Far Hills, N.J. – The United States Golf Association has accepted 2,525 entries, including those from 78 players who are already fully exempt into the field, for the 2011 U.S. Senior Open Championship to be played July 28-31 at Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio. The exempt list includes 13 past champions
Entries were received from 49 states (all except North Dakota) and the District of Columbia. In addition to the USA, entries were received from 17 countries: Argentina, Australia, Bahamas, Canada, Colombia, England, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Paraguay, People’s Republic of China, Philippines, South Africa, Sweden, and Thailand.
Gary Davidson of East Prairie, Mo., was the first to submit an application, and the last entry was submitted two seconds before the 5 p.m. EDT deadline on June 8 by Gary Updegraff of Des Moines, Iowa. To be eligible, a player must be at least 50 years old on or before July 28 and must have no higher than a 3.4 Handicap Index, or be a professional.
Players who are already fully exempt from qualifying include 2010 champion Bernhard Langer and 12 other past champions, including Brad Bryant (2007), Dale Douglass (1986), Allen Doyle (2005, 2006), Dave Eichelberger (1999), Bruce Fleisher (2001), Fred Funk (2009), Hale Irwin (1998, 2000), Peter Jacobsen (2004), Bruce Lietzke (2003), Graham Marsh (1997), Don Pooley (2002) and Eduardo Romero (2008). All previous Senior Open champions are fully exempt into the field if they file an entry.
Places in the 156-player field are also reserved for winners of official PGA Champions Tour events in the weeks remaining before the start of the 2011 U.S. Senior Open. The remainder of the field will be filled through sectional qualifying at 35 sites between June 20 and July 1.
A list of the 78 golfers who are fully exempt for the 2011 U.S. Senior Open (as of June 8) follows:
(a=amateur)
Michael Allen
Tommy Armour III
Paul Azinger
Phil Blackmar
Mark Brooks
Olin Browne
Brad Bryant
Mark Calcavecchia
Russ Cochran
John Cook
Fred Couples
Ben Crenshaw
Dale Douglass
Allen Doyle
David Eger
Dave Eichelberger
Keith Fergus
Bruce Fleisher
Dan Forsman
Angel Franco
David Frost
Fred Funk
Robert Gilder
Michael Goodes
Jay Haas
Gary Hallberg
Scott Hoch
John Huston
Hale Irwin
a-Tim Jackson
Peter Jacobsen
Tom Jenkins
Steven Jones
Tom Kite
Masahiro Kuramoto
Bernhard Langer
Tom Lehman
J.L. Lewis
Bruce Lietzke
Steve Lowery
Chien-Soon Lu
Graham Marsh
Mark McNulty
Larry Mize
John Morse
Kiyoshi Murota
Larry Nelson
Lonnie Nielsen
Mark O'Meara
Naomichi Ozaki
Jerry Pate
Corey Pavin
David Peoples
Tom Pernice
Don Pooley
Nick Price
Tom Purtzer
Dana Quigley
Michael Reid
Loren Roberts
Eduardo Romero
Boonchu Ruangkit
Ted Schulz
Peter Senior
Scott Simpson
a-Paul Simson
Joey Sindelar
Jeff Sluman
Rod Spittle
Craig Stadler
Hal Sutton
a-Patrick Tallent
Bob Tway
Bruce Vaughan
D.A. Weibring
Mark Wiebe
Christopher Williams
Fuzzy Zoeller