Adam Scott officially is set for his 100th consecutive major at the U.S. Open, which added 24 players to the field from the world ranking, with more spots available through qualifiers in England and Dallas.
Scott effectively secured his spot among the top 60 in the world with a tie for fourth in the Cadillac Championship at Doral. He is at No. 49 in the rankings, which the U.S. Open uses to determine who avoids qualifying.
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Others exempt from the top 60 include Jordan Spieth, Patrick Reed and Alex Smalley, who tied for second in the PGA Championship to move up 36 spots to No. 42.
Matti Schmid, who had the lead during the final round of the PGA Championship and wound up in a tie for fourth, earned one of five exemptions awarded to leading players in the FedEx Cup on the PGA Tour who already were not exempt.
The exemptions finalized means 70 players in the 156-man field will go through qualifying, an unusually low number for a major that prefers that roughly half the field has to qualify. The U.S. Open is June 18-21 at Shinnecock on New York’s Long Island.
Adding to the field were qualifiers in Dallas and England.
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The 36-hole qualifier at Walton Heath in England offered seven spots (and two spots for alternates). Among those in the field was Thomas Detry. He was set to earn an exemption from LIV Golf until Lucas Herbert won in Virginia. Detry was at No. 61 going into the PGA Championship and poised to move up until missing the cut by one shot at Aronimink. He fell to No. 64.
Detry left Philadelphia for London to go through 36 holes of qualifying, and he was headed for a playoff to determine the final spots.
The Dallas qualifier — the first of 11 to be held in North America over the next month — featured Sergio Garcia among 14 players from LIV Golf.
Scott’s streak began with the 2001 British Open, and he has not missed one since, even going through U.S. Open qualifying when he wasn’t exempt. It’s the longest streak since Jack Nicklaus played in 146 in a row, from the 1962 Masters through the 1998 U.S. Open.
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Scott’s one close call was breaking a bone in his hand before the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, but he played — grouped with Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson in the opening two rounds — and tied for 26th that week.
“I would rather win some stuff, and let’s celebrate winning the U.S. Open than just playing in it,” Scott said three weeks ago. “I can give myself a pat on the back for hanging in there and playing all these events. I think there’s some luck in it, but I think I’ve had generally great advice around me from a physical and training standpoint that’s kept me healthy and pretty much injury-free.”
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