Bryson DeChambeau won his second U.S. Open Golf Championship this past weekend at Pinehurst Resort and County Club in North Carolina. With that, many folks may be wondering when the U.S. Open will return to Tulsa’s Southern Hills Country Club. Not any time soon.
This year, the USGA announced plans to rotate the major golf event between three anchor courses with a few other courses hosting along the way, and Southern Hills Country Club is not on the list. However, there are some years way in the future that have yet to be announced.
The first U.S. Open was held in 1895 and has been held at more than 50 different courses over the years. Moving forward, the three famous courses that will play a major role in hosting the U.S. Open will be Pinehurst No. 2 (this site of this year’s Open), Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania, and Pebble Beach Golf Links in Northern California.
These anchor sites are already scheduled to host most of the U.S. Open Championships for the next 25 years.
Pinehurst will host again in 2029, ’35, ’41, and ’47. Oakmont will be the host next year (2025) and then in ’33, ’42, and ’49. Pebble Beach will host in 2027, ’32, ’37, and ’44.
Other courses that have awarded more than one U.S. Open in the future are: New York’s Shinnecock Hills Golf Club (2026, ’36), Pennsylvania’s Merion Golf Club (’30, ’40, ’50), and Oakland Hills Country Club in Michigan (’34, ’51).
According to Front Office Sports, the USGA believes that selecting host courses many years in advance gives the courses an opportunity to make a financial investment in improvements to the course and the fan experience.
“Anchor site planning has allowed us to be very strategic and think long-term about how we can produce the best championships together,” Pinehurst Resort president Tom Pashley said.
Along with the five U.S. Opens Pinehurst No. 2 will host between 2024 and 2047, several other Pinehurst courses will also host a list of other USGA championships, one every three years throughout the next 25. Those events include the U.S. Women’s Open as well as the men’s and women’s U.S. Amateurs.
“The U.S Open goes to a lot of private clubs, and I think a private club has a different perspective than a public resort,” Pashley told Front Office Sports.
He points to the first U.S. Open at Pinehurst hosted in 1999.
“Most places would use school buses to bring fans to the venue,” Pashley says. “We rented air-conditioned motor coaches, because we viewed every person who came to the championship as a potential future guest.” Pinehurst also hosted U.S. Opens in 2005 and 2014.
Southern Hills has hosted the U.S. Open three times; 1958, 1977 and 2001. The iconic local golf course is not on the list to host the Open any time in the next 18 years, and likely never again, based on the USGA’s current expectations from host courses and the schedule as it is. The next year without a host course announced yet is 2043.
Southern Hills is getting set to host this year’s U.S. Women’s Amateur tournament, August 5-11. That certainly leaves the door open to host other USGA amateur events over the next several decades, even if the U.S. Open won’t be coming to Tulsa any time soon.
TULSA BEACON RADIO
Tune in to “Tulsa Beacon Weekend” radio show every week, featuring interviews with local and national level guests, talking about everything from politics to family issues. This week my guest will be local political pundit Chris Medlock. We will discuss the 2024 Presidential campaigns and the conflict in the Middle East. The show airs on Saturday at 12:00 p.m. CST on 970am KCFO.