<P> Through 2011, exemptions existed for leading money winners on the PGA, European, Japanese, and Australasian tours, as well as winners of multiple PGA Tour events in the year before the U.S. Open . These categories were eliminated in favor of inviting the top 60 on the OWGR at both relevant dates . Starting with the 2012 championship, an exemption was added for the winner of the current year's BMW PGA Championship, the European Tour's equivalent of The Players Championship . </P> <P> Potential competitors who are not fully exempt must enter the Qualifying process, which has two stages . Firstly there is Local Qualifying, which is played over 18 holes at more than 100 courses around the United States . Many leading players are exempt from this first stage, and they join the successful local qualifiers at the Sectional Qualifying stage, which is played over 36 holes in one day at several sites in the U.S., as well as one each in Europe and Japan . There is no lower age limit and the youngest - ever qualifier was 14 - year - old Andy Zhang of China, who qualified in 2012 after Paul Casey withdrew days before the tournament . </P> <P> The USGA has granted a special exemption to 34 players 52 times since 1966 . Players with multiple special exemptions include: Arnold Palmer (1978, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1994), Seve Ballesteros (1978, 1994), Gary Player (1981, 1983), Lee Trevino (1983, 1984), Hale Irwin (1990, 2002, 2003), Jack Nicklaus (1991, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000), Tom Watson (1993, 1996, 2000, 2003, 2010). </P> <P> Irwin won the 1990 U.S. Open after accepting a special exemption . The last time a special exemption was extended was for the 2016 U.S. Open in which Retief Goosen accepted . </P>

Who won the united states open golf championship