Already identified by its U.S. Open heritage, Oakmont Country Club was named the second “anchor” course for the U.S. Open in an announcement Wednesday that includes bringing nine Opens for men and women to Pennsylvania.
Four of them will be at Merion, which was chosen to host the 2030 U.S. Open. That will be the 100-year anniversary of Bobby Jones completing the Grand Slam. The final piece of what was called the “impregnable quadrilateral” in 1930 was the U.S. Amateur at Merion.
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The USGA announced the future sites during the U.S. Amateur at Oakmont, the course outside Pittsburgh with a reputation as being among the toughest in America. It already has hosted a record nine U.S. Opens, most recently in 2016 when Dustin Johnson won his first major.
The USGA is moving toward a rotation of golf courses that will get a U.S. Open every five or six years, similar to the British Open rotating to links but different in that it allows other courses not in the rotation to be used.
Pinehurst No. 2 was selected as the first anchor site last year when the USGA decided to move its testing center and museum to the North Carolina sand hills.
Pebble Beach, Shinnecock Hills and Winged Foot also are in the discussion to be anchor sites.
Oakmont was an obvious choice. It will host its 10th U.S. Open in 2025. It also will have the U.S. Open in 2034, 2042 and 2049, along with hosting the U.S. Women's Open in 2028 and 2038. Oakmont previously held two U.S. Women's Opens, most recently in 2010 when Paula Creamer won her only major.
Merion, while historic, was thought to not have enough property to host the infrastructure of a U.S. Open. The USGA pulled it off in 2013 when Justin Rose won his lone major.
It now gets two more U.S. Opens, the other in 2050. That will be the 100-year anniversary of Ben Hogan winning the U.S. Open just over a near after a near-fatal car crash. Merion is the site of the iconic photo of Hogan hitting 1-iron into the 18th green during regulation.
Merion also will host the U.S. Women's Open for the first time, in 2034 and 2046.
Both clubs also were awarded some of the USGA's elite amateur events — Oakmont gets the Walker Cup (2033) and U.S. Women's Amateur (2046), while Merion has the Curtis Cup next year along with the U.S. Amateur in 2026.
The U.S. Amateur this week is the 88th USGA championship in Pennsylvania, the most of any state. Pennsylvania courses have hosted the U.S. Open 17 times, second to New York (20).
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