US Open Exemptions Changed for 2012

[MEfree]

This year, there were substantial changes made to categories for player who get exemptions into the US Open.

To summarize, it looks like they are relying more on the OWGR and less on current and previous years results on the respective tours.

The following categories from 2011 were eliminated for 2012:

9. Top 30 leaders on the Previous years PGA Tour Money List

11. Top 15 on the Previous years European Tour Race to Dubai

12. Top 10 on the Current Years PGA Tour official money list through ~May 22 (the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial )

13. Winners of multiple PGA Tour events between the end of the previous U.S. Open and the start of the current U.S. Open.

14. Top 5 from the current European Tour Race to Dubai through ~May 22 (the Volvo World Match Play Championship and Madeira Islands Open in 2011)

15. Top 2 on the previous years Japan Golf Tour official money list , provided they are within the top 75 point leaders of the Official World Golf Ranking at the end of the previous calendar year

16. Top 2 on the previous years PGA Tour of Australasia official money list , provided they are within the top 75 point leaders of the Official World Golf Ranking at the end of the previous calendar year

For 2012, the following categories were added:

3. Winner of the previous years British Amateur

4. Winner of the previous years Mark H. McCormack Medal

9. Winner of the current years BMW PGA Championship

The following categories were expanded from the OWGR top 50 in 2011 to top 60 in 2012

13. Top 60 on the Official World Golf Ranking list as of May 21, 2012

14. Top 60 on the Official World Golf Ranking list as of June 11, 2012

Source where all the categories can be viewed

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_U.S._Open_(golf) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_U.S._Open_(golf)

I know they want to keep a certain number of spots open for qualifying, but I think it is a mistake not to invite the current years top players- i.e. Brandon Grace has won 3 times on the Euro Tour this year and is top 5 in the Race to Dubai but is currently ranked 65 in the OWGR (but likely to move into the top 60 with his current t4 position in the BMW).  On the US side, rookie John Huh has won, t2 and is in the current year top 20 for both money and Fed Ex (currently t5 and projected #14), but is only ranked 87th in the OWGR and will need several more top finishes to move into the top 60 on June 11.

For the British Open, about 2/3s of the field is based on exempt players, while about 1/3 comes from open qualifying.  For the US Open, it is about 50-50.  For me, this is too little importance placed on previous results over a wider time frame and too much importance placed on the qualifying events where a lesser player can get hot and beat a more accomplished player over a short time period.  I am not saying that the open qualifying should be eliminated, but I think the ratio used by the British Open makes more sense and they it does a better job of giving exemptions to players who are playing well in the months leading up to the tournament.

How do you think the current exempt categories could be improved?