US Open 2025: Area, format, ones to look at, prize cash, TV occasions and all the pieces it’s essential to know forward of Oakmont | Golf Information

The most important names in males’s golf are in Pennsylvania this week for the US Open, however why is the occasion so necessary and the way troublesome will gamers discover Oakmont? Right here’s all it’s essential to know forward of the 2025 contest, dwell on Sky Sports activities…

What’s the US Open?

The US Open is among the greatest occasions within the {golfing} calendar and is the third of 4 males’s majors yearly, following on from The Masters in April and PGA Championship in Might and forward of The Open in July.

It’s staged within the USA by the US Golf Affiliation (USGA) and historically finishes on the third Sunday in June, with the venue used altering for every version.

The place is it happening?

This yr’s US Open, the one hundred and twenty fifth version, might be held at Oakmont Nation Membership in Pennsylvania. The venue has beforehand been described as having the ‘scariest’ greens in golf and the ‘final examination’, with thick tough and the longest par-three in main historical past amongst its challenges.

The course hosts the US Open for a tenth time – greater than another venue – and for the primary event since Dustin Johnson’s 2016 victory. It has additionally hosted two US Girls’s Opens, three PGA Championships and a number of editions of the US Newbie.

Ben Hogan (1953), Jack Nicklaus (1962), Johnny Miller (1973) and Ernie Els (1994) are among the many different former US Open winners at Oakmont, which is being arrange for this yr’s version as a par-70 and measuring up at 7,382 yards.

Who will get to play in it?

Any skilled or beginner with a 0.4 handicap index or decrease can signal as much as function, leading to a record-breaking 10,202 entries for qualifying and the prospect to hitch gamers already totally exempt.

Native qualifying came about in 110 websites throughout the US, Canada and Mexico, with the main gamers in these 18-hole occasions then progressing to the ultimate qualifying stage.

A sequence of 36-hole qualifying occasions have been performed in Might and June to finalise the sector, with 10 websites utilized in the US alongside one in every of Canada, England and Japan.

How robust is the sector and who’s more likely to contend?

All of the world’s prime 60 are eligible to tee it up on the US Open, together with all a number of winners on the PGA Tour over the previous 12 months and all main champions over the earlier 5 years.

Bryson DeChambeau will return as defending champion after final yr’s one-shot victory over Rory McIlroy, who received The Masters in April to finish the profession Grand Slam, whereas world No 1 Scottie Scheffler is favorite after his PGA Championship success final month.

Xander Schauffele and Scheffler each may transfer three-quarters of the way in which in the direction of the profession Grand Slam with a victory, whereas Shane Lowry – who held a four-shot lead after 54 holes within the 2016 US Open – is among the many Europeans chasing main glory.

What’s the reduce and play-off format?

The beginning area of 156 golfers play two rounds of golf on Thursday June 12 and Friday June 13, with the highest 60 and ties making the reduce and progressing by way of to the weekend.

The main scorer after 72 holes will win the trophy, whereas a two-hole combination play-off will happen if scores are tied after the ultimate spherical. The match beforehand used an 18-hole play-off the next day, with Tiger Woods the final to win underneath that system in 2008.

How a lot prize cash is obtainable?

The USGA has but to announce the prize purse or the winner’s share for the 2025 contest, having had a record-breaking quantity on provide final yr.

The $21.5 million prize fund in 2024 was the most important in all majors, whereas the $4.3m to the winner was the largest cheque for a one-off occasion exterior of the PGA Tour’s season-ending Tour Championship.

What does the winner get?

The US Open champion receives the Jack Nicklaus Medal, a duplicate model of the trophy and an inventory of exemptions, together with an invitation to the match for the following 10 years.

The winner additionally secures invitations to the following 5 editions of The Masters, PGA Championship, Open Championship and The Gamers, together with a five-year exemption on the PGA Tour.

What else is up for grabs?

The highest 10 finishers – and ties – might be exempt into the next yr’s US Open, whereas the highest 4 finishers and ties might be invited to The Masters at Augusta Nationwide the next April.

There’s extra FedExCup factors on provide than common PGA Tour occasions, with 750 going to the winner, whereas gamers from Europe and the US can earn qualification factors within the race to qualify for this September’s Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black.

How did DeChambeau win final yr?

DeChambeau capitalised on a late collapse from McIlroy to win the US Open for a second time with a dramatic one-shot victory at Pinehurst No 2.

The American took a three-shot lead into the ultimate day however discovered himself two behind when McIlroy – taking part in within the penultimate group – made 4 birdies in a five-hole stretch across the flip.

McIlroy remained one forward till he adopted back-to-back bogeys from the fifteenth with one other on the par-four final, lacking two putts from inside 4 ft over that closing stretch, as DeChambeau produced a sensational up and down on the final to safe his second main title.

Who else has impressed earlier than?

2011 champion McIlroy has completed runner-up on the final two US Opens and has posted prime 10 finishes in every of the final six years, whereas Schauffele has been no decrease than 14th in his earlier eight US Open appearances.

Scheffler was one of many runners-up when Matt Fitzpatrick received the US Open at Brookline in 2022, with Wyndham Clark (2023), Jon Rahm (2021), DeChambeau (2020), Gary Woodland (2019) and Brooks Koepka (2017 and 2018) the opposite latest winners.

Will Tiger Woods be concerned?

Woods is not exempt to mechanically be included within the US Open area, having final received the occasion in 2008, not added to his main tally since 2019 and considerably dropped down the world rankings in recent times.

The 49-year-old was handed a particular exemption by the USGA to tee it up in final yr’s contest, the place he missed the reduce, however might be lacking from the sector for the fourth time in 5 years.

Woods underwent surgical procedure on an Achilles damage in March and has already missed the primary two majors of the yr, with the previous world No 1 taking part in a restricted schedule since a automobile crash in February 2021 that left him with career-threatening accidents.

How can I watch dwell on Sky Sports activities?

“Stay from the US Open” will carry eight hours of build-up, interviews, evaluation and follow motion on Tuesday and Wednesday of match week, with protection getting underneath approach from 2pm every day, earlier than round the clock protection from all 4 rounds.

Protection from the primary two rounds begins from 12.30pm on Thursday and Friday, with round 12 hours dwell from each days, with the motion beginning at 4pm over the weekend.

Day by day one-hour highlights might be accessible on Sky Sports activities Golf, whereas the Girls’s Newbie Championship and the LPGA Tour’s Meijer LPGA Traditional may also be dwell on Sky Sports activities in the course of the week.

Who will win the US Open? Watch prolonged protection all through the week dwell on Sky Sports activities, with the opening spherical dwell on Thursday from 12.30pm on Sky Sports activities Golf. Get Sky Sports activities or stream no contract on NOW.