More than 8,000 Apply To US Open

The USGA reports that 8,544 applications were received for this year’s U.S. Open at Oakmont. That’s 504 short of the record of 9,048 received for the 2005 Open.

To be eligible to enter the U.S. Open a player must be a professional or have a handicap of 1.4 or better (presumably, professionals have an effective handicap of at least 1.4) Local qualifying starts on May 2 at more than 100 venues after which 36 holes of sectional qualifying will be held at 14 venues from May 28 to June 4. Sectional qualifiers also will be held in Japan and England.

I dream of one day having a handicap low enough to be able to enter.