Fully-exempt players for U.S. Senior Open at The Broadmoor include winners of more than 30 open-age major championships; golfers with local ties in the field include Shane Bertsch, Justin Leonard and Fred Funk
By Gary Baines – 3/27/2025
Shane Bertsch of Parker, former Aspen resident Justin Leonard and RainDance National course designer Fred Funk are among the 88 players who are fully exempt into the 2025 U.S. Senior Open, which will be played June 26-29 at The Broadmoor Golf Club’s East Course in Colorado Springs.
The USGA announced the list of players who are fully exempt into the 2025 U.S. Senior Open on Thursday. In all, the USGA accepted 2,585 entries for this year’s USSO. Entries came from 49 states — plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and 34 countries other than the U.S. A total of 101 entries came in from Colorado.
Included among the fully-exempt USSO competitors are:
— Winners of 31 open-age majors: Ernie Els (4), Vijay Singh (3), Padraig Harrington (3), Bernhard Langer (2), Lee Janzen (2), Retief Goosen (2), Angel Cabrera (2), Fred Couples, Davis Love III, Stewart Cink, Jim Furyk, Tom Lehman, Justin Leonard, Mike Weir, Mark Calcavecchia, Darren Clarke, David Toms, Y.E. Yang, Jeff Sluman and Michael Campbell.
— Winners of nine PGA Tour Internationals at Castle Pines Golf Club in Castle Rock: Davis Love III (2), Vijay Singh, Ernie Els, David Toms, Retief Goosen, Lee Janzen, Rod Pampling and Tom Pernice Jr.
— Winners of 11 U.S. Senior Opens: Bernhard Langer (2010 and ’23), Brad Bryant (2007), Fred Funk (2009), Jim Furyk (2021), Padraig Harrington (2022), Jeff Maggert (2015), Colin Montgomerie (2014), Gene Sauers (2016), Steve Stricker (2019) and David Toms (2018).
Toms won his U.S. Senior Open at The Broadmoor, as well as the 1999 International at Castle Pines.
Langer is the all-time winningest PGA Tour Champions player, having captured 47 titles. Also among the fully exempt for the USSO is the only two-time PGA Tour Champions winner in 2025 so far, Miguel Ángel Jiménez.
— Winner of 1 Colorado-based Korn Ferry Tour event: Stewart Cink (1996 Nike Colorado Classic at Riverdale Dunes).
One player who is not on the fully-exempt list is former world No. 1 David Duval of Cherry Hills Village. The USGA has awarded special exemptions for the U.S. Senior Open in the past, but only occasionally. The only one since 2014 was Jose Maria Olazabal in 2021. If Duval doesn’t receive a special exemption and does want to play in the USSO, he’d have to go through final qualifying to try to land a spot in the field.
Other senior players with strong Colorado ties who are not fully exempt into the U.S. Senior Open include Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Brandt Jobe and Denver-area resident Chris DiMarco.
For USSO entrants who are not exempt at all, this year marks the first time that this championship will employ a two-stage qualifying process. In Colorado, local qualifying will take place May 5 at Cheyenne Shadows Golf Club in Fort Carson, and final qualifying is set for June 10 at the Country Club of Colorado in Colorado Springs.
Nationally, the first U.S. Senior Open local qualifier is scheduled for April 3.
In all, 156 players will comprise the final U.S. Senior Open field. Additional exemptions will be available for eligible winners of PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions events over the next three months.
This will mark the third U.S. Senior Open and the ninth USGA championship for The Broadmoor.
“The USGA is excited to return to The Broadmoor, a partnership that began in the 1950s and a site that has fully embraced professional, amateur and international competition,” John Bodenhamer, the USGA’s chief championships officer, said in a release.
For the complete list of fully-exempt players for the 2025 U.S. Senior Open, CLICK HERE.
For ticket information regarding the 2025 U.S. Senior Open, CLICK HERE.
About the Writer: Gary Baines has covered golf in Colorado continuously since 1983. He was a sports writer at the Daily Camera newspaper in Boulder, then the sports editor there, and has written regularly for ColoradoGolf.org since 2009. The University of Colorado Evans Scholar alum was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 2022. He owns and operates ColoradoGolfJournal.com