Faldo gets US Open invitation

Nick Faldo will play his 60th successive major at the US Open in two weeks after being handed a special invitation.

The news was received by the six-time Major winner as he was making up his mind up whether to play in the final qualifying event in Maryland next Monday.

Faldo, who has not missed a Major since the first of his three Open triumphs at Muirfield in 1987, would have qualified automatically if he had finished second in the Volvo PGA Championship at Wentworth on Sunday.

His fourth place left him just outside the world's top 50, but the United States Golf Association's executive committee then met and decided that the 44-year-old should join three-time winner Hale Irwin as a special invitee at Bethpage.

Faldo's six Majors between 1987 and 1996 were more than anybody else in the game achieved in that era and while he has never won the US Open he was in a play-off with Curtis Strange in 1988 and two years later finished just a single stroke behind Irwin and Mike Donald.

Faldo has not won a title since 1997, but has shown a real return to form this season with six top 15 finishes.