The 2015 United States Open Championship was the 115th U.S. Open, played June 18–21, 2015 at Chambers Bay in University Place, Washington, southwest of Tacoma on the shore of Puget Sound. Jordan Spieth won his first U.S. Open and consecutive major titles, one stroke ahead of runners-up Dustin Johnson and Louis Oosthuizen. This was the first U.S. Open televised by Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports, launching a 12-year contract with the United States Golf Association.
Spieth, age 21, became the youngest U.S. Open champion in 92 years, since Bobby Jones in 1923. The reigning Masters champion, Spieth became the youngest to win the Masters and U.S. Open in the same year, passing Tiger Woods, who won both in 2002 at age 26. Others to win the first two majors of the year were Craig Wood (1941), Ben Hogan (1951, 1953), Arnold Palmer (1960), and Jack Nicklaus (1972).
This was the first U.S. Open played in the Pacific Northwest and the third major played in the state of Washington, which hosted the PGA Championship in 1944 and 1998.
Venue Owned by Pierce County, the Chambers Bay course opened for play only eight years earlier in June 2007. It was constructed a former quarry that faces Puget Sound and an active freight railroad. A Sounder commuter train platform at Chambers Bay with service from Seattle was planned by Sound Transit for the tournament, but was later cancelled due to logistical and financial challenges.
Course layout
The course was laid out differently each day, with course totals ranging from on Sunday, to on Friday. Holes 1 and 18 were played as either par-4 or par-5: the first was a par-4 and the 18th was a par-5 for three of the rounds, switching only for the second round on Friday, and the course was par 70 for each round.
HoleNameYardsPar HoleNameYardsPar1Puget Sound598/4965/4 10High Dunes436/46842Foxy399411Shadows500/53743Blown Out163–198312The Narrows31144Hazard's Ascent495413Eagle Eye53445Free Fall488414Cape Fear521/54646Deception Point495415Lone Fir123–24637Humpback508416Beached42348High Road Low Road614517Derailed172–21839Olympus224/217318Tahoma525/6044/5Out 36/35In 34/35 Championship tees: Rating=78.1, Slope=146 Total7,384–7,69570
RoundHole123456789Out101112131415161718InTotal Par4434444533544444343535701Yards5013871484755034945156022033,8284275413175125281693851736173,6697,4972Yards593^4032074944865125065822374,020483544284551513144416226514^3,6757,6953Yards4993991665094985155196032253,9334735303115335342523721225773,7047,6374Yards4434121884794624934775932033,7504605412705295191583372196013,6347,384 ^ In Round 2 on Friday, Hole #1 was played as a par 5 and #18 as a par 4; par was 36 out and 34 in. Source:
Criticism of the course Chambers Bay was subject to criticism for its bumpy greens, unfair course design, and poor accessibility for spectators. Former U.S. Open champion Gary Player called it "the worst golf course I might've ever seen in the 63 years as a professional golfer", and Henrik Stenson said that the greens were like "putting on broccoli".
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 during the last ten years
Ángel Cabrera Lucas Glover Martin Kaymer (7,8,11,12,13,14) Graeme McDowell (13,14) Rory McIlroy (6,7,12,13,14) Geoff Ogilvy (12) Justin Rose (12,13,14) Webb Simpson (12,13,14) Tiger Woods (8)
Prior to the tournament, Michael Campbell, the 2005 winner, announced his retirement from golf.
2. Winner and runner-up of the 2014 U.S. Amateur Championship Gunn Yang (a) Corey Conners forfeited his exemption by turning professional.
