or the U.S. Amateur at Hazeltine later this summer. His dad won both events three times.
The youngest entrant this year is 12-year-old Beck Patrick, while the oldest is 74-year-old Keith Crimp.
For the third time in history, the United States Golf Association has accepted more than 10,000 entries for the U.S. Open.
Golf’s governing body in the States announced Thursday that 10,052 entries have been accepted for the 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2 in North Carolina, June 13-16. All 50 states, as well as Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., and 70 countries will be represented in qualifying for this year’s championship.
The record for entries was set last year when 10,187 were accepted for the championship at Los Angeles Country Club. The second-most entries were accepted in 2014 (10,127), the last time the U.S Open was held at Pinehurst No. 2.
“The U.S. Open’s two-stage qualifying process is unique among major championships in that it provides thousands of professional and amateur golfers worldwide an opportunity to earn a place in the 156-player field,” said USGA Chief Championships Officer John Bodenhamer. “The USGA is excited to once again showcase Pinehurst Resort and Country Club’s Course No. 2 while welcoming fans to what has become the home of American golf.”
Local qualifying will take place April 22-May 20 and feature 18 holes of play at 109 sites across 44 states and Canada. Players who advance 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 on May 20 and June 3 (location depending). Eligible players must have a Handicap Index not exceeding 0.4 or be a professional.
The youngest entrant this year is 12-year-old Beck Patrick from Houston. Keith Crimp, a 74-year-old amateur from Ellensburg, Washington, is the oldest entrant.
There are currently 52 golfers who are already fully exempt into the 2024 U.S. Open, including past champions Wyndham Clark (2023), Matt Fitzpatrick (2022), Jon Rahm (2021), Bryson DeChambeau (2020), Gary Woodland (2019), Brooks Koepka (2017, 2018), Dustin Johnson (2016), Jordan Spieth (2015) Martin Kaymer (2014), Rory McIlroy (2011), and Lucas Glover (2009).
There are 14 local qualifying sites in California, the most of any state. Florida is second with 13 local qualifiers.
On Monday the United States Golf Association announced the local and final qualifying sites for the 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina, June 13-16, 2024.
Online player registration begins on Wednesday, Feb. 21, at champs.usga.org and will continue through Wednesday, April 13. Players must have a Handicap Index not exceeding 0.4, or be a professional.
There will be 109 local qualifying sites across the United States and Canada, April 22-May 20. For the 45th consecutive year, Illini Country Club in Springfield, Illinois, will hold a U.S. Open qualifier. Riverton (Wyoming) Country Club and Ironwood Country Club in Palm Desert, California, will host local qualifying for the 26th and 23rd years, respectively. There are 14 local qualifying sites in California, the most of any state. Florida is second with 13 local qualifiers.
Players who advance from 18-hole local qualifiers will join a group of exempt players in final qualifying, which will be conducted over 36 holes. International final stages will be held in England and Japan (May 20) and Canada (June 3). Nine final qualifiers in the U.S. will end on June 3, with one set for May 20. One local qualifying site in Texas and Massachusetts will be added at a later date.
The USGA accepted a record 10,187 entries for the 2023 championship at Los Angeles Country Club. The previous mark of 10,127 entries was established for the 2014 championship held at Pinehurst No. 2. The famed course in the Carolina sandhills, now an anchor site for the USGA, is hosting for a fourth time this year and will also host in 2029, 2035, 2041 and 2047.
Check out the dates and locations for all 2024 U.S. Open local and final qualifying sites below.
Thanks to Golfweek’s Best rankings, we break out the top public-access courses around Pinehurst, North Carolina.
Looking to play one of the top golf regions in the world, with great courses stacked alongside great courses? Look no further than Pinehurst, North Carolina.
From classic dream layouts to modern works of art, there are a dozen courses within a half-hour’s drive of Pinehurst that rank among the top 20 public-access courses in North Carolina.
For this exercise, we used Google Maps and punched in each course as of a Saturday morning to determine drive times. And included with this list is a general map of where to find all these courses. Each one on the list below is represented with a number on the map – keep scrolling to see the numbers.
