UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash. – A brief look at the U.S. Open golf championship, which starts Thursday:
Site: Chambers Bay.
The course: Chambers Bay is a public course located south of Seattle along the Puget Sound on what used to be a sand and gravel pit that first was mined in the late 19th century. Once the mining stopped in 2001, the county decided to use the land for recreation, including a golf course built specifically to attract a U.S. Open.
Length: Course will play between 7,300 and 7,700 yards each day.
Par: 70 (36-34 or 35-35)
Cut: Top 60 and ties after 36 holes.
Playoff (if necessary): 18 holes on June 22.
Field: 156 players (140 pros, 16 amateurs).
Purse: $10 million.
Defending champion: Martin Kaymer.
Noteworthy: In the past 25 years, the only Masters champions in Sunday contention at the U.S. Open were Nick Faldo (1990), Tiger Woods (2002, 2005) and Phil Mickelson (2004, 2006, 2010).
Quoteworthy: “It’s a championship that’s one of the most grueling tests that we do play, and to come out on top in a U.S. Open tells you a lot about yourself as a player.” – Justin Rose, who won in 2013 at Merion.
Key statistic: Europeans, who had gone 40 years without winning a U.S. Open, have won four of the past five.
Television: Thursday and Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., FOX Sports 1; 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., FOX (KASA). Saturday, noon 8 p.m. FOX (KASA); Sunday, noon to 8:30 p.m., FOX (KASA).
Associated Press
