The 2023 United States Open Championship was the 123rd U.S. Open, the national open golf championship of the United States. It was a 72-hole stroke play played from June 15–18 on the North Course of Los Angeles Country Club in Los Angeles, California. It was the first U.S. Open to be played in Los Angeles since Riviera Country Club hosted the tournament in 1948.
Wyndham Clark, who had never finished better than 75th in a major championship and had missed the cut in his previous two U.S. Opens, shot a final-round 70 to finish at 10-under-par for the tournament and hold off four-time major champion Rory McIlroy by one shot for his first career U.S. Open and major championship .
Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele both broke the U.S. Open scoring record by shooting 62 (−8) in the first round. Fowler, who was tied with Clark for the lead at the start of the final round, ended up tied for fifth place, while Schauffele finished 10th.
Course
On July 22, 2015, the United States Golf Association (USGA) announced that Los Angeles Country Club was selected to host the 123rd U.S. Open in June 2023. The USGA had made overtures to the club for at least 26 years. Los Angeles Country Club resisted the advances because its leaders valued the privacy of the club. A new group of leaders took over and wanted to show off a renovation of the club's courses done by Gil Hanse that made the courses resemble earlier versions of the courses. More than 90% of the club's members voted to approve the deal that brought the U.S. Open to Los Angeles Country Club.
The layout of the Los Angeles Country Club was criticized by 2017 and 2018 U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka, stating he did not believe the course had any "great" holes, and a few "bad" holes. U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick also criticized the course layout, lamenting the blind tee shots, too much slope and fairways that did not hold the ball. He further elaborated that the slick fairways punished good tee shots which would end up rolling into the rough.
The layout of the Los Angeles Country Club limited the number of tickets and grandstand placement for spectators of the U.S. Open. The USGA allotted 22,000 total tickets for the event, with an estimated 8,000 available to the general public and the remainder going to corporate sponsors and club members. The proximity of the ninth green to the eighteenth green limited the placement of grandstands for the final green. The 22,000 tickets per day was below the 2022 total of 30,000 at The Country Club and well below the 50,000 per day at Oakmont Country Club in 2016. Fitzpatrick also criticized the USGA for the limited number of spectators stating he wished the tournament was louder.
Field
The field for the U.S. Open is made up of players who gain entry through qualifying events and those who are exempt from qualifying. The exemption criteria include provisions for recent major champions, winners of major amateur events, and leading players in the world rankings. Qualifying is in two stages, local and final, with some players being exempted through to final qualifying.
There were a record 10,187 entries received. There were 109 local qualifying events from which the leading players progressed to the 13 final qualifying events, nine of which were held in the United States on June 5.
Round summaries
First round
Thursday, June 15, 2023
Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele finished tied for the lead after the first round; their rounds of 62 were the lowest rounds in U.S. Open history and matched the lowest round in any major, set by Branden Grace in the 2017 Open Championship.
There were several other scoring records. The first round field scoring average of 71.38 was almost a stroke lower than the previous low first round of 72.29 at Baltusrol Golf Club in 1993. The worst score of the day was 79—the first time either of the first two rounds of a U.S. Open had not seen a score in the 80s.
Second round
Friday, June 16, 2023
Rickie Fowler made eight birdies along with six bogeys in a two-under round of 68 to take sole possession of the lead through 36 holes at 10-under for the tournament. Fowler's 18 birdies through the first two rounds was a new U.S. Open record and the most in any two-round stretch of a major championship in 30 years. His total of 130 tied Martin Kaymer in 2014 for the tournament record.