PINEHURST — Webb Simpson feels at home at Pinehurst.

This week he hopes that familiarity brings him success at The Cradle of American Golf.

Simpson is the most accomplished of the eight players who are either North Carolina natives or currently reside in the state who are in the field at the 124th U.S. Open, which begins Thursday at Pinehurst No. 2.

The 2012 U.S. Open champion grew up in Raleigh and currently lives in Charlotte, but grew up visiting the Sandhills area often and has a second home at the nearby Country Club of North Carolina.

“This place is my favorite place,” Simpson said. “This was one I really, really didn’t want to miss. It was a little harder getting here than normal for me; I had to go qualify. But Monday, last Monday, was super exciting and satisfying to get through and to come here and compete. This is a golf course that I feel like I know really well. I feel comfortable on it. I just didn’t want to miss the U.S. Open in my backyard.”

Simpson will tee off at 8:02 a.m. on the 10th hole on Thursday in a pairing with two other U.S. Open champions, Justin Rose and Gary Woodland.

The other player with the most immediate local ties to Pinehurst will be Michael McGowan, a Southern Pines native who is the grandson of World Golf Hall of Famer and Pine Needles matriarch Peggy Kirk Bell. He advanced through qualifying in Dallas.

McGowan will hit the first shot of the tournament, an honor typically given by the USGA to a player with connections to the host site and area, at 6:45 a.m. Thursday. Raleigh native Carter Jenkins is also in that first threesome.

The Durham qualifier that Simpson advanced through also saw Raleigh’s Chesson Hadley (12:41 p.m Thursday tee time., hole No. 10) earn an Open spot. Brendon Todd (2:09 p.m., No. 1), originally from Cary, advanced through a qualifier in Columbus, Ohio.

Akshay Bhatia (1:58 p.m., No. 1), a Wake Forest native, and J.T. Poston (1:36 p.m., No. 10), from Hickory, as well as Cary resident Ben Kohles (2:09 p.m., No. 10) each earned exemptions into the field.

Fayetteville native Spencer Oxendine, a recent N.C. State graduate who is a member of the Lumbee Tribe, is currently an alternate as of press time late Tuesday.

Tiger Woods returns to Pinehurst two decades later

As the U.S. Open is contested this week at renowned Pinehurst No. 2, the Home of American Golf and the modern face of American golf will meet again after nearly two decades apart.

Tiger Woods will make his first competitive appearance at Pinehurst since 2005 when he tees off in Thursday’s opening round. He will begin his championship on the 10th hole at 7:29 a.m. Thursday, paired with Wake Forest alumnus Will Zalatoris and 2022 U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick.

“It’s great to be back,” Woods said. “I love U.S. Opens. I love the tests of U.S. Opens. I’ve had a little bit of success here (at Pinehurst) back in ‘99 and 2005.”

Woods, the U.S. Open champion in 2000, 2002 and 2005, missed the 2014 U.S. Open at Pinehurst due to injuries. He will play his first U.S. Open since 2020, and his 23rd overall.

His two previous appearances in the Sandhills did not contribute to his legendary total of 15 major championships, though in each instance he finished just two strokes behind the victor; he finished second behind Michael Campbell in 2005, and tied for third in 1999, having a chance to win in the final holes of each championship.

“It’s all different,” Woods said, referencing a 2010 renovation of the course. “I played it under bentgrass. So now having Bermuda, it’s very different. It’s grainy. We had the grain on the greens during those Open Championships, and they were softer than they are now.”

He also was awarded the Bob Jones Award, the USGA’s highest honor, in a ceremony on site Tuesday evening.

“I think anytime you’re in association with Mr. Jones, it’s always incredible,” Woods said Tuesday morning. “What he did in his amateur career, winning the (U.S. Amateurs) and the Opens and then obviously creating Augusta National, the fact that I get a chance to be honored with his award tonight, it’s very special.”

Woods expects warm, humid weather this week to be as helpful to him physically as reasonably possible after his numerous back, knee, leg and foot injuries in recent years.

Scheffler enters as prohibitive favorite

No one enters this U.S. Open in stronger form than Scottie Scheffler, who is the No. 1 ranked player in the world and has won five of his last eight starts on the PGA Tour, including the Masters, the Players Championship and last week’s Memorial Tournament.

“I try not to think about the past. I try not to think about the future. I try to live in the present,” Scheffler said. “I try to give my best to each and every thing that I do, whether that’s working out in the gym, practicing out here getting ready for a tournament, practicing at home, or spending time at home with my friends and family.”

Scheffler is about a 3-1 favorite on most betting markets — unusually short odds in a sport where over 150 players are competing. He tied for second at the 2022 U.S. Open and finished third last year.

Since April, Scheffler has not only won his second Masters title and added Sunday’s win at Memorial, but also became a father for the first time in May and was arrested upon entry to the second round of the PGA Championship the following week; charges were later dropped.

“You know, with some of the circumstances that have been going on outside the golf courses, it’s been a bit more challenging,” Scheffler said. “Time is always filled, and it’s filled with great things, hanging out with my son and hanging out with my wife. So that part of it has been really nice.”

