US Open field starts to take shape through world ranking and qualifying

Yahoo

19-05-2025

Joe Highsmith hits from the fairway on the second hole during the final round of the PGA Championship golf tournament at the Quail Hollow Club, Sunday, May 18, 2025, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
Davis Riley hits from the bunker on the sixth hole during the final round of the PGA Championship golf tournament at the Quail Hollow Club, Sunday, May 18, 2025, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Matt York)
Davis Riley hits from the bunker on the sixth hole during the final round of the PGA Championship golf tournament at the Quail Hollow Club, Sunday, May 18, 2025, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Matt York)
Joe Highsmith hits from the fairway on the second hole during the final round of the PGA Championship golf tournament at the Quail Hollow Club, Sunday, May 18, 2025, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
Davis Riley hits from the bunker on the sixth hole during the final round of the PGA Championship golf tournament at the Quail Hollow Club, Sunday, May 18, 2025, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Matt York)
One day after Scottie Scheffler captured his third major at the PGA Championship, the 156-man field for the U.S. Open began to take shape Monday with 27 players added through the world ranking and qualifiers being held on three continents.
Among the 36 players now exempt from qualifying are Davis Riley and Joe Highsmith, both doing well enough in the final round of the PGA Championship to move into the top 60 in the world ranking.
Advertisement
The U.S. Open is June 12-15 at Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pennsylvania, where Dustin Johnson won his first major. Johnson played a practice round that week with Scheffler, who was 19 and making his U.S. Open debut. Scheffler opened with 69, then shot 78 and missed the cut.
LIV Golf added four more of its players to the field when Jinichiro Kozuma was among three players who made it through the Japan qualifier. Joaquin Niemann was added as the leading player on LIV points, while the top 60 in the world added Tyrrell Hatton and Patrick Reed.
Sergio Garcia and Abraham Ancer were among players playing in the 36-hole qualifier in Dallas. Most of the final qualifying is scheduled for June 2 across the U.S. and in Canada.
The field of exempt players — not including the qualifying sites — was 85 players, a little higher than normal for a U.S. Open that strives to have about half the field (78 players) qualify.
Advertisement
Riley, Highsmith, Jhonattan Vegas and Si Woo Kim each moved into the top 60 in the world in the final week. Riley was in contention when he took a triple bogey on the seventh hole. He was 4 over for his round at that point, but played bogey-free the rest of the way to tie for second.
That was enough to move him from No. 100 into the top 60 at 53rd in the world. Ditto for Highsmith, who played bogey-free with three birdies over the final 12 holes to move up nine spots to No. 60.
That bumped Laurie Canter, though he became exempt for being the highest-ranked player on the European tour points list not already eligible.
The only other exempt spot available is the NCAA men's individual champion, which will be decided May 26 at La Costa Resort in California.
___
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf