World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler says he is fully focused on the US Open and picking up a sixth win of the season in Pinehurst, North Carolina, having put his arrest at the PGA Championship behind him.
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Scottie Scheffler
Since March, Scheffler has played eight events and won five, including the Masters. On two other occasions, he was a runner-up. His worst result in that red-hot patch was a tie for eighth at the PGA Championship in Louisville three weeks ago.
He still threatened to win the Major even after he was arrested before the second round over a traffic stop involving a police officer at the entrance to the Valhalla Golf Club. Scheffler was charged on May 17 with four counts, including felony second-degree assault on a police officer. The charges were later dropped. Like so much else in his life, the laid-back American has taken everything in stride, never losing his focus or good nature.
Scheffler said he does not like reliving the incident but also had a chuckle over a viral video parodying the situation. The video posted on X shows a fan pulling into a parking lot for a tournament in Louisville with a dummy wearing a police uniform dangling from the driver’s side window, prompting a huge laugh and the comment, “Scottie Scheffler is here today.”.
“It’s kind of hard not to laugh about the guy who did that,” Scheffler said with a smile at his press conference on Tuesday. “I didn’t see any videos. Xander (Schaufeli) did tell me about it yesterday. He got a pretty good kick out of it. If all they did was make fun of me, it would be different. It wouldn’t be as fun, but they’re great guys, and they’re great friends. So you’ve got to be able to look in the mirror and laugh at yourself.
History
The first U.S. Open was played on October 4, 1895, on a nine-hole course at the Newport Country Club in Newport, Rhode Island. It was a 36-hole competition and was played in a single day. Ten professionals and one amateur entered. The winner was Horace Rawlins, a 21-year-old Englishman who had arrived in the U.S. earlier that year to take up a position at the host club. He received $150 cash out of a prize fund of $335, plus a $50 gold medal; his club received the Open Championship Cup trophy, which was presented by the USGA.
In the beginning, the tournament was dominated by experienced British players until 1911, when John J. McDermott became the first native-born American winner. American golfers soon began to win regularly, and the tournament evolved to become one of the four majors. Since 1911, the title has been won mostly by players from the United States. Since 1950, players from only six countries other than the United States have won the championship, most notably South Africa, which has won five times since 1965. [citation needed] A streak of four consecutive non-American winners occurred from 2004 to 2007 for the first time since 1910.
These four players—South African Retief Goosed (2004), [6] New Zealander Michael Campbell (2005), [7] Australian Geoff Ogilvy (2006) [8], and Argentine Angel Cabrera (2007) [9]—are all from countries in the Southern Hemisphere. Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell (2010) became the first European player to win the event [10] since Tony Jacklin of England in 1970; three more Europeans won in the next four editions, making it only three American wins in the 11 tournaments from 2004 to 2014.
U.S. Open play is characterized by tight scoring at or around par by the leaders, with the winner usually emerging at around even par. A U.S. Open course is seldom beaten severely, and there have been many over-par wins (in part because par is usually set at 70, except for the very longest courses). Normally, an Open course is quite long and will have a high cut of primary rough
(termed “Open rough” by the American press and fans); undulating greens (such as at Pinehurst No. 2 in 2005, which was described by Johnny Miller of NBC as “like trying to hit a ball on top of a VW Beetle“); pinched fairways (especially on what are expected to be less difficult holes); and two or three holes that are short par fives under regular play would be used as long par fours during the tournament (often to meet that frequently used par of 70, forcing players to have accurate long drives).
Some courses that are attempting to get into the rotation for the U.S. Open will undergo renovations to develop these features. Rees Jones is the most notable of the “Open Doctors” who take on these projects; his father, Robert Trent Jones, had filled that role earlier. As with any professional golf tournament, the available space surrounding the course (for spectators, among other considerations) and local infrastructure also factor into deciding which courses will host the event.
Qualification
The field is 156 players.
About half of the field is made up of players who are fully exempt from qualifying. The current exemption categories are:
Winners of the U.S. Open for the last ten years
Winner and runner-up from the previous year’s U.S. Amateur and winners of the previous year’s -U.S. Junior Amateur and U.S. Mid-Amateur
The runner-up from the U.S. Amateur, the winner of the U.S. Junior Amateur, and the U.S. Mid–Amateur must remain amateurs.
The winner of the U.S. Amateur, however, may turn professional after winning the U.S. Amateur and retain his eligibility.
-Winner of the previous year’s Amateur Championship
-The previous year’s Mark H. McCormack Medal winner for the top-ranked amateur golfer in the world
-Winners of each of Masters Tournament, Open Championship and PGA Championship for the last five years
-Winners of the last three Players Championships
-Winner of the current year’s BMW PGA Championship
-Winner of the last U.S. Senior Open
Players who win multiple U.S. PGA Tour events during the time between tournaments, provided the tournaments each offer 500 or more points to the winner and are not opposite-field events.
-In the year after the Olympic golf tournament, the reigning men’s gold medalist
-Top 10 finishers and ties from the previous year’s U.S. Open
-Players who qualified for the previous year’s Tour Championship
-The top 60 in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) as of two weeks before the start of the tournament
-The top 60 in the OWGR as of the tournament date
-The top player in the PGA Tour second-tier developmental series points, based on combined points from the regular season and finals from the previous season (starting in 2023). [15]
Special exemptions selected by the USGA
All remaining spots after the second top 60 OWGR cutoff date filled by alternates from qualifying tournaments.
Summary by course, state and region
The U.S. Open has been played on 52 different golf courses: 22 in the Northeast, 18 in the Midwest, 6 in the South, and 6 in the West.
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