| 2001U.S. Open Fact Box |
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| PAR AND YARDAGE |
Southern Hills Country Club is set at 6,973 yards and plays to par 35-35-70. |
| ARCHITECTS |
Designed by Perry Maxwell and opened in 1936, Southern Hills underwent revisions in 1957 by Robert Trent Jones and by George and Tom Fazio in 1977. |
| 2000 CHAMPION |
Tiger Woods led from start to finish and shot a 12-under-par 272 at Pebble Beach (Calif.) Golf Links to win the 2000 U.S. Open by a record margin of 15 |
| MARGIN OF VICTORY |
Woods's margin of victory was the largest in the history of major championship golf, beating the previous mark of 13 strokes by Old Tom Morris at the 1862 British Open. At age 25, Woods has already won seven USGA titles, including the U.S. Amateur (1994-96) and the U.S. Junior Amateur (1991-93) each three times. |
| EXEMPT PLAYERS |
Sixty-seven players are currently fully exempt into the 156-player Open field, including seven past champions |
| DEFENDING THE CROWN |
Since 1991, no champion has finished better than 40th in trying to defending his Open crown. Three champions missed the cut the next year. The best among the group, beginning with 1991 champion Payne Stewart, was Corey Pavin's 40th place finish at Oakland Hills CC in 1996. |
| TRADITIONAL PAIRING |
The reigning U.S. Open, British Open and U.S. Amateur champions are traditionally paired together for the opening two rounds of the U.S. Open. Since Tiger Woods currently holds both the Open and British Open crowns, someone else will need to join Woods and Amateur champ Jeff Quinney of Eugene, Ore., for Thursday and Friday play at Southern Hills. |
| INFLATION |
Hubert Green took home $45,000 for winning the 1977 U.S. Open at Southern Hills. This year's top prize is $900,000. |
| PLAYERS FROM 1977 |
Hale Irwin, the 2000 U.S. Senior Open champion and triple U.S. Open champion, is one of just two players from this year's field who also played in the 1977 U.S. Open at Southern Hills. Irwin finished T41. The other was Tom Kite (T27). Irwin and Kite also played in the 1982 and 1994 PGA Championships at Southern Hills. |
| OPEN A SELLOUT |
For the 15th consecutive year the U.S. Open is a sellout, with 35,000 tickets sold for each day of the Championship. |
| USGA CHAMPIONSHIPS AT SOUTHERN HILLS |
This will be the eighth national championship to be conducted at Southern Hills, including two previous U.S. Opens. |
| 1958 U.S. Open |
won by Tommy Bolt (283, +3) by four shots over Gary Player |
| 1977 U.S. Open |
Hubert Green (278, -2) by one over Lou Graham |
| OTHER MAJOR CHAMPIONSHIPS AT SOUTHERN HILLS |
1958 U.S. Open -- won by Tommy Bolt
1970 PGA Championship -- Dave Stockton
1977 U.S. Open -- Hubert Green
1982 PGA Championship -- Raymond Floyd
1994 PGA Championship -- Nick Price
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| BENEFITS ENJOYED BY THE OPEN WINNER |
1) an Open exemption for the next 10 years
2) an invitation to the next five Masters tournaments
3) an invitation to the next 10 British Open Championships
4) an invitation to the next five Players Championships
5) an invitation to the next five PGA Championships
6) exempt status on the PGA Tour for five years |
| QUALIFYING FOR THE OTHER MAJORS |
+The top 15 finishers are exempt for next year's (2002) U.S. Open
+The top 16 finishers are invited to next year's (2001) Masters Tournament
+The winner qualifies for this year's (2001) British Open
+The winner qualifies for this year's (2001) PGA Championship |
| HISTORY |
This is the 101th U.S. Open Championship. The youngest winner of the Open was 19-year-old John McDermott, who won in 1911. Eight players aged 21 or younger have won the Open, but none that young since Robert Jones won in 1923. Since then Jerry Pate is the youngest winner at 22 in 1976. The oldest winner is Hale Irwin, who was 45 when he won in 1990. Only four players have ever won the Masters and Open titles in the same year |
| WHO CAN ENTER |
The Championship is open to any professional or amateur golfer with a USGA Handicap Index not exceeding 1.4. |
| LOCAL QUALIFYING |
Local qualifying over 18 holes was held at 101 sites in mid-May. From the more than 7,000 golfers making the attempt to qualify, only about 750 advanced to sectional qualifying. |
| SECTIONAL QUALIFYING |
Sectional qualifying over 36 holes was held at 13 sites on June 4-5. Eighty-nine golfers from sectional qualifying joined the 67 players who were fully exempt into the Open field. In 1996, Steve Jones was the first non-exempt winner since 1976. He qualified at the Columbus, Ohio, sectional qualifier, where he survived an 11-for-10 playoff to earn his place in the field. |
| CHAMPIONSHIP FIELD |
The starting field of 156 golfers will be cut after 36 holes to the low 60 scorers (and ties), and any player within 10 strokes of the leader. |
| SCHEDULE OF PLAY |
Eighteen holes of stroke play are scheduled each day from June 14 (Thursday) through June 17 (Sunday). In the case of a tie after 72 holes, an 18-hole playoff will be held on June 18 (Monday), beginning at noon (EDT). The last playoff was in 1994, a three-way playoff which was won by Ernie Els. The other two players in the playoff were Loren Roberts and Colin Montgomerie. |
| COURSE SET-UP |
The 642-yard 5th hole will be the longest par 5 in U.S. Open history and the 491-yard 16th hole will be the longest par 4. The fairway widths in the drive zone will be between 24 (No. 4) and 32 yards (No. 18). The primary rough will be grown to 3 inches (one inch lower than in 2000). The greens will be set to run at 11' on the Stimpmeter at the beginning of the week. |
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