The United States Open Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Open, is the annual open golf tournament of the USA. It is the second of the four major championships in golf, and is on the official schedule of both the PGA Tour and the European Tour. It is staged by United States Golf Association (USGA) in mid-June each year and will be hosted at the Olympic Club in San Francisco June 11-19, 2012.
The Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport is the official media hotel during the tour and will welcome journalists from around the world.
The U.S. Open is staged at a variety of courses, set up in such a way that scoring is very difficult with a premium placed on accurate driving. U.S. Open play is characterized by tight scoring at or around par by the leaders, with the winner usually emerging at around even par. A U.S. Open course is seldom beaten severely, and there have been many over-par wins (in part because par is usually set at 70 except for the very longest courses).
The U.S. Open is the only one of the four major championships which does not go immediately to a playoff if two or more players are tied at the end of the four rounds. Instead, the players play a fifth 18-hole round the following day (Monday), but if a tie still exists after that round, then a sudden-death playoff is held. Only three times has the U.S. Open gone to sudden-death after the playoff round, most recently in 2008 when Tiger Woods defeated Rocco Mediate on the first additional playoff hole.
Coverage of The U.S. Open is broadcasted on television by NBC and ESPN. So tune in for more as we post fun facts and historical notes prior to the tour and update the blog with status updates as the tour gets underway.
