2013 U.S. Open (golf)

Venue

The 2013 U.S. Open was the fifth Open played at Merion's East Course, which opened in 1912. The past Open champions on the course were Olin Dutra in 1934, Ben Hogan in 1950, Lee Trevino in 1971, and David Graham in 1981. The course has also hosted the U.S. Amateur six times.

Field

About half the field consisted of players who are exempt from qualifying for the U.S. Open. Each player is classified according to the first category in which he qualified, and other categories are shown in parentheses.

1. Winners of the U.S. Open Championship the last ten years
2. Ángel Cabrera (5,13,14), Michael Campbell, Jim Furyk (11,12,13,14), Lucas Glover, Graeme McDowell (11,13,14), Rory McIlroy (7,12,13,14), Geoff Ogilvy, Webb Simpson (11,12,13,14), Tiger Woods (8,12,13,14)
3. Retief Goosen (11) did not play due to a back injury.
4. Winner and runner-up of the 2012 U.S. Amateur Championship
5. Steven Fox (a), Michael Weaver (a)
6. Winner of the 2012 Amateur Championship
7. Alan Dunbar turned professional in April 2013, forfeiting his exemption.
8. Winner of the 2012 Mark H. McCormack Medal (Men's World Amateur Golf Rankings)
9. Chris Williams (a)
10. Winners of the Masters Tournament during the last five years
11. Phil Mickelson (12,13,14), Charl Schwartzel (13,14), Adam Scott (12,13,14), Bubba Watson (12,13,14)
12. Winners of The Open Championship during the last five years
13. Stewart Cink, Darren Clarke, Ernie Els (11,12,13,14), Pádraig Harrington (7,11), Louis Oosthuizen (12,13,14)
14. Winners of the PGA Championship the last five years
15. Keegan Bradley (12,13,14), Martin Kaymer (13,14), Y. E. Yang
16. Winners of The Players Championship during the last three years
17. K. J. Choi, Matt Kuchar (12,13,14)
18. Winner of the 2013 European Tour BMW PGA Championship
19. Matteo Manassero (13,14)
20. Winner of the 2012 U.S. Senior Open Championship
21. Roger Chapman withdrew due to a shoulder injury.
22. The 10 lowest scorers and anyone tying for 10th place at the 2012 U.S. Open Championship
23. Kevin Chappell, Jason Dufner (12,13,14), John Peterson, John Senden (12), Michael Thompson (13,14), David Toms, Lee Westwood (12,13,14), Casey Wittenberg
24. Players who qualified for the season-ending 2012 Tour Championship
25. Luke Donald (13,14), Rickie Fowler (13,14), Sergio García (13,14), Robert Garrigus (13,14), John Huh, Dustin Johnson (13,14), Zach Johnson (13,14), Hunter Mahan (13,14), Ryan Moore (13,14), Carl Pettersson (13,14), Scott Piercy (13,14), Justin Rose (13,14), Brandt Snedeker (13,14), Steve Stricker (13,14), Bo Van Pelt (13,14), Nick Watney (13,14)
26. The top 60 point leaders and ties as of May 27, 2013 in the World Rankings
27. Tim Clark (14), George Coetzee (14), Nicolas Colsaerts (14), Jason Day (14), Jamie Donaldson (14), Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño (14), Branden Grace (14), Bill Haas (14), Peter Hanson (14), Russell Henley (14), Billy Horschel (14), Fredrik Jacobson (14), Martin Laird (14), Paul Lawrie (14), Marc Leishman, Francesco Molinari (14), Thorbjørn Olesen (14), D. A. Points (14), Ian Poulter (14), Marcel Siem (14), Henrik Stenson (14), Kevin Streelman (14), Thongchai Jaidee (14), Boo Weekley (14)
28. David Lynn (14) and Richard Sterne (14) opted not to compete.
29. The top 60 point leaders and ties as of June 10, 2013 in the World Rankings
30. Kyle Stanley
31. Special exemptions selected by the USGA
32. None

The remaining contestants earned their places through sectional qualifiers.

Six alternates were also selected from sectional qualifiers.

(a) denotes amateur

For 28 players, the U.S. Open was their first major appearance.

Past champions in the field

The field included ten previous champions, half of whom made the cut.

