It is staged by the United States Golf Association (USGA) in mid-June, scheduled so that, if there are no weather delays, the final round is played on the third Sunday.

The U.S. Open is staged at a variety of courses, set up in such a way that scoring is very difficult, with a premium placed on accurate driving.

The winner was Horace Rawlins, a 21-year-old Englishman, who had arrived in the U.S. earlier that year to take up a position at the host club.

[4][5] In the beginning, the tournament was dominated by experienced British players until 1911, when John J. McDermott became the first native-born American winner.

These four players, South African Retief Goosen (2004),[7] New Zealander Michael Campbell (2005),[8] Australian Geoff Ogilvy (2006)[9] and Argentine Ángel Cabrera (2007),[10] are all from countries in the Southern Hemisphere.

[12] Players (male or female)[12] may obtain a place by being fully exempt or by competing successfully in qualifying.

On August 5, 2019, the USGA announced a rule change stating a player may turn professional and still retain his U.S. Open exemption.

Note that this tournament typically takes place after the collegiate season has ended, so players may turn professional immediately after their last collegiate event (typically the end of the NCAA final of their senior year) in order to maximize the number of FedEx Cup points they may score before the August cutoff to avoid qualifying school.

The European Tour uses conversion rates at the time of the tournament to calculate the official prize money used in their Race to Dubai (€10,745,927 in 2017).

In line with the other majors, winning the U.S. Open gives a golfer several privileges that make his career much more secure if he is not already one of the elite players of the sport.

The U.S. Open advanced to sudden-death three times (1990, 1994, 2008), most recently when Tiger Woods defeated Rocco Mediate on the first additional playoff hole in 2008.

Since 2018, the USGA adopted a two-hole aggregate playoff format, after consulting fans, players and media partners.

[27] Beginning with the 2020 tournament, NBCUniversal holds domestic television rights (with coverage on NBC, USA Network and Peacock), having taken over the remainder of the 12-year deal with the USGA signed by Fox Sports in 2013 that gave it exclusive rights to USGA championships from 2015 through 2026.

With the postponed 2020 U.S. Open Championship presenting a significant scheduling challenge due to its other fall sports commitments, Fox had held discussions with the USGA over broadcasting the tournament on their cable network FS1 or partnering with NBC.