U.S. Open: Tiger, DJ and a decade of champions
2016 U.S. Open Champion Dustin Johnson heads the list of 10 past winners who qualify for the 2017 U.S. Open under USGA Exemption Category No. 1
The 117th U.S. Open will be contested June 15-18, 2017, at Erin Hills Golf Club in Erin, Wisconsin. This annual national championship will again identify the best among an international field of outstanding golfers.
The 2017 U.S. Open champion will join an exclusive club that from the Open’s inception in 1895 until John McDermott’s 1922 victory was dominated by English and Scottish players.
Francis Ouimet, Bobby Jones, Jerome Travers, Chick Evans, and Johnny Goodman, all American amateurs, are U.S. Open champions. Goodman, who won at North Shore Country Club in Glenview, Illinois in 1933, was the last amateur to hoist the U.S. Open trophy.
Qualifying for the U.S. Open follows a variety of avenues. There is no age limit. The competition is open to all professional golfers and amateurs with a USGA index of 1.4 or less. About half the entrants are selected through a series of domestic and international sectional qualifying events and about half through 15 USGA-established exemption categories.
The first of those exemption categories ensures that winners of the last ten U.S. Open competitions are invited to contend. That list is bookended this year by the 2016 champion, Dustin Johnson, and Tiger Woods, the winner of the fabled 2008 Torrey Pines Open. There’s no doubt Johnson will tee it up and, sadly, there’s very little likelihood that Tiger will.
Going into the 117th national championship, let’s take a closer look at a decade of U.S. Open champions.