June 9th marks the opening of the 108th United States Open Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Open. The venue for the second “Major Championship” of 2008 will be Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego, California.

The U.S. Open is hosted by the United States Golf Association and is on the tour schedules of the PGA Tour, European Tour, and now the Asian Tour. The event is held at a different location each year and is always scheduled to play the final round on Fathers Day.

October 4, 1895 marked the beginning of the U.S. Open Championship. It was held in Newport, Rhode Island on a 9 hole course. The tournament was 36 holes and was completed in one day. Competing in the first event was a field of ten professional golfers and one amateur competing. The first winner of the U.S. Open was Horace Rawlins at the age of 21. Horace took home $150.00 in cash and a gold medal worth 50 bucks. My how times have changed. Last year Angel Cabrera won the title and $1.26 million. The total purse in 2007 was $7 million.

Horace Rawlins was the first on a long list of British and Scottish winners of the U.S. Open. It would be 16 years before the first American born competitor, John J. McDermott would claim the U.S. Open title in 1911.

This year the U.S. Open will be hosted at Torrey Pines Golf Course, home to the Buick Invitational and the Junior World Championships in San Diego. The golf course is owned by the City of San Diego and is a true public golf course that sits on the coastal cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. This is only the second public golf course to host the U.S. Open. The other was Bethpage in New York State in 2002. Torrey Pines boasts two golf courses of fame. The North Course and the South Course. Reese Jones began working on the South Course in 2001 in preparation for the U.S. Open. It’s now a whopping length of 7,607 yards.

Four Times;

Willie Anderson; 1901, 1903, 1904, 1905

Bobby Jones; 1923, 1926, 1929, 1930

Ben Hogan; 1948, 1950, 1951, 1953

Jack Nicklaus; 1962, 1967, 1972, 1980

John McDermott, 1911 at 19 years, 315 days

Aside from the $1 million + in prize money, winning the U.S. Open Championship provides other benefits that help to secure his PGA career.

• Automatically invited to play in the other “Majors”; Masters, Open Championship (British Open), and the PGA Championship for the next five years. Also invited to play in the Players Championship which is regarded by many as the unofficial 5^th major.

• Invited to play the U.S. Open for the next 10 years.

• Receive a 5 year exemption for the PGA Tour for regular members. A winner who is not in the PGA will be given the opportunity to join.

• Placing in the top fifteen positions in the U.S. Open provides an exemption from qualifying for the next year’s Open.

• The top eight finishers are invited to the Masters in the following season.

Hale Irwin, 1990 at 45 years, 15 days

Tiger Woods in 2000 won by 15 strokes. This stands as the all time record for major championships.

The 2008 U.S. Open could go down in history as one of the most exciting ever! Phil Mickelson, ranked #2 in the world is driving long and straight and his putter is hot. The U.S. Open will also welcome Tiger Wood’s back to the PGA tour since his knee surgery in April. The last time Tiger played was at the Masters. Tiger is still leading in the Fed Ex Cup points but Mickelson is only 2399 points behind (at time of writing). There’s lots of speculation as to Tiger’s condition and current ability to withstand the rigors of the U.S. Open.

The competition will be fierce and the course U.S. Open nasty. Could be the recepie for another memorable event in U.S. Open history.