Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was no real “Road to Winged Foot” for the 2020 U.S. Open. However, you still had to earn your way there via a number of different exemption categories—28 to be exact—ranging from top 70 players in the Official World Golf Ranking back on March 15 to the top seven in the World Amateur Golf Ranking on August 15.
The final exemption category that had yet to play out was the top five players not otherwise exempt from the 2019-’20 final FedEx Cup points list. Now that the Tour Championship and the 2019-’20 season are officially complete, the USGA was able to announce the final five players in the 2020 U.S. Open on Tuesday, completing the field of 144. They are as follows: Sebastian Munoz (15th in the FedEx Cup standings), Brian Harman (37th), Tyler Duncan (40th), Mark Hubbard (44th) and Danny Lee (45th). Brendan Steele, who is looking to win his third Safeway Open in Napa this week, just missed the cut at 46th in the standings. He’ll miss the U.S. Open for the second straight year.
Munoz, 27, is coming off a career year that he capped off with a T-8 at East Lake. The Colombian earned his first career PGA Tour victory last September at the Sanderson Farms, then added five top 10s and one third-place finish the rest of the year, collecting over $2.8 million in on-course earnings. This will be his second appearance in a U.S. Open, and his first since 2018.
Harman, who finished runner-up to Brooks Koepka at Erin Hills in 2017, will be competing in his fifth career U.S. Open. The former Georgia Bulldog just missed out on the Tour Championship in his home state, though not for lack of trying. He went T-11 and T-12 in the first two playoff events, a sign his game could be peaking at just the right time.
Duncan, 31, will be playing in his third U.S. Open and just his fourth career major. Mark Hubbard will be making his U.S. Open debut, while Danny Lee will also be making his third appearance, his last coming in 2016.
The full field list for the 2020 U.S. Open at Winged Foot can be found at usopen.com.