Three biggest names teeing off in U.S. Senior Open as field confirmed

The U.S. Senior Open at Newport Country Club possesses no shortage of star power in this year’s stacked field.

The tournament marks just the fifth USGA championship to be held at the historic club in Rhode Island, and 129 years since the inaugural U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur in 1895. It additionally is the third of five senior majors that will be held this season, as Doug Barron emerged victorious in the Regions Tradition and Richard Bland won the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship.

The field for the 44th U.S. Senior Open features a wide variety of players looking to prove that they still have plenty left in the tank. Six World Golf Hall of Fame members, four U.S. Open champions, two LIV Golf stars and 11 prior U.S. Senior Open winners will be competing for the $4 million prize purse, with the first-place finisher taking home $800,000.

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Below, Mirror Sports U.S. looks at three of the biggest names to keep an eye out for this week at Newport Country Club.

Bernhard Langer

Langer made history last year at SentryWorld, becoming the oldest U.S. Senior Open victor at the prime age of 65. The German will have an uphill battle if he wants to be crowned a back-to-back champion, however, having tore his Achilles back in February during a pickleball game.

Less than five months removed from the serious injury - one that typically requires 12 months to fully recover - Langer is still feeling the effects of the setback. The 66-year-old will fortunately be given access to a cart this week.

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“My leg and my ankle are swollen,” he told reporters. “It's fatigue. I don't have the range of motion in my foot. So there's various things that aren't there yet. My balance is not where I want it to be, and my … calf muscle is probably one or two inches smaller than the other leg.

“I can't get on my tiptoes. Right foot, I can do that. Just my right foot. I tried it on my left, and nothing. I've got a ways to go, and I'm happy to be playing golf. The good thing is I can get carts in tournaments because right now I can't walk four or five days, 18 holes. It's impossible.”

Richard Bland

Bland burst onto the senior golf scene in a major way, winning the Senior PGA Championship in his circuit debut last month. The wait for his first victory was far shorter than the 479 starts he made before winning his first DP World Tour event - the British Masters in 2021.

“Obviously, the British Masters was very special at 48, but this is right up there. I couldn’t be happier,” Bland said after his latest win. “I was interested to see that if I brought my game how it would stack up against these guys. Thankfully, it does.”

Through nine LIV Golf events this season, Bland - who defected to the Saudi-backed league in 2022 - sits in 25th place with 33.05 points and two top-10 finishes. The 51-year-old is currently the favorite to win the U.S. Senior Open with +500 odds.

Lee Westwood

Westwood has made almost 800 professional starts in 20 different countries, but this week’s U.S. Senior Open will be his first start on the senior circuit. The former world no. 1 has struggled mightily since joining LIV Golf as a founding member in 2022, but is coming off his best performance in the breakaway league.

At LIV Golf Nashville, Westwood shot 69-66-66 to finish 12-under - placing him in a third place tie with Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Joaquin Niemann. The Majesticks co-captain attributed the strong showing to extra work he did in leadup to the tournament.

“I started to swing well, and my whole game was coming together when I played at LIV Houston three weeks ago,” Westwood said on Tuesday. “Then I went home and did a little bit of work on it. I probably haven't been working as hard on my game as I would have liked to, but I put in a bit more work in the week off.

“I went to Nashville and carried on really with that theme, those swing thoughts. Putted well last week. I sharpened my short game up because I've been playing more, and my game is in a really good place.”