Golf: Nearly 9000 entries received for US Open

NEW YORK - Nearly 9000 golfers have put their names forward to try and topple New Zealand's Michael Campbell in the defence of his US Open title in June.

The 8584 entries for this year's tournament on June 15-18 at Winged Foot Golf Club in New York is the third highest in the tournament's history, the United States Golf Association (USGA) said today.

The figure was just 464 shy of the record 9048 received for last year's US Open at Pinehurst in North Carolina.

"A total of 2251 entries were received on the last three days before (this week's) deadline, and 100 of those entries were submitted electronically in the final hour," the USGA said in a statement.

To be eligible to enter the US Open, the second of the year's four majors, a player must be a professional or have a handicap of 1.4 or better.

The youngest applicant for this year's championship is 13-year-old Ryan Simpson of Mechanicsville, New York while the oldest is 75-year-old Ordean Olson, a professional from Hollywood, Florida.

Local qualifying for the US Open starts on May 10 at more than 100 venues after which sectional qualifying will take place at 14 venues from May 29 to June 6.

For the second year in a row, two of the sectional qualifiers are international and will be played over 36 holes at Ono Golf Club near Kobe, Japan on May 29 and at Walton Heath Golf Club on the outskirts of London on June 5.

Last year, the USGA decided to follow the lead taken by the Royal and Ancient Golf Club (R&A), organisers of the British Open.

In 2004, the R&A held four international qualifying tournaments outside Europe for the first time to make it more convenient and less expensive for overseas-based players to qualify for the world's oldest major championship.

- REUTERS