U.S. Open (golf)

The United States Open Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Open, is the annual open championship of golf in the United States. It is the third of the four major championships, and is on the official schedule of the PGA Tour and European Tour. Since 1898, the competition has been 72 holes of stroke play (four rounds on an 18-hole course). It is staged by the United States Golf Association (USGA) in mid-June, scheduled to conclude on the third Sunday, Father's Day. Staged at a variety of courses, the U.S. Open is set up so that scoring is very difficult, with a premium placed on accurate driving. As of 2026, the U.S. Open awards a $22.5 million purse, the largest of the four major championships.

The first U.S. Open was played on October 4, 1895, on a nine-hole course at the Newport Country Club in Newport, Rhode Island. It was a 36-hole competition and was played in a single day. Ten professionals and one amateur entered. The winner was Horace Rawlins, a 21-year-old Englishman, who had arrived in the U.S. earlier that year to take up a position at the host club. He received $150 cash out of a prize fund of $335, plus a $50 gold medal; his club received the Open Championship Cup trophy, which was presented by the USGA.

In the beginning, the tournament was dominated by experienced British players until 1911, when John J. McDermott became the first native-born American winner. American golfers soon began to win regularly and the tournament evolved to become one of the four majors.