The 117th U.S. Open is officially underway at Erin Hills Golf Course in Wisconsin.
Defending champion Dustin Johnson leads a star-studded field of 156 players hoping to be crowned the U.S. Open champion.
Go time @usopengolf pic.twitter.com/BuSuxitvNz
— Dustin Johnson (@DJohnsonPGA) June 15, 2017
Other notable names in the field include Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler, Jordan Spieth, Jason Day, Jon Rahm, Sergio Garcia and Justin Thomas.
This is the first ever U.S. Open to be played in Wisconsin and the first to be played in the Midwest since the tournament was at Chicago’s Olympia Fields in 2003.
Like Chambers Bay in 2015, Erin Hills is a new course that was built to host major tournaments like the U.S. Open.
It opened just over a decade ago in 2006 and got its first taste of high level competitive golf with the 2011 U.S. Amateur, which was won by Kelly Kraft.
Erin Hills is a long course, measuring right around 7,800 yards, and it’s one of the wider U.S. Open courses in recent history.
The signature of the course, however, is long fescue that will punish any players who manage to miss the fairway or green.
Erin Hills is also the first par 72 course to be used for the U.S. Open since Pebble Beach in 1992, which was won by Tom Kite.
Pebble Beach has hosted the U.S. Open since then, but it has been played by the pros as a par 71.
The U.S. Open champion will very likely be crowned on Sunday afternoon, but there’s also a good chance that the winner will have to wait until Monday.
Unlike every other PGA Tour tournament, the U.S. Open features a full 18-hole playoff on Monday if there’s a tie between two or more players at the end of 72 holes.
The last time that happened was in 2008, when Tiger Woods beat Rocco Mediate in an epic playoff battle at Torrey Pines.
