U.S. Senior Open going to a 2-stage qualifying process starting in 2025, when The Broadmoor will host the national championship
By Gary Baines – 6/24/2024
Just in time for the U.S. Senior Open being contested for the third time at The Broadmoor’s East Course in Colorado Springs next summer, the USGA announced on Monday that qualifying for the USSO will become a two-stage affair starting in 2025.
That will make the U.S. Senior Open qualifying more like that of the U.S. Open and the U.S. Amateur, both of which feature a two-stage process, with the U.S. Am changing to that just this year.
Up through this year, qualifying for the U.S. Senior Open has been a single-stage, 18-hole affair. Colorado-based qualifying for the 2024 Senior Open was held at The Broadmoor on June 5, with Colorado PGA professional Matt Schalk and Wyoming amateur Steve White earning the two available spots to the national championship, which is set to start on Thursday at Newport (R.I.) Country Club. All told, the USGA accepted 3,019 entries for the USSO this year.
Starting next year, the USGA’s plan for the U.S. Senior Open is to conduct local qualifying at 32 sites and final qualifying at a dozen.
Also as part of the USSO changes, full exemptions into the championship will be reduced. That includes a one-year exemption for PGA Tour Champions winners — instead of two or three years. Meanwhile, winners of the Senior PGA Championship, the Senior Players and The Tradition — all senior majors — will receive five-year exemptions.
In addition, exemptions through local qualifying will recognize “accomplishments at the senior amateur and professional level.” That includes past PGA Tour Champions winners, top finishers in the Charles Schwab Cup standings and in senior major championships, winners of state senior opens and state senior amateur championships and a World Amateur Golf Ranking senior age-filtered category.
“Retaining the U.S. Senior Open’s openness while ensuring that high-caliber players are provided ample opportunity to earn a spot in the field and that qualifying can be conducted at the highest level is paramount,” Brent Paladino, USGA senior director of championship administration, said in Monday’s release. “Our structure has evolved to ensure the long-term sustainability of qualifying without excessively burdening Allied Golf Associations (AGAs) and host clubs.”
Next year’s U.S. Senior Open at The Broadmoor is scheduled for June 26-29.
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