WGT Golf News

While not in contention at the 2012 U.S. Open, young guns Rickie Fowler and Patrick Cantlay had the highlights of the day. The pair were playing in the same group in Round 4 on Sunday, and both drove the green at the par 4 hole 7, and then both made their putts for two eagles on the same hole. 

Watch Rickie Fowler and Patrick Cantlay Drive Hole 7 on the Golf Channel

You can play any hole on The Olympic Club free online at World Golf Tour. Try the shots the pros are taking.

Play Hole 7 at The Olympic Club on World Golf Tour

Photo Credit: Golf Channel

Webb Simpson won the 2012 U.S. Open, coming from behind to overtake leaders Jim Furyk and Graeme McDowell for only his third PGA victory and first major championship.

U.S. Open Round 4 Highlights

• Webb Simpson shot 72-73-68-68 for +1, with birdies on 6, 7, 8 and 10, and only 2 bogeys on the day.
• Graeme McDowell shot 69-72-68-73 for +2, birding 17 and just missing a putt on 18 that would have forced a playoff.
• Michael Thompson shot 66-75-74-67 for +2, with the most birdies of any other players and only a missed putt on 17 kept him out of a playoff.
• Jim Furyk shot 70-69-70-74 for +3, with the least bogies of any player until the Back 9 holes where he had 3 bogeys to let the tournament slip away.
• Tied with Furyk were 4 other players at +3, including David Toms and Padraig Harrington who both battled back on Sunday, as well as rookie John Peterson and the tour's hottest player Jason Dufner, and then Ernie Els at +4.

Final U.S. Open Leaderboard

The star of the U.S. Open was The Olympic Club course, which challenged players unlike any recent U.S. Open venue. The Top 2 players in the world, Luke Donald and Rory McIlroy, didn't even make the cut, and favorites Tiger Woods finsihed at +7 and Phil Mickelson finished at +16.

While there were many memorable holes, like the longest-ever 670 yard hole 16, the most important was hole 18, where Simpson saved his par, McDowell missed his birdie, and Furyk hit two bunkers to end his day. One of the most beautiful finishing holes in golf, with majestic cypress trees surrounded by San Francisco fog, framing a classic clubhouse, and lined with tens of thousands of golf fans. Play it yourself online and see if you can make the putt that Graeme McDowell missed.

Play Hole 18 Free Online on World Golf Tour

And of course, all 18 challenging holes of The Olympic Club, and other championship golf courses, are available for anyone to play free online on World Golf Tour. 

A big day today...the last day of the Virtual U.S. Open Qualifier on World Golf Tour, plus the last day of the 2012 U.S. Open, and it's Father's Day in many countries.

WGT wishes all the fathers out there the very best. Be sure to play WGT today and earn 50% more XP so you can level-up faster and unlock more virtual equipment.

On the Virtual U.S. Open leaderboard, the Cut Line is currently at 57, meaning that anyone at 57 or better should advance to the Championship Rounds next week to compete for the 2012 title and the grand prize trip to next year's U.S. Open.

There are 4 players at the very top of the leaderboard posting scores of 53, including JayJensen, Ffudd, genorb and Win1Soon, so they're players to keep an eye on in the championship. But there are another 13 players just 1 stroke behind at 54, including former champion BolloxInBruges. And last year's champion mrenn29 who has safely qualified at 55. In fact, mrenn29 is in San Francisco this weekend enjoying his grand prize trip to this year's U.S. Open...sweet!

Remember, the Championship Rounds are single-play rounds, and the pressure increases significantly, so keep practicing on Olympic while you have the chance.

The top 156 scores (plus ties, which is currently 195 players) in the Qualifiier will not only qualify to play in the Championship Rounds, but all will receive a USGA 1-year membership and U.S. Open hat. See prize details and country eligibility.

And new this year, another player, regardless of their qualifying score, will be selected at random to win the grand prize trip to next year's U.S. Open, to be announced next week. So if you can't break par on Olympic, don't worry and have fun, as you've still got a chance to win!

John Peterson stunned the golf crowd at The Olympic Club with an amazing hole-in-one on the par 3 hole 13. Peterson hasn't earned his PGA Tour card yet, but qualified for his first U.S. Open and is now at +3, only 4 shots behind the leaders.

Watch Peterson's hole in one at usopen.com

You can play hole 13 on World Golf Tour. No signup and no downloads. How many tries will it take before you ace it? Depending on the wind, we recommend a 4 or 5 iron with a little backspin. But be careful with your chest-bump celebration!

Play Hole 13 Free on World Golf Tour

If you like that hole, then be sure to play all 18 holes at The Olympic Club in the Virtual U.S. Open. This free online golf tournament ends Sunday 6/17 and over 2 million rounds have already been played. Play and have a chance to win a golf trip to the 2013 U.S. Open as a special guest of the USGA.