And keep in mind, the numbers represent how the courses are ranked, and it can become a bit confusing as the courses at the famed Pinehurst Resort are named numerically. For example, Pinehurst No. 2 ranks No. 1 on this list, and it appears accordingly as No. 1 on the map.
Included with each course is its position in North Carolina on the Golfweek’s Best public-access list. For any course that appears on our other popular rankings lists, those positions are included as well.
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A little background: The hundreds of members of our course-ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them on 10 criteria on a points basis of 1 through 10. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings are averaged to produce all our Golfweek’s Best course rankings.
The courses on this list allow public access in some fashion, be it standard daily green fees, through a resort or casino, by staying at an affiliated hotel or purchasing a golf vacation package. If there’s a will, there’s a tee time – no membership required, although Pinewild Country Club is a special case on this list with an editor’s note below.
(Google Earth/Golfweek)
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“We really hope for a firm and fast U.S. Open come June.”
PINEHURST, N.C. — They say there’s never a bad day at Pinehurst, especially if you’re walking around course No. 2, the famed masterpiece of renowned architect Donald Ross.
The gem in the sandhills of North Carolina will play host to its fourth U.S. Open next summer (1999, 2005, 2014), and the folks at the United States Golf Association recently held an early preview for its flagship championship.
“We are comfortable that Pinehurst will provide the test of golf that has always provided,” said course setup lead Jeff Hall. “If Martin Kaymer hadn’t entered in 2014 we’d have had a really competitive championship, but he played brilliantly.”
“We’re not trying to play defense with the players,” he added. “This golf course, when it’s firm and fast, you can have some scary wedge shots. Even if it was shorter, there’s still some pretty scary wedge shots here.”
From fairways and tricky greens to new grass and hospitality venues, here’s what players and fans should expect to see when they step on the property for the 2024 U.S. Open, June 13-16, at Pinehurst No. 2.
No. 2 will look and play as it was designed
When Pinehurst worked with Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw to restore the course in 2010 and 2011, the team removed 35 acres of Bermuda rough and replaced it with nearly 250,000 wire grass plants so the course would look and play the way Ross originally intended. To get it as close as possible, images from 1948-1962 were used.
Pinehurst No. 2 in North Carolina (Courtesy of Pinehurst Resort)
No. 2 is a unique test of golf for a U.S. Open due to its sandy areas in lieu of ankle-deep rough. If players miss the short green grass, they’ll have to deal with the elements. Fairway widths are 34-45 yards at No. 2, which differs from, say, Winged Foot or The Country Club where 24-32 yards is the norm. The diabolical turtleback putting greens make fairway placement all the more important.
“Thinking back to 2014, this was a really difficult U.S. Open to play,” said former Tour pro and current USGA Senior Director of Player Relations Scott Langley. “I say that as a guy who finished in 63rd place, wasn’t as difficult for Martin Kaymer. The thing that’s difficult about Pinehurst No. 2 is the putting greens and surrounds. The greens are very difficult to hit, so you’re often faced with a variety of shots around the greens to recover.”
When you think of a missed green at a U.S. Open, tall, lush rough comes to mind. At Pinehurst, you can play any number of clubs to get up and down to save par. Bump-and-run with an iron. A perfectly nipped wedge. Maybe a hybrid instead of a putter. The course allows for a certain level of creativity that most championship venues lack. It introduces uncertainty for players, which is when things get interesting.
“It provides a mental challenge as much as a physical one,” added Langley. “No matter what club you end up choosing or what shot you decide to play, you always have a little bit of doubt in your mind if it’s the right one because of the presence of so many options.”
As if golf wasn’t hard enough already. But that’s why it’s the U.S. Open, known as the toughest test in golf.
Key corner of the course
If you’ve been to No. 2, you’ll know the area on the front nine that features No. 3 green, No. 4 tee, No. 5 green and No. 6 tee. Come next summer, the section of the course will be a fan-favorite to watch a lot of golf, especially if No. 3 is drivable.
The short par-4 3rd hole is gettable no matter where the tee is, but the challenge increases with the sloping fairway of the par-4 4th. Players will get a breather with the par-5 5th before they’re faced with arguably the toughest test of the front nine, the tricky par-3 6th hole.