3. Winner of the 2014 Amateur Championship Bradley Neil (a)
4. Winner of the 2014 Mark H. McCormack Medal (men's World Amateur Golf Ranking) Ollie Schniederjans (a)
5. Winners of the Masters Tournament during the last five years
Charl Schwartzel (13,14) Adam Scott (11,12,13,14) Jordan Spieth (12,13,14) Bubba Watson (12,13,14)
6. Winners of The Open Championship during the last five years
Darren Clarke Ernie Els Phil Mickelson (13,14) Louis Oosthuizen (13,14)
7. Winners of the PGA Championship during the last five years
Keegan Bradley (11,13,14) Jason Dufner
8. Winners of The Players Championship during the last three years Rickie Fowler (11,12,13,14)
9. Winner of the 2015 European Tour BMW PGA Championship An Byeong-hun (13,14)
10. Winner of the 2014 U.S. Senior Open Championship Colin Montgomerie
11. The 10 lowest scorers and anyone tying for 10th place at the 2014 U.S. Open Championship
Erik Compton Jason Day (12,13,14) Dustin Johnson (12,13,14) Brooks Koepka (13,14) Brandt Snedeker (13,14) Henrik Stenson (13,14) Jimmy Walker (12,13,14)
12. Players who qualified for the season-ending 2014 Tour Championship
Jim Furyk (13,14) Sergio García (13,14) Bill Haas (13,14) Russell Henley (13,14) Morgan Hoffmann Billy Horschel (13,14) Zach Johnson (13,14) Chris Kirk (13,14) Matt Kuchar (13,14) Hunter Mahan (13,14) Hideki Matsuyama (13,14) Kevin Na (13,14) Ryan Palmer (13,14) Patrick Reed (13,14) John Senden (13,14) Brendon Todd (13,14) Cameron Tringale Gary Woodland (13,14)
13. The top 60 point leaders and ties as of May 25, 2015 in the Official World Golf Ranking
Paul Casey (14) George Coetzee Jamie Donaldson (14) Victor Dubuisson (14) Matt Every (14) Tommy Fleetwood (14) Stephen Gallacher (14) Branden Grace (14) Charley Hoffman (14) J. B. Holmes (14) Thongchai Jaidee (14) Miguel Ángel Jiménez (14) Anirban Lahiri (14) Marc Leishman (14) Shane Lowry (14) Joost Luiten (14) Ben Martin (14) Francesco Molinari (14) Ryan Moore (14) Ian Poulter (14) Marc Warren Lee Westwood (14) Bernd Wiesberger (14) Danny Willett (14)
14. The top 60 point leaders and ties as of June 15, 2015 in the Official World Golf Ranking
Kevin Kisner Andy Sullivan
15. Special exemptions given by the USGA None
The remaining contestants earned their places through sectional qualifiers. Japan: Baek Seuk-hyun, Kurt Barnes, Hiroyuki Fujita, Masahiro Kawamura, Liang Wenchong England: Thomas Aiken, Lucas Bjerregaard, Marcus Fraser, Shiv Kapur, Alexander Lévy, Garth Mulroy, Alex Norén, Jason Palmer, John Parry, Marcel Siem, Tjaart van der Walt United States Newport Beach, California: Jared Becher (L), Brian Campbell (a), Beau Hossler (a), Alex Kim (L), Jake Knapp (a,L), Kevin Lucas (L) Jupiter, Florida: Luke Donald, Sam Horsfield (a), Jack Maguire (a), Andy Pope (L) Ball Ground, Georgia: Roberto Castro, Lee McCoy (a), Matthew NeSmith (a,L) Rockville, Maryland: Billy Hurley III, Denny McCarthy (a), Timothy O'Neal (L) Purchase, New York: Rich Berberian Jr. (L), Lee Janzen, Jamie Lovemark, Pat Wilson (L) Columbus, Ohio: Sebastian Cappelen, Bryson DeChambeau (a), Brad Fritsch, David Hearn, Ryo Ishikawa, Danny Lee, George McNeill, D. A. Points, Michael Putnam, Sam Saunders, Cameron Smith, Robert Streb, Daniel Summerhays, Bo Van Pelt, Camilo Villegas Springfield, Ohio: Michael Davan (L), Tony Finau, Nick Hardy (a,L), Stephan Jäger (L) Memphis, Tennessee: Blayne Barber, Charlie Beljan, Tyler Duncan (L), Brad Elder (L), Retief Goosen, Brandon Hagy (L), Brian Harman, Tom Hoge (L), Davis Riley (a), Andrés Romero Dallas, Texas: Jason Allred, Cody Gribble, Cole Hammer (a,L), Kyle Jones (a), Matt Mabrey (L), Mark Silvers (L) Cle Elum, Washington: Troy Kelly, Richard H. Lee, Pan Cheng-tsung (L)
Alternates who gained entry: Oliver Farr (England) Shunsuke Sonoda (Japan) Kevin Chappell (Columbus) – claimed spot held for category 14 Jimmy Gunn (L, Memphis) – claimed spot held for category 14 Steve Marino (Dallas) – claimed spot held for category 14 Josh Persons (L, Rockville) – claimed spot held for category 14
(a) denotes amateur (L) denotes player advanced through local qualifying
Source:
Round summaries First round Thursday, June 18, 2015
Dustin Johnson and Henrik Stenson both posted rounds of 65 (−5) to share the lead after the first round. Johnson recorded four birdies on his back-nine and did not make a bogey until the par-3 9th, his 18th hole of the round. Stenson, meanwhile, birdied four of his last five holes to tie Johnson for the lead. Jordan Spieth, the reigning Masters champion, was three strokes back after a 68. Three-time champion Tiger Woods opened with a round of 80 (+10), his worst score ever at the U.S. Open. Brian Campbell, a senior at the University of Illinois, was low amateur after a round of 67 (−3), two behind the lead.
