The USGA is canceling local and final qualifying, the infamously arduous process by which half the field makes it into the championship. Instead, the 120th U.S. Open contested Sept. 17-20 at Winged Foot in New York will feature an all-exempt field. “This is a decision that was exceptionally difficult. The openness of our championships is our DNA—10,000 people following their dream,” said John Bodenhamer, the USGA’s senior managing director of championships. Qualifying isn’t the only USGA event falling victim to the reality of a public health emergency: the governing body is also cancelling another four of its amateur championships. That leaves just four of the planned 14 championships to be contested in 2020 (U.S. Open, U.S. Women’s Open, U.S. Women’s Amateur, and the U.S. Amateur). The four events now being pulled from the schedule were scheduled for August and September: the Mid-Amateur, the Women’s Mid-Amateur, the Senior Amateur and the Senior Women’s Amateur. The cancellation of Open qualifying will be keenly felt among golf fans. It’s from those final qualifying tournaments that Cinderella stories emerge. In the last quarter-century, three eventual Open champions first made their way into the field via qualifying: Steve Jones in 1996, Michael Campbell in 2005 and Lucas Glover in 2009. The USGA recently unveiled a new “From Many, One” branding campaign that emphasized the pathway from qualifying to victory in its premier championship. This year’s reality is “From Not As Many, One.”
U.S. Open to cancel qualifying, have all-exempt field; 4 more USGA events nixed
The USGA is canceling local and final qualifying, the infamously arduous process by which half the field makes it into the championship. Instead, the 120th U.S. Open contested Sept. 17-20 at Winged Foot in New York will feature an all-exempt field. “This is a decision that was exceptionally difficult. The openness of our championships is our DNA—10,000 people following their dream,” said John Bodenhamer, the USGA’s senior managing director of championships. Qualifying isn’t the only USGA event falling victim to the reality of a public health emergency: the governing body is also cancelling another four of its amateur championships. That leaves just four of the planned 14 championships to be contested in 2020 (U.S. Open, U.S. Women’s Open, U.S. Women’s Amateur, and the U.S. Amateur). The four events now being pulled from the schedule were scheduled for August and September: the Mid-Amateur, the Women’s Mid-Amateur, the Senior Amateur and the Senior Women’s Amateur. The cancellation of Open qualifying will be keenly felt among golf fans. It’s from those final qualifying tournaments that Cinderella stories emerge. In the last quarter-century, three eventual Open champions first made their way into the field via qualifying: Steve Jones in 1996, Michael Campbell in 2005 and Lucas Glover in 2009. The USGA recently unveiled a new “From Many, One” branding campaign that emphasized the pathway from qualifying to victory in its premier championship. This year’s reality is “From Not As Many, One.”