The fifth hole on Pinehurst No. 2. (Photo: Tracy Wilcox/Golfweek)
In 2014, Martin Kaymer played No. 3 and No. 5 at 6 under par and finished the championship at 9 under. He drove the green on No. 3 on both days the tee was up and two-putted for birdie. He played No. 5 at 4 under thanks to a pair of birdies and an eagle.
“You could hear some roars in this part of the world,” Hall predicted.
When it comes to set up and yardage tee to green, the course will be very similar to what fans and players saw in 2014. The real difference is the surface of the putting greens. The 2014 championship and all the previous championships (as far as the USGA knows) were played on bentgrass. The 2024 championship will be played on Bermuda grass.
The change from Creeping Bentgrass to Ultradwarf Bermuda grass provides a different perspective for the tournament crew when preparing for a U.S. Open.
“It gives us a lot more flexibility because the temperatures are ramping up, nighttime, daytime, sunlight, everything that works against the cool season grasses that time of year are in our favor for the Ultradwarf Bermuda grass,” said Pinehurst superintendent John Jeffreys.
“It allows us more options for managing firmness,” added Darin Bevard, Senior Director of Championship Agronomy. “I just hope that Mother Nature cooperates in June that we’re having this conversation about firmness and not about fixing wash outs and bunkers. We really hope for a firm and fast U.S. Open come June.”
Outside the ropes
The course is a masterpiece inside the ropes, but the USGA believes the same to be true outside the ropes. The resort is an ideal venue logistically, and the staff has a proven plan for what works and what doesn’t.
In order to improve on past successes, the USGA is keying in on two aspects: getting fans closer to the action and elevating the overall fan experience. The answer is different product offerings from the gallery ticket all the way up to the most premium hospitality stand.
A grandstand left of the 18 green with the clubhouse in the background has been a staple for U.S. Opens at Pinehurst. Next year, the grandstand will be integrated with a premium hospitality experience called the 1895 Club, the highest-end experience on-site. The club comes with valet parking, shuttles, and the best food and beverage offerings with the 18th green as entertainment.
“That’s certainly going to be something we’re excited about and something that’s going to feel and look very different,” said Leighton Schwob, the USGA’s Senior Director of Operations.
Pinehurst is going through a full renovation of the lower floor of the resort building, which is where a lot of player facilities will be. A tunnel from the locker room up to the first tee for players is also being built and should be completed by the end of the year. The resort’s driving range will be more of a fan area next summer, as the USGA anticipates more than 250,000 fans will be in attendance for the week.
The course will shut down near Memorial Day, but facilities will be built beginning in March. So don’t fret, there’s still plenty of time to go play before the pros.
Tom Doak designed Pinehurst No. 10 on dramatic ground that previously held The Pit.
Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina has picked the official opening date for its new Tom Doak-designed golf course: April 3, 2024.
Doak is building Pinehurst No. 10 on the site formerly occupied by The Pit, a course that opened in 1985 but closed during the 2008 financial crisis. Doak’s layout will be the first new course for the famed Pinehurst Resort in nearly 30 years. No. 10 will open several months before the resort hosts the U.S. Open on its No. 2 course June 13-16.
It’s a busy time around Pinehurst, as the U.S. Golf Association is building a campus that is under construction and is planned to begin to open in 2023. The resort also was selected as an anchor site for U.S. Opens and will host that tournament in 2024 as mentioned, plus 2029, ’35, ’41 and ’47.
Keep reading for the complete announcement from the resort about No. 10’s opening date:
The highly anticipated Tom Doak design, which began construction this January, will be the first original golf course Pinehurst Resort has unveiled in nearly 30 years. Its opening comes just a few months before Pinehurst serves as the site of the U.S. Open for the fourth time.
“Pinehurst Resort has been fortunate to be hailed as the Cradle of American Golf, and we’re grateful for all of the major championships and historic moments that have come before,” says Pinehurst Resort CEO Bob Dedman Jr. “We’re delighted to have a date to begin presenting this incredible design by Tom Doak to our guests. April 3 will not only be another great day in Pinehurst’s history, but for our future as well.”
Pinehurst No. 10 will be unlike any golf course at the resort.
