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 Puget Sound ( ; ) is a complex estuary, estuarine system of interconnected Marine habitat, marine waterways and basins located on the northwest coast of the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. As a part of the Salish Sea, the sound ...

. Jordan Spieth won his first U.S. Open and consecutive

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

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 Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The name originates from Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States, which in turn derives its name from Fox Fi ...

, launching a 12-year contract with the

United States Golf Association The United States Golf Association (USGA) is the United States national association of golf courses, clubs and facilities and the governing body of golf for the U.S. and Mexico. Together with The R&A, the USGA produces and interprets the rule ...

. 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 Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in List of golfers with most PGA Tour wins, PGA Tour wins, ranks second in List of men's major championships winning golfers, men's m ...

, 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 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the Uni ...

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito ...

), Arnold Palmer ( 1960), and

Jack Nicklaus Jack William Nicklaus (; born January 21, 1940), nicknamed "the Golden Bear", is an American retired professional golfer and List of golf courses designed by Jack Nicklaus, golf course designer. He is widely considered to be one of the greate ...

(

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

). This was the first U.S. Open played in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...

and the third major played in the state of Washington, which hosted the PGA Championship in

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free France, Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command First Army (France), French Army B, part of the Sixt ...

and

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

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 A quarry is a type of open-pit mining, open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock (geology), rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some juri ...

that faces

and an active freight railroad. A Sounder commuter train platform at Chambers Bay with service from

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

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.
^ 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) *

(8) *''Prior to the tournament, Michael Campbell, the

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

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 The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...

during the last five years * Darren Clarke * Ernie Els *

Phil Mickelson Philip Alfred Mickelson (born June 16, 1970) is an American professional golfer who currently plays in the LIV Golf League. He has won 45 events on the PGA Tour, including six Men's major golf championships, major championships: three Masters ...

(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 The Players Championship (commonly known as simply The Players, stylized by the PGA Tour as THE PLAYERS Championship) is an annual golf tournament on the PGA Tour. Originally known as the Tournament Players Championship, it began in 1974. The ...

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 Ryan Hunter Palmer (born September 19, 1976) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. Early life and amateur career Born and raised in Amarillo, Texas, Palmer graduated from Amarillo High School in 1995. He played colleg ...

(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 Paul Alexander Casey (born 21 July 1977) is an English golfer who is a member of LIV Golf. He has also played on the US-based PGA Tour and the European Tour. In 2009, he achieved his highest position, third, in the Official World Golf Rankin ...

(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 Thongchai Jaidee (; , born 8 November 1969) is a Thai professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour Champions. He formerly played on the Asian Tour and the European Tour. On the Asian Tour, he holds the record for the most career earnings and is s ...

(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 Lee John Westwood (born 24 April 1973) is an English professional golfer. He is one of the few golfers who has won tournaments on five continents – Europe, North America, Asia, Africa and Oceania – including victories on the European Tour an ...

(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 Alexander Norén (born 12 July 1982) is a Swedish professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour and the European Tour. He has won ten tournaments on the European Tour, including the 2017 BMW PGA Championship, BMW PGA Championship, the Aberdeen Ass ...

, 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

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 The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

, 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.

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.

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

, 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). 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 A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nail (fastener), nails into wood, to sh ...

(+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.

Final round

''Sunday, June 21, 2015'' Four players began the final round tied for the lead for the first time at the U.S. Open since

1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

. In the final pairing with Jason Day at 3 pm PDT, Dustin Johnson recorded two birdies on the front nine to take sole possession of the lead, then lost it with bogeys on three out of four holes to begin the back nine. In the penultimate pairing, Jordan Spieth and Branden Grace both birdied the par-4 12th to tie, but Grace fell from contention on the 16th after his drive went out of bounds and he made double bogey. Spieth holed a birdie putt at the 16th to open up a three-stroke lead, but then three-putted for double bogey on the par-3 17th to fall into a tie with Louis Oosthuizen. Oosthuizen began the round three shots off the lead and quickly dropped further behind with three consecutive bogeys on the front-nine. Beginning at the 12th, however, Oosthuizen birdied six out of his last seven holes to tie Spieth. At the par-5 18th, Spieth hit the green in two and proceeded to two-putt for birdie. Johnson recovered from his bogey streak with a birdie at the 17th, then also found the 18th green in two. Faced with a eagle putt to win the championship, Johnson's attempt rolled three feet (0.9 m) past the hole, then missed his birdie putt to tie. Expecting a Monday playoff, Spieth suddenly gained a one-stroke victory for his second consecutive major title. With the win, Spieth became the sixth to win both the Masters and U.S. Open in the same year and the first since

in 2002. He also became the first to win two majors before the age of 22 since Gene Sarazen in 1922, and the youngest U.S. Open champion since Bobby Jones in 1923. After opening with a round of 77 (+7), Oosthuizen shot 199 over his last three rounds, tying the U.S. Open record for lowest 54-hole score. His score of 29 on the back-nine also tied a tournament record. The first hole was set as a par-4 at and the 18th hole as a par-5 at , with the total at . The scoring average for the field was 71.29 (+1.29) and 22 players had under-par rounds. Adam Scott had the low round of the championship, a 6-under-par 64 to tie for fourth.

Final leaderboard

Scorecard

''Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par'' Source:

Media

This was the first U.S. Open televised by

, which began a 12-year contract to televise the championship and other USGA events. The previous 20 years ( 1995–

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

) had been by

NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division for NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, that is responsible for sports broadcasts on their broadcast network NBC, the Cable television, cable channels NBC owns, and on Peacock (streaming service) ...

, preceded by 29 years (

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

–

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

) on ABC Sports.

References

External links

*
United States Golf AssociationCoverage on the PGA of America's official site
{{coord, 47.20, N, 122.57, W, display=title, type:event U.S. Open (golf) Golf tournaments in Washington (state) U.S. Open U.S. Open (golf) U.S. Open (golf)