The first hole was set as a par-4 at and the 18th hole as par-5 at , with the course at . The scoring average for the field was 72.72 (+2.72) and 25 players had under-par rounds.
PlacePlayerScoreTo parT1 Dustin Johnson 65 −5 Henrik Stenson3 Patrick Reed 66 −4T4 Brian Campbell (a) 67 −3 Matt Kuchar Ben MartinT7 Jason Day 68 −2 Jason Dufner Cody Gribble Joost Luiten Francesco Molinari Jordan Spieth Marc Warren
Second round Friday, June 19, 2015
Masters champion Jordan Spieth shot a round of 67 (−3) to tie Patrick Reed for the 36-hole lead. First round co-leader Dustin Johnson got as low as 7-under before bogeys on three of his last five holes dropped him to a stroke behind the leaders. Jason Day was just two shots off the lead playing the 9th hole, his 18th of the round, when he collapsed from vertigo. After being treated by medical personnel for several minutes, Day was able to finish the hole and made bogey, dropping to three behind and a tie for 9th place. Tiger Woods missed the cut with a two-round score of 16-over-par, his worst 36-hole score in a major.
A bogey on the final hole by Nick Hardy, a freshman from the University of Illinois, moved the cut line to +5. Fifteen additional players earned entry into the third round, including Ángel Cabrera, Sergio García, Colin Montgomerie, Webb Simpson, and Jimmy Walker.
The 1st hole was set as a 593-yard par-5 and the 18th hole as 514-yard par-4, with the total yardage at 7,695. The scoring average for the field was 73.48 (+3.48) and 18 players had under-par rounds. J. B. Holmes and Louis Oosthuizen had the low rounds of the day, 66 (−4).
PlacePlayerScoreTo parT1 Patrick Reed 66-69=135 −5 Jordan Spieth 68-67=135T3 Branden Grace 69-67=136 −4 Dustin Johnson 65-71=136T5 Tony Finau 69-68=137 −3 Joost Luiten 68-69=137 Ben Martin 67-70=137 Daniel Summerhays 70-67=137T9 Jason Day 68-70=138 −2 J. B. Holmes 72-66=138 Jamie Lovemark 70-68=138
Amateurs: Campbell (−1), Maguire (+1), Schniederjans (+2), Hossler (+3), McCarthy (+4), Hardy (+5),McCoy (+8), DeChambeau (+9), Neil (+9), NeSmith (+9), Jones (+10), Knapp (+10), Yang (+10), Horsfield (+11), Riley (+13), Hammer (+21)
Third round Saturday, June 20, 2015
Louis Oosthuizen again had the low round of the day, 66 (−4), moving him into a tie for 5th place. Despite suffering from vertigo, Jason Day scored 68 (−2), the second lowest round of the day.
The 1st hole was set as a 499-yard par-4 and the 18th hole as 577-yard par-5, with the total yardage at 7,637. The scoring average for the field was 73.13 (+3.13) and only 6 players had under-par rounds.
PlacePlayerScoreTo parT1 Jason Day 68-70-68=206 −4 Branden Grace 69-67-70=206 Dustin Johnson 65-71-70=206 Jordan Spieth 68-67-71=206T5 J. B. Holmes 72-66-71=209 −1 Shane Lowry 69-70-70=209 Louis Oosthuizen 77-66-66=209 Cameron Smith 70-70-69=209T9 Tony Finau 69-68-74=211 +1 Joost Luiten 68-69-74=211 Patrick Reed 66-69-76=211 Andrés Romero 71-69-71=211 Brandt Snedeker 69-72-70=211 Henrik Stenson 65-74-72=211
Final round Sunday, June 21, 2015