The United States Golf Association (USGA) today announced that two additional players have earned full exemptions into the 126th U.S. Open Championship, to be contested June 18-21 at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, bringing the number of fully exempt players to 88. Additionally, five alternates from final qualifying were added to complete the 156-player field.
J.T. Poston, of Hickory, N.C., earned an exemption based on the current Official World Golf Ranking® (OWGR). He moved up 56 spots in the last two weeks to No. 38 after his victory at The Memorial Tournament, the fourth PGA Tour win of his career. Due to weather delays, Poston had to play a marathon 33 holes on Sunday, June 7, knowing he would have had 36 holes of U.S. Open Final Qualifying (Golf’s Longest Day) in Columbus the following day. The 33-year-old will play in his seventh U.S. Open and has three made cuts, with his best finish being a T-32 at Pinehurst Resort & C.C. (Course No. 2) in 2024.
Bud Cauley, of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., also earned an exemption based on the current OWGR. After his win at the RBC Canadian Open on Sunday, Cauley jumped 28 spots to No. 40. It was the 36-year-old’s first PGA Tour win. He will tee it up in his fourth U.S. Open and has one made cut, a T-63 in 2011 at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md., right after he finished his junior season at the University of Alabama and turned professional. Before winning in Canada, Cauley fell in a 4-for-1 playoff for the second alternate spot at the final qualifier at Lakes Golf & Country Club in Westerville, Ohio, on Golf’s Longest Day.
The USGA held seven spots in the field for those players who could potentially become exempt. With two claiming spots, five alternates from final qualifying were added to the field: Hennie Du Plessis, Spencer Tibbits, Bryan Lee, Jack Schoenberger and Harry Higgs.
Additionally, Preston Stout, 21, of Dallas, Texas, gained a full exemption on June 1 when he won the NCAA Division I Championship. Chandler Phillips, 29, of Bryan, Texas, replaced exempt player Marco Penge when he withdrew on June 9. Phillips will make his U.S. Open debut as the first alternate from the Dallas final qualifier.
The U.S. Open was previously contested at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in 1896 (James Foulis), 1986 (Raymond Floyd),1995 (Corey Pavin), 2004 (Retief Goosen) and 2018 (Brooks Koepka).
Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, one of the USGA’s five founding member clubs, is the only venue to host the national championship in three different centuries.
The list of the 88 golfers who are fully exempt into the 2026 U.S. Open (as of June 15):
| Ludvig Aberg | 11 |
| Daniel Berger | 21 |
| Akshay Bhatia | 11 |
| Keegan Bradley | 11 |
| Michael Brennan | 21 |
| Jacob Bridgeman | 11 |
| Sam Burns | 2,11 |
| Laurie Canter | 15 |
| Patrick Cantlay | 11 |
| Bud Cauley | 22 |
| Wyndham Clark | 1 |
| Hamilton Coleman (a) | 5 |
| Corey Conners | 11 |
| Pierceson Coody | 21 |
| Jason Day | 21 |
| Bryson DeChambeau | 1 |
| Nicolas Echavarria | 21 |
| Harris English | 11 |
| Ethan Fang (a) | 17 |
| Alex Fitzpatrick | 13 |
| Matt Fitzpatrick | 1 |
| Tommy Fleetwood | 11 |
| Rickie Fowler | 21 |
| Ryan Fox | 21 |
| Ryan Gerard | 21 |
| Chris Gotterup | 11,12 |
| Benjamin Griffin | 2,11 |
| Harry Hall | 11 |
| Brian Harman | 8,11 |
| Padraig Harrington | 3 |
| Tyrrell Hatton | 2 |
| Russell Henley | 2,11 |
| Lucas Herbert | 24 |
| Jackson Herrington (a) | 5 |
| Ryo Hisatsune | 21 |
| Nicolai Hojgaard | 21 |
| Brandon Holtz (a) | 5 |
