Chart: U.S. Open at a glance

Course: A brief look at the U.S. Open golf championship, which starts Thursday:

Site: Chambers Bay.

The course: Chambers Bay is a public course located south of Seattle along the Puget Sound on what used to be a sand and gravel pit that first was mined in the late 19th century. Once the mining stopped in 2001, the county decided to use the land for recreation, including a golf course built specifically to attract a U.S. Open.

Length: Course will play between 7,300 and 7,700 yards each day.

Par: 70 (36-34 or 35-35)

Cut: Top 60 and ties after 36 holes.

Playoff (if necessary): 18 holes on June 22.

Field: 156 (140 pros, 16 amateurs).

Purse: $10 million.

Defending champion: Martin Kaymer.

Noteworthy: In the past 25 years, the only Masters champions in Sunday contention at the U.S. Open were Nick Faldo (1990), Tiger Woods (2002, 2005) and Phil Mickelson (2004, 2006, 2010).

Quoteworthy: "It's a championship that's one of the most grueling tests that we do play, and to come out on top in a U.S. Open tells you a lot about yourself as a player." — Justin Rose, who won in 2013 at Merion.

Key statistic: Europeans, who had gone 40 years without winning a U.S. Open, have won four of the past five.

Television: Thursday and Friday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Fox Sports 1; 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., FOX. Saturday, 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. FOX; Sunday, 1 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., FOX.

Tee times: Page 7C

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