Course layout

East Course

Source:

Lengths of the course for U.S. Opens:

First round

Thursday, June 13, 2013
Friday, June 14, 2013

Due to rain delays, the first round was not completed on Thursday; only the morning half of the field completed their rounds. Luke Donald was the overnight leader at −4, while Mickelson was the clubhouse leader at 67 (−3). When the first round was completed Friday morning, only five players were under par: Mickelson at 67 (−3), Donald and Mathew Goggin at 68 (−2) and Nicolas Colsaerts and Russell Knox at 69 (−1). Since 2008, the USGA has placed the top three players in the world rankings in the same grouping for the first two rounds. None of the three broke par in the first round: Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy shot 73 (+3) and Adam Scott 72 (+2). The scoring average for the field was 74.31, more than four strokes over par.

Second round

Friday, June 14, 2013
Saturday, June 15, 2013

On Friday, the second round was suspended due to darkness, with 68 players yet to complete their rounds. The leaders in the clubhouse were Mickelson and Billy Horschel, at 139 (−1). Horschel hit all 18 greens in regulation and shot a 67 (−3). When the second round was completed Saturday morning, Horschel and Mickelson still stood atop the leader board. Only six players shot under-par rounds, led by Horschel's 67. The scoring average for the second round was 75.13.

Amateurs: Kim (+3), Pan (+4), Weaver (+8), Phelan (+8), Williams (+9), Fox (+10), Hall (+11), Homa (+11), McElyea (+20), Murray (+24)

Third round

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Mickelson shot an even-par round for 209 (−1) to stay atop the leaderboard, his second 54-hole lead at the U.S. Open. Hunter Mahan, Charl Schwartzel, and Steve Stricker were one shot back at even-par 210. As in the second round, only six players had under-par rounds, led by Rickie Fowler at 67. Woods struggled with his putting; after a birdie on the par-4 1st, he made seven bogeys to shoot 76 and fall to 219 (+9), ten strokes back. The scoring average for the third round was 74.36.

Final round

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Phil Mickelson three-putted the third and fifth holes for double bogeys, but took back the lead with an eagle on the 10th. Justin Rose responded with birdies on the 12th and 13th. A bogey by Mickelson on the 13th gave Rose the lead.

Through 16 holes, Rose had five birdies and five bogeys and a one-shot lead over Mickelson. He managed par on the challenging final two holes, finishing with an even-par 70 for a 281 (+1) overall. Mickelson narrowly missed a birdie putt on the 16th that would have tied Rose and did not threaten to birdie either of the final two holes. A missed long par putt on 18 dropped him to +3 overall and into a tie with Jason Day for second place.

For Rose, it was his first major title. He completed the tournament without any double bogeys. On his win, Rose commented "It feels fantastic. I committed myself to the process this week. I committed myself to putting a strategy in place that I hoped would work in five-to-10 years in delivering major championships ... it's a moment where you can look back and think childhood dreams have come true." He was the first English player to win the U.S. Open since Tony Jacklin in 1970, and the first to win any major since Nick Faldo won the 1996 Masters. Rose, who entered the tournament ranked fifth in the world, moved up to third as a result of the win.

For Mickelson, it was his sixth runner-up finish at the U.S. Open, an event record. He has never won the event and called the loss heartbreaking: "this is tough to swallow after coming so close ... I felt like this was as good an opportunity I could ask for and to not get it ... it hurts."

Mahan was tied for the lead as late as the 14th hole before going +4 on the last four holes and dropping into a four-way tie for fourth, four strokes back. Jason Dufner shot a 67 (−3) despite a triple-bogey on 15 to tie Mahan, Horschel, and Ernie Els. Hideki Matsuyama also shot a 67 with six birdies to finish in a tie for tenth. Schwartzel started the day one shot back, but a 78 dropped him outside the top 10.

Shawn Stefani recorded the first-ever hole-in-one during a U.S. Open at Merion, acing the 229-yard (209 m) 17th. His 4-iron tee shot bounced off the slope left of the green and rolled a considerable distance into the cup. The scoring average for the fourth round was 74.05.

Amateurs: Kim (+10), Pan (+15), Phelan (+20), Weaver (+21)

Scorecard

Final round

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
Source: