“It’s a goofy system – we all know that. But it’s the system we have"

Doug Ferguson reports on the finalization of U.S. Open exemptions, now at 72 as sectional qualifying beckons. He focuses on the unfortunate case of Arron Oberholser who was bumped out of the Open by .004 world ranking points.

Oberholser was losing a spot or two each week in the world ranking while recovering from injuries to his left hand, falling to No. 45. But he dropped six spots to No. 51 at the worst time – the cutoff for the top 50 being exempt to the U.S. Open.

He wound up .004 points behind Soren Hansen, who already was eligible.

“It’s a goofy system – we all know that. But it’s the system we have,” Oberholser said while waiting on lunch at Muirfield Village. “I probably deserve it. I haven’t played but five events because of my hand. And when I have played, I haven’t played well.”