That the U.S. Open chose not to deny entry was not surprising. The second-oldest championship in golf takes pride in the open nature of its 156-man field. None of the other four majors has criteria in place that forces roughly 50% of the field to go through 36-hole qualifying. “It...
Golfers earn their places in the field via one of two methods. The method all golfers hope for is to earn an "exemption" into the fieldby meeting one of more than a dozen qualifying criteria. For example, winners of the previous 10 U.S. Open tournaments are "exempt," and automatically ...