Golf

Many of the greats have played at the Wentworth Club, which began life as a grand English estate steeped in the past. More

The English golfer is now ranked No. 20 and has set his sights much higher. More

DeChambeau, who bulked up and went all in to prove a power game could flout golf’s norms, shot the only under-par round on Sunday to win the 2020 U.S. Open. More

For almost 100 years, the hallmark of the United States Open has been the qualifying procedure. It’s integral to the very nature of the Open, as the tournament is open to all comers — provided they have an official handicap index of 1.4 or better.Usually the Open field is composed of 156 players, with half of them qualifying via prior performance and the other half through a series of grueling qualifying rounds. The Open is played on some of the finest courses in the land, under the most rigorous conditions imaginable, but the need to first qualify through superlative play is paramount.It is this requirement of having to earn one’s way into the championship that clearly sets the Open apart as the most democratic of all of golf’s tournaments.Typically, there are 9,000 to 10,000 applicants for local qualifying at about 115 sites across the country, with successful qualifiers moving on to 10 regional qualifying sites in the United States. There are also additional international qualifying rounds, with regionals in Canada, England and Japan. Most years, about 78 players are fully exempt into the championship and qualify through a variety of categories — winners of the major tournaments over the past several years, winners of other U.S.G.A. events in the past year, high finishers on various money lists and the like.Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S.G.A. canceled all qualifying and replaced it by deliberately selecting players picked from several golf performance lists for approximately half the field with the other half coming from the fully exempt categories as usual. Because of the change of dates for the tournament — to mid-September from mid-June — the field was reduced to 144 players, a result of the fewer hours of available sunlight in the fall than in the summer that is critical to completing the first two rounds with a much larger field.The goal was to mirror — as closely as possible — the average composition of the various player categories over the past few years and fit play into the available light. John Bodenhamer, the U.S.G.A.’s senior managing director, in charge of the Open, acknowledged that the goal was to mirror the average composition of the past few years. “This has been a very challenging year, and to go without qualifying is deeply disappointing to us,” he said.However, the U.S.G.A.’s category selections were somewhat arbitrary — for example, this year’s inclusion of players off the Official World Golf Ranking list was increased to 70 from 60; 13 amateurs, always a fixture in the Open, were included, down from the 18 who played their way into the 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, N.Y.Without the qualifying rounds, there won’t be any wonderful, compelling stories about the young assistant pro at a small club who overcomes all odds to qualify or the heartwarming tale of the senior amateur who first played in the Open 25 years before and finally made it back. The U.S.G.A. takes great joy in publicizing those individuals.Also missing will be the ultimate Cinderella stories — the players who had to go through the qualifying rounds and went on to win the U.S. Open — Ken Venturi in 1964, Orville Moody in 1969, Steve Jones in 1996, Michael Campbell in 2005 and Lucas Glover in 2009.Because of the elimination of local and sectional qualifying, this year’s Open is tantamount to an invitational tournament. But the winner’s name will appear on the U.S. Open trophy right there with the greats of the game. His scores will go in the official U.S.G.A. record book and he’ll also receive the same gold medal as those legendary players.As a counterpoint, consider the case of the 1942 Open. It was called the Hale America Open, but it came to be known as the Wartime U.S. Open. It was conducted by the U.S.G.A., with an assist from the Chicago District Golf Association and the PGA of America, and was played at Ridgemoor Country Club in Chicago on the traditional mid-June dates for the U.S. Open.Most significantly, it featured local and sectional qualifying conducted by the U.S.G.A.Virtually all of the top players were there; players who had already won a major or would go on to win one. Bobby Jones even came out of retirement to play.Without a doubt, it had all of the trappings of the U.S. Open.Ben Hogan won by three strokes over Mike Turnesa and Jimmy Demaret, and by four over Byron Nelson, shooting 17-under-par 271 for the tournament. Hogan’s Open appeared for many years in the official record book. And the gold medal that Hogan was presented with by the president of the U.S.G.A., George Blossom, was visually identical to the other four he would go on to win. There was one very slight exception — the background of a small field of stars on the face of the medal, about half the size of a pinkie fingernail, is not painted blue as it is normally in the ones that winners get for winning the Open.The threshold question then is, if this year’s U.S. Open, without local and sectional qualifying — the bedrock principle underpinning the U.S. Open — is considered official, shouldn’t Hogan’s name be added to the iconic trophy and his records put back in the official record book as well?Hogan always believed he won five U.S. Opens, though U.S.G.A. removed the 1942 victory from their record book and did not engrave his name on the trophy. Restoring his fifth title would also change another bit of Open history: Hogan’s 62 in the second round would also count as the lowest score in the tournament’s history. More

A fast start and some steady nerves gave Wolff a two-shot lead entering the final round of only his second major championship. More

DeChambeau’s aggressive game plan at the tricky Winged Foot course has him near the top of the leaderboard: “I want to play it as hard as possible,” he said. Tiger Woods did not make the cut. More

Davis Thompson is filling the role of the fast-starting amateur at this year’s United States Open at Winged Foot Golf Club in Westchester County, N.Y. While he’s still near the top, here’s the lowdown.What Has He Accomplished?Thompson is a senior at the University of Georgia, where he was a finalist for the college player of the year award. Georgia has produced a number of PGA players, including Bubba Watson.Thompson’s amateur wins include the 2020 Jones Cup Invitational, an event in Georgia previously won by Justin Thomas and Patrick Reed.Thompson is currently the fourth-ranked amateur golfer in the world, which qualified him for the U.S. Open. He has played in two PGA Tour events this season, finishing tied for 23rd at the R.S.M. Classic in Georgia, where his father is tournament director, and missing the cut at the Puerto Rico Open. He has never previously played in a major.How Did He Do Thursday?Thompson got off to a fast start, birdieing six, seven and eight, then adding another at 11 to briefly lead the tournament.He came back down to earth at the end of his round, bogeying three late holes to finish at minus-1, four strokes off the lead.Perhaps he was helped by playing with two Georgia alums, Harris English and Brendon Todd. They each did him one better, shooting minus-2.Thompson’s caddie is his father, Todd, who also played golf for Georgia.What Did He Say?“I mean I’m nervous, but that also just comes with it,” he told the Georgia student publication Red and Black before the tournament. “This is my first major ever, you only get one, so I’m going to try to enjoy it as much as I can.”“I got off to a great start,” he told Golf Week after his round. “I hit a lot of fairways coming out of the gate, which kind of gave me a lot of comfort at the start. Then I just missed a few fairways coming in and had to hack it out and try to get up and down. Unfortunately, I didn’t,”Is It Time to Get Excited?Maybe not. It’s not uncommon for amateurs to fire off a good first round at majors.At least year’s Open, Viktor Hovland was four shots off the pace after a round and wound up 12th. That was better than expectation, actually.In 2018, Luis Gagne and Will Grimmer were four strokes back. They finished 48th and 66th. In 2017 it was Scottie Scheffler. He wound up 27th.Thompson and his fellow Georgia Bulldogs tee off at 12:54 Eastern on Friday. More

The 97-year-old course will test long-driving players with its deep, untrampled rough and multitiered greens. “It’s the hardest golf course I’ve ever played,” world No. 3 golfer Justin Thomas said. More