| Viktor Hovland | 2,11 |
| Mason Howell (a) | 4 |
| Sungjae Im | 11 |
| Dustin Johnson | 1 |
| Johnny Keefer | 14 |
| Michael Kim | 21 |
| Si Woo Kim | 21 |
| Kurt Kitayama | 21 |
| Jake Knapp | 21 |
| Brooks Koepka | 1,7 |
| Jackson Koivun (a) | 18 |
| Min Woo Lee | 21 |
| Shane Lowry | 11 |
| Robert MacIntyre | 2,11 |
| Hideki Matsuyama | 11 |
| Matt McCarty | 21 |
| Rory McIlroy | 6,9,11 |
| Maverick McNealy | 11 |
| Collin Morikawa | 8,11 |
| Joaquin Niemann | 23 |
| Alex Noren | 10 |
| Andrew Novak | 11 |
| Carlos Ortiz | 2 |
| J.T. Poston | 22 |
| David Puig | 21 |
| Mateo Pulcini (a) | 20 |
| Jon Rahm | 1,2,6 |
| Aaron Rai | 7 |
| Patrick Reed | 21 |
| Kristoffer Reitan | 21 |
| Patrick Rodgers | 13 |
| Justin Rose | 11,12 |
| Adrien Saddier | 15 |
| Jayden Schaper | 16 |
| Xander Schauffele | 7,8 |
| Scottie Scheffler | 2,6,7,8,9,11,12 |
| Matthias Schmid | 13 |
| Adam Scott | 21 |
| Alex Smalley | 21 |
| Cameron Smith | 8 |
| J.J. Spaun | 1,2,11 |
| Jordan Spieth | 21 |
| Samuel Stevens | 21 |
| Preston Stout (a) | 19 |
| Sepp Straka | 11 |
| Nick Taylor | 11 |
| Sahith Theegala | 13 |
| Justin Thomas | 7,11 |
| Gary Woodland | 1 |
| Sudarshan Yellamaraju | 13 |
| Cameron Young | 2,9,11 |
Bold – U.S. Open champion a – amateur
Key to Player Exemptions
1) Winners of the U.S. Open Championship the last 10 years (2016-25)
2) From the 2025 U.S. Open Championship, the 10 lowest scorers and anyone tying for 10th place
3) Winner of the 2025 U.S. Senior Open Championship
4) Winner of the 2025 U.S. Amateur Championship
5) Winners of the 2025 U.S. Junior Amateur & U.S. Mid-Amateur Championships and the 2025 U.S. Amateur Championship runner-up (must be an amateur)
6) Winners of the Masters Tournament (2021-26)
7) Winners of the PGA of America Championship (2022-26)
8) Winners of The Open Championship, conducted by The R&A (2021-25)
9) Winners of The Players Championship (2024-26)
10) Winner of the 2025 DP World Tour BMW PGA Championship
11) Those players who qualified and were eligible for the season-ending 2025 Tour Championship
12) Multiple winners of PGA Tour events that award a full-point allocation (June 2025-June 2026)
13) The top five players in 2026 FedExCup standings as of May 18, 2026, who are not otherwise exempt
14) The points leader from the 2025 Korn Ferry Tour season using combined points earned on the Official Korn Ferry Tour Regular-Season Points Standings and points earned in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals
15) The top two players from the final 2025 Race to Dubai Rankings, who are not otherwise exempt as of May 18, 2026
16) The top player on the 2026 Race to Dubai Rankings as of May 18, 2026, who is not otherwise exempt
17) Winner of the 2025 Amateur Championship, conducted by The R&A (must be an amateur)
18) Winner of the 2025 Mark H. McCormack Medal (top-ranked in WAGR & must be an amateur)
19) Winner of the 2026 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship (must be an amateur)
20) Winner of the 2026 Latin America Amateur Championship (must be an amateur)
21) Top 60 point leaders and ties from the Official World Golf Ranking as of May 18, 2026
22) Top 60 point leaders and ties from the Official World Golf Ranking as of June 15, 2026
23) The top player who is not otherwise exempt and in the top three of the final 2025 LIV Golf individual standings, as of May 18, 2026
24) The top player who is not otherwise exempt and in the top three of the 2026 LIV Golf individual standings as of May 18, 2026
25) Special exemptions selected by the USGA
There are no comments
Please login to post comments