The year’s toughest and most democratic major is upon us with the 2025 U.S. Open.
For 156 of the world’s best players, Oakmont Country Club will prove a championship test like few others. The venerable club outside of Pittsburgh, Pa., is hosting its record 10th U.S. Open this week, and it’s regularly deemed one of the hardest courses in the country.
The field for the U.S. Open is perhaps the “easiest” to get into as anyone who registers as a professional, or an amateur with a low enough handicap index can enter one of the 110 local qualifiers around the world, to then advance through one of 13 final qualifiers before reaching the championship propper. Easier said than done of course.
You could also attempt to earn one of the 25 exemption categories reserved for the world’s best players. But as you’ll see below, those are perhaps even harder to come by.
This year’s U.S. Open field started with 10,202 entries, the fourth time the number has exceeded 10,000. Here are the lucky 156 who will compete for our national championship.
EXEMPT PLAYERS
Players are listed only by the first exemption category they qualify for.
F-1. Winners of the U.S. Open Championship the last 10 years (2015-24)
Bryson DeChambeau
Wyndham Clark
Matt Fitzpatrick
Jon Rahm
Gary Woodland
Brooks Koepka
Dustin Johnson
Jordan Spieth
F-2. From the 2024 U.S. Open Championship, the 10 lowest scorers and anyone tying for 10th place
Rory McIlroy
Patrick Cantlay
Tony Finau
Matthieu Pavon
Hideki Matsuyama
Russell Henley
Xander Schauffele
Sam Burns
Corey Conners
Davis Thompson
F-3. Winner of the 2024 U.S. Senior Open Championship
Richard Bland
F-4. Winner of the 2024 U.S. Amateur Championship
Jose Luis Ballester
F-5. Winners of the 2024 U.S. Junior Amateur and U.S. Mid-Amateur Championships, and the 2024 U.S. Amateur runner-up (must be an amateur)
Trevor Gutschewski (a)
Evan Beck (a)
Noah Kent (a)
F-6. Winners of the Masters Tournament from 2020-2025
Scottie Scheffler
F-7. Winners of the PGA of America Championship from 2021-2025
Justin Thomas
Phil Mickelson
F-8. Winners of the Open Championship from 2021-2024
Brian Harman
Cameron Smith
Collin Morikawa
F-9. Winners of the Players Championship from 2023-2025
N/A
F-10. Winner of the 2024 DP World Tour BMW PGA Championship
N/A
F-11. Those players who qualified and were eligible for the season-ending 2024 Tour Championship
Sahith Theegala
Adam Scott
Sungjae Im
Shane Lowry
Viktor Hovland
Taylor Pendrith
Ludvig Aberg
Robert MacIntyre
Tommy Fleetwood
Keegan Bradley
Byeong Hun An
Aaron Rai
Akshay Bhatia
Chris Kirk
Sepp Straka
Christiaan Bezuidenhout
Tom Hoge
F-12. Multiple winners of PGA Tour events that award full-point allocation for the FedEx Cup, from the conclusion of the 2024 U.S. Open to the initiation of the 2025 U.S. Open
N/A
F-13. The Top 5 players in the 2025 FedExCup standings as of May 19, 2025 who are not otherwise exempt
Jacob Bridgeman
Ryan Gerard
Sam Stevens
Brian Campbell
Cam Davis
F-14. The points leader from the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour season
Matt McCarty
F-15. The top two players from the final 2024 Race to Dubai Rankings who are not otherwise exempt as of May 19, 2025
Rasmus Hojgaard
Thriston Lawrence
F-16. The top player on the 2025 Race to Dubai Rankings as of May 19, 2025 who is not otherwise exempt
Laurie Canter
F-17. Winner of the 2024 Amateur Championship conducted by the R&A (must be an amateur)
N/A
F-18. Winner of the 2024 Mark H. McCormack Medal (Men’s World Amateur Golf Ranking; must be an amateur)
Luke Clanton (a)
F-19. Winner of the 2025 NCAA Division I Men’s Individual Golf Championship (must be an amateur)
Michael La Sasso (a)
F-20. Winner of the 2025 Latin America Amateur Championship (must be an amateur)
Justin Hastings (a)
F-21. From the current Official World Golf Ranking, the top 60 points leaders and ties as of May 19, 2025.
Maverick McNealy
Harris English
Justin Rose
Tyrrell Hatton
Daniel Berger
J.J. Spaun
Min Woo Lee
Thomas Detry
Jason Day
J.T. Poston
Andrew Novak
Lucas Glover
Denny McCarthy
Nick Taylor
Stephan Jaeger
Tom Kim
Max Greyserman
Mackenzie Hughes
Jhonattan Vegas
Nico Echavarria
Ben Griffin
Davis Riley
Michael Kim
Patrick Reed
Nick Dunlap
Si Woo Kim
Joe Highsmith
F-22. From the current Official World Golf Ranking, the top 60 points leaders and ties as of June 9, 2025 (if not previously exempt).
Ryan Fox
Cameron Young
Bud Cauley
F-23. Winner of the 2024 Olympic Gold Medal, contested Aug. 1-4
N/A
F-24. The top player who is otherwise not exempt and in the top 3 of the 2025 LIV Golf Individual Standings as of May 19, 2025
Joaquin Niemann
F-25. Special exemptions as selected by the USGA
N/A
QUALIFIERS
*Advanced as alternates
Final qualifying (Japan, May 19)
Yuta Sugiura
Scott Vincent
Jinichiro Kozuma
Riki Kawamoto*
Final qualifying (England, May 19)
Jordan Smith
Joakim Lagergren
Guido Migliozzi
Frederic LaCroix
Sam Bairstow
Edoardo Molinari
James Kruyswijk
Andrea Pavan
Final qualifying (Texas, May 19)
Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen
James Hahn
Adam Schenk
Lance Simpson (a)
Cameron Tankersley (a)
Carlos Ortiz
Johnny Keefer
Doug Ghim*
Final qualifying (U.S., Canada, June 2)
James Nicholas
Chris Gotterup
Roberto Diaz
Ben James
Zach Bauchou
Alistair Docherty
Alvaro Ortiz
Emilio Gonzalez
Trent Phillips
George Kneiser
Chandler Blanchet
Justin Hicks
Philip Barbaree, Jr.
Frankie Harris (a)
Mason Howell (a)
Jackson Buchanan
Tyler Weaver (a)
Jackson Koivun (a)
Will Chandler
Ryan McCormick
Trevor Cone
Marc Leishman
Bryan Lee
Erik van Rooyen
Lanto Griffin
Justin Lower
Harrison Ott
Grant Haefner
George Duangmanee
Zac Blair
Kevin Velo
Nicklas Norgaard
Matt Wallace
Thorbjorn Olesen
Mark Hubbard
Victor Perez
Emiliano Grillo
Matt Vogt (a)
Brady Calkins
Preston Summerhays (a)
Riley Lewis
Zachery Pollo (a)
Joey Herrera
Austen Truslow
Takumi Kanaya*
Chase Johnson*
Eric Cole*
