2018 U.S. Open (golf)

2018 U.S. Open

Tournament information
Dates	June 14–17, 2018
Location	Shinnecock Hills, New York 40°53′38″N 72°26′24″W / 40.894°N 72.440°W / 40.894; -72.440
Course(s)	Shinnecock Hills Golf Club
Organized by	USGA
Tour(s)	PGA Tour European Tour Japan Golf Tour
Statistics
Par	70
Length	7,440 yards (6,803 m)
Field	156 players, 67 after cut
Cut	148 (+8)
Prize fund	$12,000,000 €10,244,150
Winner's share	$2,160,000 €1,843,947
Champion
Brooks Koepka
281 (+1)
Location map
Shinnecock Hills Location in the United States Show map of the United States Shinnecock Hills Location in New York Show map of New York

The 2018 United States Open Championship was the 118th U.S. Open, held June 14–17 at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Shinnecock Hills, New York, about eighty miles (130 km) east of New York City on Long Island; it was the fifth time the U.S. Open was held at this course.

Defending champion Brooks Koepka shot a final round 68 for 281 (+1) to win his second straight U.S. Open, one stroke ahead of runner-up Tommy Fleetwood, who closed with the sixth round of 63 in U.S. Open history. Koepka was only the third to successfully defend the title since World War II, following Ben Hogan (1951) and Curtis Strange (1989).

The USGA changed the playoff format in February, from a full round (18 holes) to a two-hole aggregate playoff.^[1] Previously, playoffs at the U.S. Open were 18 holes, followed by sudden-death, if needed. The last 18-hole playoff was in 2008, won by Tiger Woods on the first sudden-death hole.

Lengths of the course for previous major championships:

• 6,996 yards (6,397 m), par 70 - 2004 U.S. Open
• 6,944 yards (6,350 m), par 70 - 1995 U.S. Open
• 6,912 yards (6,320 m), par 70 - 1986 U.S. Open
• 4,423 yards (4,044 m), par 70 - 1896 U.S. Open

2018 yardages by round

• Scoring average: 74.650
  • by round: 76.474, 73.595, 75.327, 72.180
• Most difficult holes in relation to par: 14, 3, 2, 10

Source:^[2]

About half the field consisted of players who were exempt from qualifying for the U.S. Open. Each player is classified according to the first category in which he qualified, and other categories are shown in parentheses.^[3]

1. Winners of the U.S. Open Championship during the last ten years

2. Winner and runner-up of the 2017 U.S. Amateur, winner of the 2017 U.S. Junior Amateur and 2017 U.S. Mid-Amateur

• Doc Redman forfeited his exemption as winner of the U.S. Amateur by turning professional in May 2018.^[4]

3. Winner of the 2017 Amateur Championship

• Harry Ellis (a)

4. Winner of the 2017 Mark H. McCormack Medal (men's World Amateur Golf Ranking)

• Joaquín Niemann forfeited his exemption by turning professional.

5. Winners of the Masters Tournament during the last five years

6. Winners of The Open Championship during the last five years

7. Winners of the PGA Championship during the last five years

8. Winners of The Players Championship during the last three years

• Kim Si-woo (13,14)

9. Winner of the 2018 European Tour BMW PGA Championship

• Francesco Molinari (13,14)

10. Winner of the 2017 U.S. Senior Open Championship

• Kenny Perry

11. The 10 lowest scorers and anyone tying for 10th place at the 2017 U.S. Open Championship

12. Players who qualified for the season-ending 2017 Tour Championship

13. The top 60 point leaders and ties as of May 21, 2018, in the Official World Golf Ranking

14. The top 60 point leaders and ties as of June 11, 2018, in the Official World Golf Ranking

15. Special exemptions given by the USGA^[5]

The remaining contestants earned their places through sectional qualifiers.

• Japan: Shota Akiyoshi, David Bransdon, Liang Wenchong
• England: Dean Burmester, Ryan Fox, Scott Gregory, Andrew Johnston, Tom Lewis, James Morrison, Thorbjørn Olesen, Matthieu Pavon, Richie Ramsay, Kristoffer Reitan (a), Jason Scrivener, Matthew Southgate, Matt Wallace, Paul Waring
• United States

• Daly City, California: Shintaro Ban (a), Franklin Huang (a,L), Park Sung-joon, Rhett Rasmussen (a,L), Kevin Yu (a)
• Jupiter, Florida: Luis Gagne (a,L), Tyler Strafaci (a,L), Richy Werenski
• Roswell, Georgia: Roberto Castro, Michael Hebert (L), Garrett Rank (a,L)
• Rockville, Maryland: Mickey DeMorat (L), Cole Miller (L), Sebastián Muñoz, Tim Wilkinson
• Summit, New Jersey: Stewart Hagestad (a), Calum Hill, Theo Humphrey (a), Michael Miller (L), Cameron Wilson
• Columbus, Ohio: Aaron Baddeley, Keegan Bradley, Brian Gay, Im Sung-jae, Russell Knox, Shane Lowry, Ryan Lumsden (a,L), Michael Putnam, Patrick Rodgers, Ollie Schniederjans, Adam Scott, Shubhankar Sharma, Harold Varner III, Will Zalatoris
• Springfield, Ohio: David Gazzolo (L), Will Grimmer (a,L), Dylan Meyer (L), Brian Stuard, Timothy Wiseman (a,L)
• Portland, Oregon: Chris Babcock (L), Michael Block (L), Lucas Herbert, Sulman Raza (L)
• Memphis, Tennessee: Eric Axley, Sam Burns, Tyler Duncan, Lanto Griffin, Mackenzie Hughes, Matt Jones, Scott Stallings, Steve Stricker, Braden Thornberry (a), Sebastián Vázquez (L), Aaron Wise
• Richmond, Texas: Philip Barbaree (a), Jacob Bergeron (a), Chris Naegel (L)

Alternates who gained entry:

• Ryan Evans (England) – claimed spot held for category 14
• Rikuya Hoshino (Japan) – claimed spot held for category 14
• Scott Piercy (Memphis) – claimed spot held for category 14
• Ted Potter Jr. (Columbus) – claimed spot held for category 14

(a) denotes amateur
(L) denotes player advanced through local qualifying

Thursday, June 14, 2018

Conditions were extremely difficult as gusty winds hung around all day with sunny skies, making the course firm and fast.^[6] Only four players broke par, including Dustin Johnson, one of the tournament favorites. The scoring average for the round was 76.47.^[7][8]