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USGA Exemptions
The USGA has announced the exemption criteria for a 144-player field, set to compete in the U.S Open, Sept. 17- 20 at Winged Foot in Mamaroneck, NY. The news came in late June, a month after the USGA canceled all qualifying for its premier men’s championship because of the coronavirus pandemic. Most of the existing exemptions remain in place, but the organization has added several new categories to include Korn Ferry Tour points leaders and top-ranked amateur players. “We looked at every possible scenario to have qualifying, it’s in our DNA, it’s our cornerstone to USGA championships, and we take great pride in that. We view our championships as the ultimate meritocracies in golf where you earn your way in,” John Bodenhamer, the USGA’s senior managing director of championships, told GolfChannel. com. “Obviously, we couldn’t do it this year, so what was our starting point? It was to create representative fields as best we could. “Looking back at the data of the last several years of what U.S. Open fields have typically looked like, we tried to create exemption pathways so that when we get to the first tee of that first round, fans, media and players will look at the field and say, ‘They didn’t have qualifying but they got pretty close to what a U.S. Open would normally look like.’” Among the 84 players identified as qualifiers was Phil Mickelson, who benefitted from a decision to expand the Official World Golf Ranking cutoff from top 60 to top 70. Mickelson was ranked No. 61 on the selected cutoff date of March 15. The USGA also will exempt the top two finishers, not otherwise exempt, in non-major PGA Tour events beginning with the Memorial Tournament and ending with the Wyddham Championship. The top three finishers will be taken from the PGA Championship on Aug. 6-9 at TPC Harding Park. And the the top five finishers in aggregate points from the European Tour’s five-event U.K. series receive spots. Additional categories include the top five in Korn Ferry Tour regular-season and Finals points, the top seven in the
World Amateur Golf Ranking after the U.S. Amateur, Order of Merit leaders on several international tours, as well as special exemptions. We’re excited because we thought a little creatively about not just going straight down the rankings but adding some of these play-your-way-in opportunities,” Bodenhamer said. “This isn’t perfect, it doesn’t replace qualifying, it will be a one-off this year in what will be a very unique year.” The Official World Golf Rankings as of Aug. 23 will be used to fill out the field and determine the alternate list. Entries will open July 15 and close Aug. 26. Earlier in June, the USGA also announced the list for exemptions into the 120th U.S. Amateur, which also had no qualifying. Exempt players who wish to participate in the Amateur at Bandon Dunes must file a an entry application by July 8 at 5 p.m. EDT. (Blank entries will be filed by the USGA for players who become exempt after close of entries.) The exemption list includes: *Winners of the U.S. Amateur Championship the last ten years (2010-2019) * Runners-up of the U.S. Amateur Championship the last three years (2017-2019) * Semifinalists of the U.S. Amateur Championship the last two years (2018-2019) * Round of 64 from the 2019 U.S. Amateur Championship * Any player who qualified for the 2019 U.S. Open Championship
* From the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship, winners in 2016-2019; runners-up in 2018-2019 and quarterfinalists in 2019. * From the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship, winners in 2016-2019; runners-up in 2018-2019 and quarterfinalists in 2019. * From the U.S. Senior Amateur Championship, winners in 2016-2019 and runners-up in 2018-2019. Winners of the 2019 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship * Playing members of the United States and Great Britain & Ireland Walker Cup Teams, four year exemption once appointed to the team (2017 & 2019). Playing members of the two most current United States World Amateur Teams (2016 & 2018) * Winners of The British Amateur Championship (five year exemption) (2016-2019) * Winners of the most current Asia-Pacific Amateur and Latin America Amateur Championships. * Winners and runners-up of the 2020 North & South Amateur and Western Amateur Championship, and winners and runners-up (including ties) of the 2020 Southern Amateur and Sunnehanna Amateur Championships. * From the current Men’s World Amateur Golf Ranking®/ WAGR® the top 25-ranked players as of June 24, 2020. * Players exempt under this category must file an entry prior to the close of entries. Also from the current Men’s WAGR, the top 25-ranked players using the WAGR Age Filter as of June 24, 2020. Players must be age 25 on or before August 10, 2020. * Special exemptions as selected by the USGA. Requests must be submitted via the Preliminary Application by July 8, 2020 at 5 p.m. EDT. Meanwhile, the U.S. Women’s Open, scheduled for Dec. 10-13 at Champions Club in Houston, filled 100 spots with the exemptiona announced. There were 45 more exempt spots, as well as 11 more tee times to be identified. Many likely will be filled off the Rolex Women’s World Rankings. The Women’s Open exemption categories include spots for the top two not otherwise exempt from among the top-10 finishers at championships still to be played, as late as the ShopRite Classic (Oct. 1-4). The top three not otherwise exempt from the top-10 finishers at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship (Oct. 8-11) also will get spots. Players who are not already exempt can earn a berth from their position on LPGA tour’s 2020 official money list (top 10) or the Symetra Tour’s official money list (top 5) through Nov. 11. the final rankings on the 2019 LET Order of Merit and the final money lists on the 2019 Japan LPGA Tour, Korean LPGA Tour and China LPGA Tour will round out the field.