While No. 10 is Pinehurst’s first new course in nearly three decades, it’s been centuries in the making. The landscape underlying Doak’s newest design features all that is natural to golf in the North Carolina Sandhills, including native wiregrass, extensive sandscape, towering longleaf pines and rolling hills. Midway through the course, though, Doak takes advantage of rugged dunes carved out by mining operations around the turn of the 20th century. The result is a spectacular course with more than 75 feet of elevation change that winds its way on a path toward delivering a golf experience like no other.
“No. 10 starts out fairly gentle, then it starts going into the old quarry works where it gets downright crazy for a little bit, then the course gets up on the hill and there’s a beautiful, sweeping view,” Doak says. “All of the holes coming in are challenging, even when you move down into the gentler terrain. It’s a dramatic golf course; more than I originally thought.”
Golfers looking to be among the first to experience playing No. 10 can reserve their stay by calling 1-800-ITS-GOLF. More information on golf packages can be found at Pinehurst.com.
“We’re excited to show off Tom Doak’s masterful interpretation of Pinehurst golf,” says Tom Pashley, President of Pinehurst Resort. “From the initial routing of Pinehurst No. 10 to the shaping and design process, Doak and his associates excelled in all regards. Our very high expectations were exceeded, and we can’t wait for everyone to see it.”
VILLAGE OF PINEHURST, N.C. — The defending champions put up a good fight but it wasn’t enough as the United States Golf Association has crowned two new winners.
Ryanne Jackson and Kipp Popert claimed the women’s and men’s overall titles at the 2023 U.S. Adaptive Open, the USGA’s newest championship that puts the world’s best disabled golfers – 96 this year – in the spotlight.
The field is spread across eight categories: Arm Impairment, Intellectual Impairment, Leg Impairment, Multiple Limb Amputee, Neurological Impairment, Seated Players, Short Stature and Vision Impairment. Players must have a WR4GD Pass and a handicap index of 36.4 or less, Players with an Intellectual Impairment must also have Virtus II1 International Eligibility.
Jackson, 25, won the neurological impairment category in 2022 but finished runner-up in the overall to Kim Moore last year in the North Carolina Sandhills but got her revenge Wednesday at Pinehurst No. 6. The St. Petersburg, Florida, native shot a 4-over 76 to finish at 9 over for the championship, five shots clear of Moore (76). Jackson, who was diagnosed with scapuloperoneal muscular dystrophy as a college freshman after a decorated high school athletics career in both basketball and golf, also claimed the neurological category for the second consecutive year.
“I knew coming in that there were some new people entering the tournament that I hadn’t heard of,” said Jackson. “I didn’t know what to expect with their games, but I knew Kim Moore was going to be my biggest returning competitor since she was the reigning champ. So being here at the end is a very nice feeling.”
Currently an EMT, Jackson is starting paramedic school in August.
Playing in the final foursome of the day, Popert was in a tightly contested battle the entire round with defending men’s champion Simon Lee, 18-hole leader Conor Stone and Mike Browne. Just when it seemed like the Englishman was going to cruise to the victory, Popert made bogey on No. 17 and double bogey on the par-4 18th to open the door for Simon, whose putt to force a playoff on the last just slid past the cup.
“I worked really hard for many years,” said Popert. “I didn’t envision winning it with a double, but sometimes you’ve got to win ugly. It was good out there. I played well today. I’m extremely chuffed to win.”
Popert started playing golf when he was 3 years old. The 25-year-old was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at birth and has undergone several surgeries, but that hasn’t stopped him from becoming one of the world’s best disabled golfers. Last May he won Golf for the Disabled (G4D) Tour Betfred British Masters and finished fourth here at the Adaptive last July.
All four players in the final men’s grouping finished even or under par, and each won their respective impairment categories with ease by four shots or more.
The champions of the 2023 U.S. Adaptive Open at Pinehurst Resort No. 6 in Village of Pinehurst, North Carolina. (Photo: Jeff Haynes/USGA)
Kelsey Koch won’t leave the Sandhills of North Carolina with a trophy or medal, but she will take home a brand new ring.
Following her final round of the 2023 U.S. Adaptive Open at Pinehurst No. 6 on Wednesday afternoon, Koch was proposed to by her boyfriend and caddie, Josh White, on the ninth green, her last hole of the championship. And of course she said yes.