Sign Up Free and play the Virtual U.S. Open

U.S. Open Scoring Update

Meanwhile, at Round 3 of the U.S. Open, two former U.S. Open Champions, Graeme McDowell and Jim Furyk, are tied for the lead with solid rounds at -1, followed by Frederic Jacobsen at +1 and four players at +2 including Lee Westwood and Ernie Els.

Most surprising today was Tiger Woods, who never got it going, missed a lot of putts and had 6 bogeys with only 1 birdie, shooting a 75 to finish at +4.

Photo Credit: USGA

At the 2012 U.S. Open golf championship at The Olympic Club, it was Jim Furyk who took the lead in Round 2, shooting a 69 and putting him at -1 thru 2 rounds. Furyk has 26 career wins on the PGA and is the 2003 U.S. Open champion. He's currently tied with Tiger Woods and David Toms who are still finishing Round 2.

You can try to match some of Furyk's best shots on World Golf Tour where anyone can play any hole on The Olympic Club free without signup. Try these great golf shots from today...

• Furyk makes a long birdie putt from off the green on Hole #3. Can you match Furyk's long birdie putt on Hole #3?
• Furyk just misses a hole-in-one on Hole #15 for birdie. See how hard it is to make a hole-in-one on Hole #15.

See Round 2 video highlights from Furyk, Graeme McDowell, Hunter Mahan and other players at usopen.com.

Photo: USGA

To celebrate U.S. Open Weekend*, we're giving you 50% more XP this Saturday and Sunday, 6/16-17.

XP (Experience Points) are what advance your Level in WGT, and the higher the Level, the more virtual golf clubs and golf balls you can unlock, to help improve your game.

So, play as much WGT as you can and Level-Up faster all weekend long…while you watch the U.S. Open on TV.

More about earning XP...

• Earn the most XP when you complete any multiplayer games, including multi-player strokeplay, matchplay, skins, alt shot and challenges
• Earn more XP for completed strokeplay games than closest-to-the-hole games (because they’re longer)
• You can earn bonus XP for winning awards during all game types 
• Tournaments like the Virtual U.S. Open earn the same XP as ranked or practice rounds
• Playing WGT consecutive days in a row will earn you more XP too, from 90 XP for 2 consecutive days up to 880 XP for 6 consecutive days

We also want to wish a Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers on WGT, as Sunday is Father's Day in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and many other countries with lots of WGT players!

*Offer available only to WGT players who log into www.wgt.com 6/16/12-6/17/12, receive 50% more XP while playing World Golf Tour

The USGA paired some of the world's best players together in the opening rounds of the 2012 U.S. Open, but Round 1 went to the challenging Olympic Club golf course.

The top American group was led by Tiger Woods, who was the only one under par...

• Tiger Woods, 69, -1
• Phil Mickelson, 76, +6
• Bubba Watson, 78, +8

The top European players, and also the top 3 ranked players in the world, struggled even more...

• Lee Westwood, 73, +3
• Rory McIlroy, 77, +7
• Luke Donald, 79, +9

Here are the tee times (Pacific) for Round 2 on Friday...

• Westwood/McIlroy/Donald - 7:44am at Hole #9, watch on www.usopen.com live streaming and Golf Channel
• Woods/Mickelson/Watson - 1:18pm at Hole #1, watch on NBC and Golf Channel

For the cut, only the Top 60 players (plus ties) after Round 2 on Friday will advance, which is currently +5 to advance, so Woods and Westwood have the best chance to play this weekend, but the others will need to improve.

Meanwhile, here are the leaders of the U.S. Open after Round 1, with their Round 2 starting times (Pacific)...

• Michael Thompson, 66, -4, 12:52p at #9
• Graeme McDowell, 69, -1, 7:55am at #9
• Nick Watney, 69, -1, 7:59am at #1
• Justin Rose, 69, -1, 8:10am at #1
• David Toms, 69, -1, 1:40 at #1

...and top players at even par include Jim Furyk, Ian Poulter, Matt Kuchar.

Photo: AP

Today, Nick Watney made a rare double eagle (albatross) at the U.S. Open at The Olympic Club -- holing out from 190 yards on Hole #17, the 522-yard par 5. Watney's is just the third in this championship's history, but it's also the second in as many majors this year following Louis Oosthuizen's at Hole #2 at Augusta National in the final round of The Masters.

Play Hole #17 at The Olympic Club free online on World Golf Tour now!

Photo: Getty Images

It's your last chance to play the 2012 Virtual U.S. Open Qualifier on WGT, for your chance to win a Grand Prize golf trip to the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion.

