Gearing up for the 124th U.S. Open

U.S Open – The 124^th Edition

Golf’s first U.S. Open was played in 1895 at Newport Golf Club in Rhode Island. Participation was, as the name of the tournament suggests, open to the public. Players needed only to sign up to participate—no further qualifications were necessary.

The event, then as now, was hosted by the United States Golf Association (USGA) and played over four rounds at a nine-hole course. The first event had only eleven participants and was won by Horace Rawlins, who claimed a $150 prize—approximately $6000 by today’s standards.

 By around 1913, qualifying tournaments were required to regulate field sizes and ensure that all participants reflected a certain level of skill that the tournament demanded.

Nearly 130 years later, the event is enormous. Millions of people tune in every Father’s Day weekend to watch players compete for a title that will cement their legacy. In this article, we provide an overview, of both of the event itself and Pine Hurst, which will host this year’s championship.

What Makes the U.S Open Special

Many fans love that the U.S. Open humbles the game’s best players. If there is one event that will constantly keep winning scores at around par—sometimes even over it—it’s this one. U.S. Open courses are supposed to be the most challenging that players experience all year.

The extent to which this is the case varies, based both on weather conditions and on the venue. Still, the challenge of this tournament is what sets it apart in the minds of most fans. Lightning-fast greens. Narrow fairways. Increasingly long holes. Rough thicker Phil Mickelson’s calves. Stakes bigger than Brooks Koepka’s ego.

These factors certainly contribute to the charged atmosphere that characterizes the best U.S. Opens.

Distinguished Competitive Environment

The Open is, of course, also a major championship, currently played third on the seasonal schedule. It’s hard to overstate the importance of this distinction. While there are 40+ tournaments included on the PGA Tour schedule every year—not even including those on the LIV or European Tours—many fans will only closely pay attention to the majors.

It wasn’t always this way. The heavy emphasis placed on the Masters, the U.S. Open, the British Open, and the PGA Championship, developed slowly during the middle of the 20^th century thanks largely to Jack Nicklaus.

Since then, these events have taken on a life of their own. Players who win them earn considerably more than the $150 offered as prize money in the first U.S. Open played so long ago. These tournaments feature some of the biggest purses on the schedule.

Most players hardly care. The real prize comes in the form of prestige. The U.S Open is a career-making event. Win one and your name is forever tied to greatness, even if you never claim another title in your entire career.

Major titles are what set players apart more than any other victory. A guy who goes out and wins twelve ordinary tournaments over the course of a thirty-year career will be respected—certainly, he will be very wealthy if he is playing in the modern era.
He will not be remembered in the long term.

However, if two of those titles are U.S. Opens, the conversation changes considerably. This player is now Hall of Fame material.

U.S. Open winners are known beyond golf fandom. They go on talk shows. They receive lucrative endorsements, often worth considerably more than the seven-figure prize money that open winners receive.

Because of these stakes, the field commands all of the game's best players. No one skips the U.S. Open to rest up for the next tournament on the schedule. If you qualify and are healthy, you go. Some players—Tiger Woods certainly among them—will build their entire seasons around preparing for the U.S Open, as well as the season’s other three majors.

Jack Nicklaus used to say that during the ordinary schedule, he would routinely imagine that he was hitting shots, not at some anonymous tournament in April, but at the U.S Open. He’d practice shot shapes that would provide him with advantages at the four biggest tournaments of the year so he would be ready when the stakes were at their highest.

This strategy obviously worked for him. He still has the record for most major victories—eighteen—four of which came at the U.S Open.

All of this is to say that the stakes don’t get higher.

The U.S Open is….Open

It’s easy to forget that the U.S. Open is also the most democratic tournament on the schedule. Anyone with a 0.4 handicap is eligible to play their way in. On average, about 10,000 amateurs try to qualify every year.

They begin their journey at a local qualifier tournament. These events are held at 100+ courses spread throughout the United States and usually take place in April of the tournament year. About 5% of players who enter these events play well enough to make it into the final qualifier.

This event is held at ten courses in the United States—as well as three international locations. Approximately 1000 players make it to this stage, and only 7% wind up qualifying for the Open.

Of these, some are professional golfers who did not qualify for the tournament based on their regular season performance. For example, in 2023, Sergio Garcia played his way into the U.S. Open through the qualifying tournament.

Graeme McDowell—a major champion—tried and failed to do the same.

The presence of amateur participants produces a compelling B-story that sets this tournament apart in the hearts of many more avid golf fans. While it has been decades since an amateur factored substantially in the tournament leaderboard, even making the cut is a notable achievement that many golf fans love to see play out.

Pinehurst

Pinehurst is a U.S. Open mainstay. Though the event changes venues every year, it has featured regularly on the rotation. This venue has seen heroes of golf’s classic era hoist the trophy. Ben Hogan. Sam Snead.

It was also home to one of the most memorable 90s Opens. In 1999, Phil Mickelson and Payne Stewart duked it out on the Sunday back nine. Phil was an expectant father at the time, prepared to leave the course at a moment's notice should his wife go into labor. Stewart, meanwhile, had redemption on the mind. One year earlier, he’d suffered a disappointing runner-up finish at Olympic.

Stewart ultimately came out on top, finishing fill with a dramatic 18-footer on the seventy-second hole. This victory, incidentally, has been cemented into golf history just as much based on what happened after the event as what took place during it. Steward tragically died several months later when the jet he was on malfunctioned.

Like any great course, Pinehurst has produced its share of great drama and impressive heroics since then. In 2005, Michael Campbell held off a charging Tiger Woods to win his first and only major.

That’s the beauty of the U.S. Open. Campbell, in beating the game’s greatest player at the sport's most dramatic event of the season has achieved a lasting legacy that may keep his name in golf history books for decades to come. We’re talking about him right now!

Few events promise the same level of fame to their victors.

What Makes Pinehurst No. 2 So Special?

Pinehurst No. 2 is considered by some to be the birthplace of the American game. One of the reasons is that this course has hosted more professional tournaments than any other venue in the game’s storied history.

This includes not only the U.S. Open, but also the PGA Championship, and even the Ryder Cup. Golf is a game that celebrates history and tradition more than perhaps any other sport. This rich tradition matters to players teeing it up Pinehurst No.2, just as it matters to fans who have watched this course subtly change to accommodate various championships over the years.

The course was designed by famed golf course architect, Donald Ross. Ross “finished,” No. 2 in 1907, but frequently revisited the design until his death in 1948. The course has been revamped many times since then—largely to reflect changes to how the game is played (people hit the ball much farther now than they did in 1907). Still, all changes have been made with respect to Ross’s original vision.

The fairways are lined by towering trees that are easy to get lost in—a venerable forest possible only at loops with time and history on their side.

The clubhouse is also historic, noted for its beauty and history. These factors combine to provide a venue that is at once historic, and challenging enough to earn the course an ongoing spot in the PGA Tour’s rotation.

Pinehurst is already scheduled to host the Open four more times in the next twenty years with a schedule currently set in 5-6-year intervals.