“I did not have any idea but I hoped and prayed. I hoped and prayed because life is so much more than golf and what better of an opportunity,” she said after the round. “This experience as a whole has been so humbling to be here. Like I always say, it’s not what you do on the course it’s what you do off the course, right? To be here and to have this, we’re so blessed to start this way.”
The 31-year-old made her adaptive debut this week in the leg impairment category. Koch was born without a left tibia bone and her leg was amputated at 11 months old.
“I don’t know any different,” said Koch, who owns a yoga studio back home. “I don’t want to know any different.”
The Grand Blanc, Michigan, native finished 20th out of 21 women in the field, and while she may not have had the week she wanted on the course, she’ll leave Pinehurst with countless new memories, a fiancé and wedding to plan.
“Golf has been difficult for me this week,” said Koch as she hugged her husband to be, “but that doesn’t matter.”
VILLAGE OF PINEHURST, N.C. — A field of 96 golfers descended upon Pinehurst No. 6 this week for the 2023 U.S. Adaptive Open, the second playing of the USGA’s newest championship that showcases some of the best disabled golfers from around the world.
Just how good are they? A total of 22 players boast plus handicaps, with 10 coming in at a full shot better than scratch.
There’s a four-way tie at the top for best handicap, with Kipp Popert (Neurological Impairment), Simon Lee (Intellectual Impairment), Hayato Yoshida (Leg Impairment) and Mike Browne (Leg Impairment) all owning handicaps of +3.7.
Get to know the 22 players in the 2023 U.S. Adaptive Open field who play with plus handicaps.
VILLAGE OF PINEHURST, N.C. — “I don’t want to slow anyone down.”
“I don’t have the right equipment.”
“We don’t have anybody to teach us.”
Adam Benza has heard those responses time and time again as reasons why more people from the disabled community haven’t tried to play golf. There are clinics all over the country for adaptive golfers, but a lot are run by instructors who aren’t familiar with the community they’re teaching.
That’s why nearly ten years ago Benza enlisted the help of fellow 2023 U.S. Adaptive Open competitors Kenny Bontz, Chad Pfeifer and Kellie Valentine to create Moving Foreward, a foundation that aims to get more disabled people involved in the game through clinics and by providing equipment for those in need.
‘I was like, ‘Hey, we’re the best of every category. We’re some of the best players in United States,’” said Benza, 41, who lost his leg to Ewing’s sarcoma at 9 years old. “Let’s do this, go and teach golf professionals to make it more available so they have more knowledge on how our prosthetics work, how we swing, Kellie has one arm, they’re both (above knee amputees) and I’m a (below knee amputee).”
“No golf instructors know how to really navigate what anybody out here is dealing with,” added Benza, who studied professional golf management at Penn State. “So that was kind of our main goal, to make it more accessible for all of the communities so they could go to a golf professional and know that they know what they’re talking about and how to deal with this us.”
“Adam does a lot of the day-to-day stuff,” said Pfeifer. “He does a lot of clinics, he’s helping teach other pros how to teach adaptive people, how to adjust to whatever their disability is, all the different adaptive equipment that’s out there.”
None other than 13-time PGA Tour winner Jordan Spieth, whose parents went to the same high school as Benza, was the foundation’s first donor, but Benza didn’t shy away from his disappointment that more people don’t want to donate.
“We would like to do more clinics, more for awareness, golf tournaments raising money for people to go to events like this, but people don’t understand that it’s all coming out of our own pockets,” he explained. “To be able to go to people and say, ‘You’ve never played an adaptive event, we’re gonna pay for you to go out there, we’ll get used clubs,’ stuff like that, that’s our main goal, just to get more and more people out there.”
“That’s what we want to do, it’s just when push comes to shove and you go to ask somebody they’re like, ‘We already have our budget planned out for this year. We’ll talk to you next year.’”
But next year doesn’t always come.
“We’re always looking for money, that drives a lot, but that money goes towards great things like getting these players out on the golf course and golf clubs in their hands,” added Pfeifer. “Any kind of support is always helpful. Even if you know somebody who might have a disability, let them know about us and let them know about adaptive golf. We’d love to see him out here, no matter what their injury is.”
