US Open Championships 2009 Live

The 109^th Edition of the prestigious U S Open happens this year from the Black Course of Bethpage State Park, Long Island, New York on June 18^th through the 21^st. This is one of the biggest golf tournaments of the year, the second of four majors, which also include The Master's Tournament, The Open Championship and The PGA Championship, and it features champion players from all over the world of golf.

Six Champions have been crowned in the past ten years, with the tournament coming from Bethpage State Park in 2002, where it was won by Tiger Woods in it's inaugural year on Long Island. Those five champions are Angel Cabrera, Jim Furyk, Michael Campbell, Retief Goosen, Geoff Ogilvy and of course, Tiger Woods. 

Those six are important because they make up the about half of the player field for this year's tournament, with an automatic invitation, along with the other 75 players who were fully exempt from this year's qualifying including the top two in the U.S. Amateur, who were Drew Kittleson and Danny Lee. However Lee turned pro in April and was forced to forfeit entering the U.S. Open through this door. The last five Master's champions will also be playing and the last five British Open champions, which includes Trevor Immelman, Zach Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Tom Hamilton and Padriag Harrington. 

Those aren't all the invitees, Vijay Singh and Henrik Stenson will also be playing, under the category of last five PGA champs and The Player's Champion. Eduard Romero will also be on the field, after winning the U.S. Senior Open.

Also exempt are the top 15 finishers and ties in the 2008 U.S. Open, the top 30 leaders are the 2008 PGA Tour money list, all players that qualified for the 2008 The Tour Championship, the top 15 on the European Tour Order of Merit, the top 10 of this year's PGA Tour money list, up until May 24^th, the top 5 from the European Tour Race to Dubai, again as of May 24^th, and the top 2 on the 2008 Japan Golf Tour money list, the PGA Tour of Australia money list and the top 50 on the Official World Golf Rankings list as of May 24^th. Other entries include special exemptions as selected by the USGA.

The rest of the field have to go through a qualification process, which is in two parts. First, the players do Local Qualifying, played over 18 holes at 100 different courses around the United States, and the second, which is the Sectional Qualifying, played over 36 holes in one day at several different locations around the country. There is no age limit for this tournament, and indeed young golfer Tadd Fujikawa of Hawaii qualified in 2006 at the age of 15.

This tournament's history dates back to 1895, with the very first tournament played on October 4^th on a nine holer in Newport, Rhode Island. Ten pro golfers turned out for this event, as well as one amateur, and England's Horace Rawlins won the tournament that first year, at just 21 years of age. The purse at that time was $335, with the winner's share just $150, along with a gold medal worth $50, and The Open Championship Cup trophy which his club received. This 36 hole competition was played in one day. Today, almost all winners are from the U.S. a tradition started when the first American to win the tournament was John J. McDermott in 1911. Today, the purse for the U.S. Open is $7,500,000 and the winners share is $1.26 Million.

The tours that this tournament includes are the PGA Tour, PGA European Tour and the Japan Golf Tour. New in 2008, it is also now an official money event on the Asian Tour, with 50% of the earnings in this event counting towards the Order of Merit.   Four players hold the aggregate record or 272, Jack Nicklaus in 1980, Lee Janzen in 1993, Tiger Woods in 2000 and Jim Furyk in 2003.

Tiger Woods is the defending champion for this Major Tournament, ending with a score of 283 in La Jolla, California last year, with past champions including Argentina's Angel Cabrera in 2007, where the tournament was played at the Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pennsylvania. In 2006 it was Geoff Ogilvy from Australia, and in 2005 Michael Campbell took home the title. Other champion's since 2000 include Jim Furyk and Retief Goosen. 

This year's course is the Black Course at Bethpage State Park, in Farmingdale, New York, on Long Island. This is an extremely challenging course, requiring players to make a difficult choice from the very first hole. It has a very severe dogleg right that could cause problems, leaving players the choice of taking the chance, or taking it easy with something other than a driver. This is a Par 4, at 430 Yards and that's just the first hole! The course is ranked number 26 in America's best golf courses, and ranked as one of the most difficult and 6^th best in the State of New York. The total yardage for this course is 7,065 and it boasts a Par 71.

Tiger Woods was the only golfer to come under par on this course, which boosted ratings and created a never before seen attendance for the 2002 tournament. As such, the U.S. Open will be held there once again and you can watch this incredible event live, from the comfort of your computer. Just click on any of the banners on this page to get your membership, and you'll have access, a full year's access no less, to our network of the highest quality live feeds and streams that are available on the Internet. You can record this tournament to watch it again, or later, or you can watch live as the second of four Majors happens from June 18^th through the 21^st. It's the 2009 U.S. Open from the Black Course at Bethpage State Park Golf Course on Long Island, New York. Don't miss it!