U.S. Open field 2013: Kyle Stanley, Scott Stallings added to list of Merion qualifiers

The field for the 2013 U.S. Open is nearly set, with 151 total players holding invitations on Sunday night. There was some shake-up in the field over the past week, as two withdrawals opened up two extra spots -- one prior to local qualifying and one after Monday, “golf’s longest day.” Richard Sterne and Roger Chapman were the two who backed out. Sterne’s WD came before Monday’s qualifying, boosting the number of spots available to 57. Chapman, a relatively unknown senior golfer who won last year’s U.S. Senior Open, withdrew citing a shoulder injury.

It’s a huge disappointment for Chapman, as this was the first time he had ever qualified for America’s national championship. Given his status and age, it was likely his last chance as well. But that withdrawal opened up the spot for alternate Scott Stallings, who’s playing some of the best golf on the PGA Tour and unlike Chapman, could maybe actually contend at Merion.

Stallings had been cut in nine of his first 14 events this year but has come on lately with top-5 finishes in the last three PGA Tour events. The streak started at Colonial, where a hot Sunday round pushed him to the top of the leaderboard momentarily. He repeated that at Memorial, but ran out of holes in his Sunday chase down of Matt Kuchar. At Memphis this week, Stallings finished a disappointing T2 after leading for much of the final round. He played his final four holes in 2-over, however, and Harris English edged him out for the win. That disappointment aside, Stallings and his recent form will now make the trip to Merion, thanks to Chapman.

In addition to Stallings’ final-week entry, Kyle Stanley, another PGA Tour regular who’s playing well, solidified his status this week and will be inside the top 60 in Monday’s Official World Golf Rankings. The top 60 as of May 27, prior to Memorial, lock in their spot with the USGA taking one more look at the top 60 two weeks later for any more exemptions. With Stanley’s third-place finish in the intervening stop at Columbus, he moved to 59th in the world but still went through sectional qualifying just in case someone came from behind and bumped him out of that spot with a win in Memphis. Stallings likely would have knocked Stanley out of the top 60 with a win, but the aforementioned late struggles and second-place finish means both are off to Philly.

There are still five more spots that the USGA will fill with alternates, rounding out the field to 156. Earlier this week, I explained the exemptions process and sectional qualifying process in detail. With the U.S. Open week now upon us, here’s your current field for the national championship:

There were 57 sectional qualifiers from the 11 U.S. sites, and 17 players from international qualifying in Japan and England. Stallings’ alternate entry pushes the list of sectional entries to 75.