Cameron Young was among the final three players to earn full exemptions for the U.S. Open that begins Thursday at Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pa.
Young, who nearly notched his first PGA Tour victory Sunday in the RBC Canadian Open before finishing in a tie for fourth, was joined by Ryan Fox of New Zealand and Bud Cauley of Jacksonville Beach, Fla., bringing the number of fully exempt players to 87. Additionally, five alternates from final qualifying were added to complete the 156-player field.
Young and Cauley, who are 56th and 58th in the Official World Golf Ranking, advanced through the final qualifier in Columbus, Ohio, on June 2, but their OWGR exemption took precedent. Young, 28, of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., will compete in his sixth U.S. Open. He has posted three top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour this year. Cauley, 35, will be playing in his third U.S. Open after recording four top-10s this year, including third in the Charles Schwab Challenge and a T6 at The Players Championship.
Fox earned an exemption based on the current OWGR after he moved up 43 spots to No. 32 after winning the RBC Canadian Open in a playoff with Sam Burns. Fox, who will play in his seventh U.S. Open, also won the Myrtle Beach Classic last month with a birdie on the first playoff hole. The 38-year-old has received the top player award on the European Tour (now DP World Tour) and PGA Tour Australasia. He won the DP World Tour’s flagship event, the BMW Championship, in 2023.
The U.S. Golf Association held six spots in the field for those players who could potentially become exempt. Since Fox, Young and Cauley are now exempt, five alternates from final qualifying were added to the field: Takumi Kanaya, Doug Ghim, Chase Johnson, Eric Cole and Riki Kawamoto.
Additionally, Michael La Sasso, of Raleigh, N.C., gained a full exemption on May 26 when he won the NCAA Division I Championship. Matthew Jordan, 29, of England, replaced exempt player Sahith Theegala when he withdrew due to injury on June 6. Jordan, a member of the 2017 Great Britain & Ireland Walker Cup Team, was the first alternate from the England final qualifier.
The U.S. Open was previously contested at Oakmont CC in 1927, 1935, 1953, 1962, 1973, 1983, 1994, 2007 and 2016. World Golf Hall of Famers Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Johnny Miller, Ernie Els, Tommy Armour and Larry Nelson are among the champions. Oakmont will also host the U.S. Open in 2033, 2042 and 2049.
There were 110 U.S. Open local qualifying sites that led to 13 final qualifiers, including international sites in Canada, England and Japan. Final qualifying in the United States took place at 10 sites in California, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio (Columbus & Springfield), Washington and Texas. The USGA accepted 10,202 entries by the deadline of April 9, the highest total in championship history.
Fran Quinn, 60, of Holden, Mass., was the oldest player to qualify for the tournament. Quinn has won six Nationwide Tour and two Asian Tour events, the 1990 Massachusetts Open and 1997 New Hampshire Open and has made two of five cuts in the U.S. Open.
