U.S. Open sectional qualifying 2015: Tee times, course sites, notable names and more

It’s affectionately referred to as “golf’s longest day.” U.S. Open sectional qualifying takes place Monday from sun-up to sun-down at 10 different sites across the country. An estimated 60 spots in the field at next week’s U.S. Open are up for grabs and there are typically 750 or so sectional players.

The U.S. Open is just that -- it’s open. If you can get your handicap down to a certain level, a 1.4 USGA index, and you have the cash for a small entry fee, you can attempt to play your way into the field at the national championship. It’s not closed off to the Tour pros or elite world-class players or PGA teaching pros like the Masters and PGA Championship. There are usually more than 10,000 players who attempt to earn a spot, initially at 111 local qualifying sites played over three weeks in May. From there, the field is whittled down to the 750 or so sectional players. Sectionals narrow it down to 55 or 60 who actually play their way into a tee time at Chambers Bay. While it’s technically open, the odds are obviously slim -- Golf Digest calculated some things that are more likely to happen to you than qualifying for the U.S. Open, and they included becoming Pope and breaking out of prison.

While these 55 to 60 players will be still be extremely talented and better than 99 percent of golfers in the world, the winner of the U.S. Open is still likely to come from the crop of guys who don’t need to grind out 36 qualifying holes on Monday. These are players at the top of the world rankings, the regular Tour pros, and past major champions. There are already 74 players exempt without needing the qualifying process and these are the guys you’re used to seeing contend week-to-week on Tour and at the majors.

The final full field will be 156 players deep next week. We won’t reach that capacity on Monday, but the USGA will fill it out over the next week or so with alternates and a handful of pros who might play their way into the top 60 in the Official World Golf Rankings by Sunday night.

The deepest sectionals with the most spots available are in the Columbus and Memphis area, where the PGA Tour held the Memorial last week and the St. Jude Classic this week. The final tally for how many spots each sectional has open and how many alternates each sectional will send through will be finalized as the day progresses. The USGA has a murky and publicly unexplained process for how they award alternate spots. Here are the nuts and bolts about today’s qualifying, including the players who are already in the field from the usual two international sites the USGA sets up.

Here are the 10 sites where Monday’s qualifying will take place, including tee times and notable names participating.