Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland won his first major title, one stroke ahead of runner-up Grégory Havret of France.

[4] McDowell was the first European to win the U.S. Open in forty years, since Tony Jacklin of England won in 1970.

Previous course lengths for major championships About half the field each year consists of players who are fully exempt from qualifying for the U.S. Open.

[7] Ángel Cabrera (3,9,10,17), Michael Campbell, Jim Furyk (9,10,12,13,17), Lucas Glover (8,9,10,17), Retief Goosen (9,10,17), Geoff Ogilvy (9,10,11,17), Tiger Woods (4,5,8,9,10,13,17) An Byeong-hun (a), Ben Martin (a) Trevor Immelman, Zach Johnson (9,10,17), Phil Mickelson (5,8,9,10,12,13,17) Stewart Cink (9,10,17), Pádraig Harrington (5,9,10,11,17) Yang Yong-eun (9,10,17) Tim Clark (9,12,17), Sergio García (8,11,17), Henrik Stenson (8,17) Fred Funk Stephen Ames, Ricky Barnes, Matt Bettencourt, David Duval, Ross Fisher (11,17), Søren Hansen, Hunter Mahan (9,10,17), Rory McIlroy (11,12,17), Ryan Moore, Mike Weir (9,10) Paul Casey (11,14,17), Brian Gay (10), Dustin Johnson (10,12,17), Jerry Kelly (10), Matt Kuchar (12,17), Justin Leonard, Kevin Na (10,17), Sean O'Hair (10,17), Kenny Perry (10,17), Ian Poulter (11,14,17), John Rollins, Rory Sabbatini, John Senden (10), Steve Stricker (10,12,13,17), David Toms (10), Nick Watney (10,17) Luke Donald (17), Jason Dufner, Ernie Els (11,12,13,14,17), Marc Leishman, Steve Marino, Heath Slocum, Scott Verplank Simon Dyson, Martin Kaymer (17), Søren Kjeldsen, Ross McGowan, Francesco Molinari (17), Lee Westwood (14,17), Oliver Wilson (17) Robert Allenby (17), Camilo Villegas (17) Charl Schwartzel (17) Yuta Ikeda (17), Ryo Ishikawa (17) Michael Sim (17) K. J. Choi, Ben Crane, Peter Hanson, Thongchai Jaidee, Miguel Ángel Jiménez, Robert Karlsson, Graeme McDowell, Edoardo Molinari, Louis Oosthuizen, Álvaro Quirós, Adam Scott Vijay Singh,[9] Tom Watson[10] (a) denotes amateur (L) denotes player advanced through local qualifying Thursday, June 17, 2010 The 110th U.S. Open began on a sunny cool day on the Monterey Peninsula.

Rafa Cabrera-Bello, K. J. Choi, Alex Čejka, Ryo Ishikawa, Mike Weir, and Ian Poulter all shot 70 (−1).

Mickelson shot 66 (−5) with a front nine charge with birdies at 2, 3, 4, 6, and 8. Notable players who missed the cut (+7) were Rory McIlroy, Hunter Mahan, and two-time heart transplant survivor Erik Compton, who was playing in his first major.