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Tuesday, February 23, 2021

USGA Announces 11 Final Qualifying Sites on Road to 2021 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines


Nine U.S. sites, along with Canada and Japan, will host final qualifying; entries open Wednesday

(LIBERTY CORNER, N.J.) — The United States Golf Association (USGA) today announced the 11 final qualifying sites for the 121st U.S. Open Championship, which will be played at Torrey Pines Golf Course (South Course), in San Diego, Calif., on June 17-20, 2021. Torrey Pines is hosting its second U.S. Open.

Additionally, online player registration for the 2021 U.S. Open will begin on Wednesday, Feb. 24 (champs.usga.org/index.html) and will continue through Wednesday, April 21 at 5 p.m. EDT.

Final qualifying, conducted over 36 holes, will be held at nine U.S. sites. One is set for Monday, May 24, in Texas, while eight are scheduled on Monday, June 7: two in Ohio and one each in California, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, New York and Washington. For the 16th consecutive year in which international qualifying has been contested, Japan will host a qualifier, on May 24. A final qualifier will be contested for the second time in Canada, on June 7.

All U.S. Open qualifying was canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and for the same reason England will not host a site this year. An exemption category will be added in which players can earn entry based on the three-event U.S. Open 2021 European Tour Qualifying Series (Betfred British Masters, Made in HimmerLand presented by FREJA and Porsche European Open, May 15-June 6). The top 10 aggregate point earners from those events, who were otherwise not exempt, will earn spots in the U.S. Open field.

“The U.S. Open is a uniquely democratic championship that offers thousands of golfers of all backgrounds a chance to qualify through a traditional two-stage process that was established in 1959,” said John Bodenhamer, USGA senior managing director, Championships. “Allied Golf Associations in the United States, along with the Japan Golf Association, Golf Canada and the European Tour, collaborate to provide players with a qualifying path to the U.S. Open that celebrates and reinforces the theme ‘From Many, One.’” 

The Columbus, Ohio; Purchase, N.Y.; and Dallas sites will use two courses. In Columbus, Brookside Golf and Country Club and The Lakes Golf and Country Club will combine to host final qualifying for the 15th time. Eight players from the Columbus qualifier made the 36-hole cut in the 2019 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach (Calif.) Golf Links. Chesson Hadley, who tied for ninth, and a pair of rising amateurs at the time, Collin Morikawa and Brandon Wu, were among that group.

Century Country Club and Old Oaks Country Club will join to host final qualifying in Purchase for the 16th time since 1963. Dallas Athletic Club’s Blue and Gold Courses will host the Dallas qualifier. The club is hosting the 36-hole qualifier for the 10th time, but first since 2011. Three players from the Texas qualifier in 2019 made the cut in the U.S. Open.

U.S. Open final qualifying returns to Woodmont Country Club, in Rockville, Md., for the 33rd time in the last 35 years, with only the North Course used for the seventh consecutive time. Springfield Country Club in Ohio will host final qualifying for the 12th time in 14 years. The Bear’s Club, in Jupiter, Fla., is a final qualifying site for the third time in the last seven years.

Piedmont Driving Club, in Atlanta, Ga., Rolling Hills Country Club, in Rolling Hills Estates, Calif., and Meadow Springs Country Club, in Richland, Wash., will each host final qualifying for the first time.

Canada is once again a host for U.S. Open final qualifying. RattleSnake Point Golf Club, in Milton, Ontario, will use its CopperHead Course. Harris English, who won the Sentry Tournament of Champions last month, was among five players from the Canadian qualifier who made the 36-hole cut at Pebble Beach. The Royal Golf Club in Hokota, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan joins Canada as an international final qualifying site. 

To be eligible for qualifying, a player must have a Handicap Index® not exceeding 1.4, or be a professional. Local qualifying, which will be played over 18 holes at 108 sites in the U.S. and one in Canada, takes place between April 26-May 18.

Ken Venturi (1964) and Orville Moody (1969) are the only players to win the U.S. Open after qualifying through both local and final play. Gene Littler (1961), Julius Boros (1963), Jerry Pate (1976), Steve Jones (1996), Michael Campbell (2005) and Lucas Glover (2009) won after advancing through final qualifying.

In 2019, the USGA accepted 9,125 entries for the championship at Pebble Beach, the eighth consecutive year that entries topped 9,000. The record of 10,127 was established for the 2014 championship at Pinehurst Resort & Country Club’s Course No. 2, in the Village of Pinehurst, N.C.

The 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines was both historic and dramatic. Tiger Woods outdueled Rocco Mediate, who advanced to the championship through the Columbus, Ohio, final qualifier, in a 19-hole Monday playoff to win his third U.S. Open title and record-tying ninth USGA championship. It was Woods’ 14th professional major championship victory.

2021 U.S. Open Final Qualifying Sites (11)

International (2)

Monday, May 24

- Asia – The Royal Golf Club, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan

Monday, June 7

- Canada – RattleSnake Point Golf Club (CopperHead Course), Milton, Ontario

United States (9)

Monday, May 24

- Dallas Athletic Club (Blue and Gold Courses), Dallas, Texas

Monday, June 7

- Rolling Hills Country Club, Rolling Hills Estates, Calif.

- The Bear’s Club, Jupiter, Fla.

- Piedmont Driving Club, Atlanta, Ga.

- Woodmont Country Club (North Course), Rockville, Md.

- Century Country Club & Old Oaks Country Club, Purchase, N.Y.

- Brookside Golf & Country Club & The Lakes Golf & Country Club, Columbus, Ohio

- Springfield (Ohio) Country Club

- Meadow Springs Country Club, Richland, Wash.

To learn more, visit usga.org.

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