The USGA received 9,877 entries for this year’s U.S. Open at Oakmont.
The total is the third-highest in championship history, only five entries behind last year’s total for Chambers Bay. The 10,127 entries received for the 2014 U.S. Open at Pinehurst remains the highest volume of applications.
The entries include players from all 50 states, plus the District of Columbia and 72 foreign countries.
The deadline for entry was April 27, and 620 applications were received on the final day. Gordon Vietmeier, a 48-year-old pro from Pittsburgh, earned the distinction of being the final entry received after he submitted his application only 33 seconds before the 5 p.m. ET deadline.
The pool of applicants includes 50 players who are already fully exempt for the season’s second major, including 12 former U.S. Open champions. That latter group included a pair of players who have yet to hit a competitive shot this year: 2003 winner Jim Furyk and three-time champion Tiger Woods.
For the vast majority of entries, it’s off to one of 111 local qualifying sites, where 18-hole qualifiers will take place from May 2-19. Thirty-six hole sectional qualifiers will be held in Japan (May 23), England (May 30) and across 10 different sites in the U.S. on June 6.
In order to enter, players must either be professional or have a USGA handicap index of 1.4 or lower. The U.S. Open will be held June 16-19 at Oakmont Country Club in Pittsburgh, Pa.