The Loop

More Than 8,000 Enter U.S. Open

April 25, 2008

The USGA received 8,390 entries for the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines in La Jolla, Calif., with the applicants ranging in age from 12 (Rico Hoey, Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.) to 79 (Harris Moore Jr., Los Angeles).

Tiger Woods is among eight past champions fully exempt for the championship June 12-15. Woods, the 2000 and 2002 winner, is exempt in eight different categories, the most of any of the 58 golfers currently exempt.

Entries were received from golfers in all 50 states and 68 foreign countries, including professionals from Ghana, Nigeria and Guatemala.

Local qualifying begins May 5 at 111 sites.

--Bill Fields