Other top contenders

Scheffler will play in a grouping of the top three players in the world rankings over the first two rounds, with world No. 2 Xander Schauffele and world No. 3 Rory McIlroy. The marquee trio will tee off Thursday at 1:14 p.m. on hole No. 1.

Schauffele won the most recent major championship played at the PGA Championship last month, his first major title. He has finished in the top 10 in six of his last seven PGA Tour starts, and in the top 15 in all seven career U.S. Open starts including four top-six results.

“Just what I bring week to week, just a little bit of extra patience, you have to ramp that up a little bit more during these weeks,” Schauffele said. “All U.S. Opens seem to feel — they’re unique in their own way, but they all feel like par is a great score, and you really have to just plot your way around a property.”

McIlroy is the 2011 U.S. Open champion. Major wins, though, have been elusive for him over the last decade; after winning four majors by age 25, he hasn’t won another since the 2014 PGA Championship. He has finished in the top 10 in five straight U.S. Opens, including a runner-up finish last year.

“Embracing the difficult conditions, embracing the style of golf needed to contend at a U.S. Open, embracing patience (is key to success),” McIlroy said. “Honestly, embracing what I would have called “boring” back in the day. Explosiveness isn’t going to win a U.S. Open. It’s more methodically building your score over the course of four days and being okay with that.”

Bryson DeChambeau (1:25 p.m., No. 10) and Collin Morikawa (7:40 a.m., No. 1) are both major champions who have contended in each of the year’s first two majors, and are also among the favorites this week, while world No. 5 Viktor Hovland (1:25 p.m., No. 10) is a popular pick to be the next first-time major winner.

Past Pinehurst triumphs

Martin Kaymer (1:47 p.m., hole No. 1) returns to Pinehurst after his dominant eight-stroke victory in the last U.S. Open contested at the venue in 2014. He even said Tuesday he’s staying in the same hotel room at the Carolina Inn.

“I feel like this week is quite difficult to get it in that circle around the hole, that eight- to 10-foot circle,” Kaymer said. “That was the key, I think, to my success (in 2014). Obviously I played well, yes, but I didn’t make many mistakes on the greens.”

The former world No. 1 went wire-to-wire to win that championship. Now 39, the German has struggled through his 30s, with no top-25 finishes in a major since 2016.

As the USGA contests its 1,000th championship, two other players who have won USGA championships in the Pinehurst area are in this week’s field. Frankie Capan (2:20 p.m., No. 10) won the 2017 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball while paired with Shuai Ming Wong, and earned a spot through the Durham qualifier.

Nick Dunlap (1:25 p.m., No. 1) won the 2021 U.S. Junior Amateur at the nearby Country Club of North Carolina and the 2023 North and South Amateur at Pinehurst No. 2. He returns to the Sandhills as the reigning U.S. Amateur champ — which gets him into the traditional early-rounds pairing with defending champion Wyndham Clark and 2023 British Open winner Brian Harman — and in January became the first amateur to win on the PGA Tour since Phil Mickelson in 1991; he has since turned professional.

Woods is not the only past runner-up in a Pinehurst U.S. Open seeking one spot better this week. Phil Mickelson makes his 33rd Open start at the site the first of his record six second-place finishes, as he memorably finished one stroke behind Payne Stewart in 1999 just one day before becoming a father for the first time; he can complete the career grand slam with a victory Sunday on his 54th birthday. Mickelson and Matt Kuchar (7:40 a.m., No. 10) are the only players who have competed in all four U.S. Opens at Pinehurst No. 2.

Rickie Fowler, the 2014 co-runner-up eight strokes behind Kaymer, continues seeking an elusive first major title after sharing the 54-hole lead in last year’s Open in Los Angeles. Fowler and Mickelson will play together the first two rounds, teeing off on No. 1 at 7:51 a.m. Thursday.

Defending champ Clark searching for game

That 2023 U.S. Open was won by Clark, a somewhat unexpected first-time major champion. Clark continued the momentum into the early part of 2024, with four top-three finishes on the PGA Tour including a win, but enters his U.S. Open title defense off three straight disappointing starts, including two consecutive missed cuts.

“I haven’t been playing my best golf,” Clark said. “It’s been kind of a tough stretch these last few weeks. … I’d really like to hit some good shots, have some really good up and downs, make some key putts throughout the week, and play four solid rounds.”

Other past champions in the field include Lucas Glover (7:18 a.m., No. 10), Dustin Johnson (7:51 a.m., No. 10), Brooks Koepka (7:40 a.m., No. 1) and Jordan Spieth (1:36 p.m., No. 1). Jon Rahm withdrew Tuesday due to a toe injury.

Stellar streaks kept alive

When the USGA filled the final six spots in the field Monday morning, notable participation streaks were kept alive for a pair of Masters champions.

Adam Scott (1:58 p.m., No. 10) will compete in his 92nd consecutive major championship, the longest active streak; Sergio Garcia (7:29 p.m., No. 1) is playing in his 25th consecutive U.S. Open.