The 2011 U.S. Open Returns To Congressional Country Club

Congressional Clubhouse

Bethesda, Maryland, outside the nation’s capital, will be the site of the 111th United States Open Championship held June 13-19. If there are no weather delays, the final round will be played on Father's Day the third Sunday in June. For this year’s tournament, the United States Golf Association has chosen to return to the Congressional Country Club for the third time. Officials from the club and the USGA, have been at work for the past several years to assure the course is in perfect condition and it will provide a challenging championship tournament for the world’s very best golfers. 18th Hole Congressional Golf Club

The first U.S. Open was played on October 4, 1895, on a nine-hole course at the Newport Country Club in Newport, Rhode Island. It was a 36-hole competition played in a single day. Ten professionals and one amateur entered. The winner was a 21-year-old Englishman named Horace Rawlins who received $150 cash out of a prize fund of $335, plus a $50 gold medal.

About half of the field of 156 players is made up of persons who are fully exempt from qualifying. There are 17 full exemption categories, including winners of the U.S. Open for the last ten years and the other three majors for the last five years, the top 30 from the previous year's PGA Tour money list, the top 15 from the previous year's European Tour money list, and the top 50 in the Official World Golf Rankings as of two weeks before the tournament. Starting in 2011, the top 50 in the Official World Golf Rankings as of the tournament date will also be exempt.

The U.S. Open is the only one of the four major championships which does not go immediately to a playoff if two or more players are tied at the end of the four rounds. Instead, the players play a fifth 18-hole round the following day (Monday). If a tie still exists after that round, a sudden death playoff is held. Only three times has the U.S. Open gone to sudden death after the playoff round, most recently in 2008 when Tiger Woods defeated Rocco Mediate on the first playoff hole.

U.S. Open Trophy
U.S. Open Records:
4-Time Winners
• Willie Anderson (1901, 1903, 1904, 1905)
• Bobby Jones (1923, 1926, 1929, 1930)
• Ben Hogan (1948, 1950, 1951, 1953)
• Jack Nicklaus (1962, 1967, 1972, 1980)

3-Time Winners
• Hale Irwin (1974, 1979, 1990)
• Tiger Woods (2000, 2002, 2008)

2-Time Winners
• Alex Smith (1906, 1910)
• John J. McDermott (1911, 1912)
• Walter Hagen (1914, 1919)
• Gene Sarazen (1922, 1932)
• Ralph Guldahl (1937, 1938)
• Cary Middlecoff (1949, 1956)
• Julius Boros (1952, 1963)
• Billy Casper (1959, 1966)
• Lee Trevino (1969, 1971)
• Andy North (1978, 1985)
• Curtis Strange (1988, 1989)
• Ernie Els (1994, 1997)
• Lee Janzen (1993, 1998)
• Payne Stewart (1991, 1999)
• Retief Goosen (2001, 2004)

Lowest Score, 72 Holes
• 272 - Jack Nicklaus (63-71-70-68), 1980
• 272 - Lee Janzen (67-67-69-69), 1993
• 272 - Tiger Woods (65-69-71-67), 2000
• 272 — Jim Furyk (67-66-67-72), 2003
• 273 - David Graham (68-68-70-67), 1981

Largest Margin of Victory
• 15 Strokes - Tiger Woods (272), 2000
• 11 strokes - Willie Smith (315), 1899

Learn More at:

http://www.usopen.com/en_US/index

James Weaver
Senior Travel Writer
GolfWiz Blog