Golf: 9,485 entries file for U.S. Open.
Amount is fifth-most ever
It’s not a record, but it’s a lot of golfers.
The United States Golf Association has accepted 9,485 entries for the 117th U.S. Open Championship, June 15-18 at Erin Hills Golf Course in the Town of Erin.
It’s the fifth-highest entry total for a U.S. Open. The record is 10,127 for the 2014 championship at Pinehurst Resort & Country Club.
Entries were received from all 50 states, including 150 from Wisconsin, and 66 foreign countries.
The USGA received 561 entries Wednesday, the last day applications were accepted. Lance Richards, a 40-year-old professional from Saratoga Springs, Utah, submitted his entry just 11 seconds before the 5 p.m. EDT deadline.
David Zeisse, 38, a professional from Milwaukee who works as a caddie at Erin Hills, was the first to file an application when entries opened March 8.
To be eligible for the U.S. Open, a player must have a handicap index not exceeding 1.4 or be a professional. Local qualifying will be held at 113 sites in the U.S. from May 2-18. There are two local qualifiers in Wisconsin: May 11 at The Bull at Pinehurst Farms in Sheboygan Falls and May 17 at Washington Country Golf Course in Hartford.
Local qualifiers advance to 36-hole sectional qualifying June 5 at 10 sites. Fifty-one golfers are fully exempt for the U.S. Open and the remaining 105 in the 156-player field will be filled by those advancing through the qualifiers.
Steve Stricker of Madison, a 12-time PGA Tour winner with four top-10 finishes in the U.S. Open, wrote a letter to the USGA requesting a special exemption but was denied.
Stricker, who consulted on the design of Erin Hills with original owner Bob Lang, will try to qualify in a sectional in Memphis, Tenn.
In addition to the 2017 U.S. Open being the first contested in Wisconsin, the championship returns to the Midwest for the first time since 2003, when Jim Furyk won at Olympia Fields in suburban Chicago.
Erin Hills will be the first par-72 U.S. Open venue since 1992 and only the ninth since World War II.