The Virtual U.S. Open Qualifier features 18 holes of full strokeplay golf on The Olympic Club golf course, host of this year's U.S. Open. One lucky sweepstakes player, regardless of their score, will win the Grand Prize trip -- all you have to do is play the Qualifier and post a score. Additionally, the top 156 scores will advance to the Virtual U.S. Open Championship tournament, where they will compete for a second Grand Prize trip to the 2013 U.S. Open. You can play the Virtual U.S. Open Qualifier now through Sunday, 6/17.

Play the Free Qualifier

Attention WGT NATION members: this week during the U.S. Open, and starting today (6/14), is a special golf tournament for our Pro+ NATION members. It's a four-day, four-round tournament, just like the pros play and also on The Olympic Club course.

This tournament is free to play, but is composed of four single-play rounds so you must play/post a score each day through Sunday, 6/17.

More details:

• Four single-play rounds – each round must be posted daily Thu, Fri, Sat and Sun 6/14-17
• Separate tiered tournaments limited to players at that same tier: Pro, Tour Pro, Master, Tour Master, Legend
• Weather and course conditions appropriate for each tier, but they get harder over the weekend
• Top 3 combined scores at each tier win Amazon Gift Cards
• Note, these are single-play rounds, so be sure to practice in the unlimited-play Virtual U.S. Open Qualifier

Play the Free NATIONS Tournament

If you haven't joined the WGT NATION yet, you can go to www.wgt.com/nation to see if you're eligible to sign-up, and play in this free tournament.

With millions of players competing in the 2012 Virtual U.S. Open on World Golf Tour, we wanted to take a closer look to get a better idea of who some of these fierce competitors really are – on and off the virtual golf course.

Today's spotlight is on LVIETRI, a Level 97 Legend player who averages 60 strokeplay and has been a WGT member since May 2009.

What's the easiest hole on the virtual Olympic Club course, and why? 

A: #7, the short par 4. With the wind and a good drive, it sets you up for a shot at eagle (which are hard to come by on this course). Into the wind, lay it up and just wedge it close...it's the first true birdie hole on the course.

What's the hardest shot on virtual Olympic, and why?

A: To me, the hardest shot on this course is the very first one. For a decent shot at a birdie you have to carry it through the tree – and I swear those leaves blow in the wind because you have to hit it and pray it goes through without getting knocked down. That shot sets the tone for the entire round.

If you won the Virtual U.S. Open grand prize, who would you take as your guest to the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion?

A: First off, I thank WGT for opening it up to 1 random person to be selected because even though I did qualify for the last 4 big tournaments, Olympic has me baffled. So the only way I'll win is in the random lottery. But if I did win, I'm sure I would ask one of the guys from our WGT Country Club who I've gotten to know very well and have met in person. This is a WGT thing why not share the wealth?

What is your favorite WGT course to play? 

A: I like Bethpage... It's the course that I started to play on during the Virtual Open. Also, I don't live too far from there and have played it once after I started playing it on WGT. It's very cool to know every hole on a course when you actually get on it, from playing it virtually. By the way – I'll never play it again...you have to actually walk!!!!!

What type of games do you like to play on WGT? 

A: First and foremost, I'm a Match Play guy. I just love the 1 on 1 action. For Credits or not for Credits, it doesn't matter, that's how you get to know people in this virtual world that WGT has created. I also love Skins for cash, but 4 player games just take a long time to play. I don't have the patience, but that's why Alt Shot is a good alternative.

What piece of WGT virtual equipment could you not live without? 

A: That Cleveland 64 degree, Level 80 wedge is like a savior around (and even sometimes on) the greens. Saves par for me 95% of the time when I miss the GIR. I even went and bought one in real life, but it must be defective because it doesn't work the same way... I use it to hold up the hood of my car when I change the oil.

What is your job in the real world? 

A: I'm very fortunate to have just celebrated my 35th year with IBM. Good work which I enjoy. Go Big Blue!

What are your hobbies besides WGT?

A: I play real golf at least 1 time a week in season, and I do go on a few golf weekends here and there. I have my handicap up to 18 now...a real "money maker." Other than that I'm really very boring: I read a lot (at least a book a week) and now I spend as much time as I can with my 2 grandkids... I am enjoying watching them grow up (they are 4 and 2). I guess I missed a lot of my own kids growing up when I was travelling a lot with IBM years ago so this is a treat for me.

Any other "fun facts" that you'd like to share? 

A: If you haven't guessed by now I'm a staunch supporter of WGT. I think from a social media perspective "for golfers" this is about as good as it can get. The folks in our little Country Club have become more than just playing partners – a lot of us are real friends who support each other in real life as best we can, help each other get through some tough times, and of course get together whenever we can to play real golf. We have even branched out and have fantasy football leagues, sports betting pools and virtual poker games. You can't beat it.

My FIRST three years on WGT have been more fun than I could ask for, thanks to both the game and the community. I hope the next 10 are just as much fun.

Check out  LVIETRI in action: an eagle on St Andrews #17