2008 U.S. Open (golf)

The United States Open Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Open, is the annual open national championship of golf in the United States. It is the third of the four major championships in golf, and is on the official schedule of both the PGA Tour and the European Tour. Since 1898 the competition has been 72 holes of stroke play (4 rounds on an 18-hole course), with the winner being the player with the lowest total number of strokes. It is staged by the United States Golf Association (USGA) in mid-June, scheduled so that, if there are no weather delays, the final round is played on the third Sunday. The U.S. Open is staged at a variety of courses, set up in such a way that scoring is very difficult, with a premium placed on accurate driving. As of 2020, the U.S. Open awards a $12.5 million purse, the largest of all four major championships.

The 2021 United States Open Championship was the 121st U.S. Open, the national open golf championship of the United States. It was a 72-hole stroke play tournament that was played June 17–20 on the South Course at Torrey Pines Golf Course in La Jolla, San Diego, California. The South Course previously hosted in 2008, which was won by Tiger Woods in a playoff. The field consisted of 156 players, with 88 gaining their place through automatic exemption criteria and the remaining 68 making it through qualifying, including two alternates. The defending champion was Bryson DeChambeau, who won the 120th U.S. Open, which had been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, at Winged Foot in September 2020. Jon Rahm made a birdie on each of the final two holes to become the first U.S. Open champion from Spain and win his first major championship. Rahm finished one shot ahead of South African Louis Oosthuizen, who had held a share of the lead going into the final round. Two strokes further back in third place was American Harris English. DeChambeau had moved into the lead midway through the final round, but fell away with two bogeys, a double-bogey and a quadruple-bogey on the back-nine to finish outside the top twenty. During the tournament, Englishman Richard Bland became the oldest player to hold a share of the 36-hole lead in a U.S. Open; he finished tied for 50th place.

Torrey Pines Golf Course is a 36-hole municipal golf facility on the west coast of the United States, owned by the city of San Diego, California. It sits on the coastal cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean in the community of La Jolla, just south of Torrey Pines State Reserve. Opened 65 years ago in 1957, it was built on the site of Camp Callan, a U.S. Army installation during World War II.Torrey Pines has two 18-hole golf courses, North and South, both designed by William F. Bell (son of noted course architect William P. Bell). The South Course was redesigned by Rees Jones in 2001, and is now 7,802 yards (7,134 m) in length from the back tees with par at 72. The North Course was redesigned by Tom Weiskopf in 2016, switching the nines so that the famous ocean views are now enjoyed at the end of the round.Since the late 1960s, Torrey Pines has hosted the PGA Tour's Farmers Insurance Open, originally known as the San Diego Open. During those early editions at Torrey Pines, the course length was under 6,850 yards (6,265 m). Held annually in January or February, the tournament uses both courses for the first two rounds and the South Course for the final two rounds; it was held January 26–29 in 2022 and won by Luke List. The South Course has hosted two U.S. Opens: Tiger Woods won in sudden-death in 2008 after an 18-hole playoff against Rocco Mediate, and Jon Rahm won in 2021. Torrey Pines hosts the San Diego City Amateur Golf Championships every June, and the Junior World Golf Championships every July. Much like Bethpage Black (on Long Island, New York), Torrey Pines has a unique method to ensure continued public access to the course. On weekends, individuals arrive as early as 6 p.m. the prior night to get in line for the first-come, first-served tee times that are given out from sunrise until the first reservations at 7:30 a.m. The course is named for the Torrey Pine, a rare tree that grows in the wild only along this local stretch of the coastline in San Diego County and on Santa Rosa Island. The logo (illustrated: right) features a salt pruned representation of the tree.

The Farmers Insurance Open is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour, played in the San Diego, California, area in the early part of the season known as the "West Coast Swing". The tournament was noted for having singer-actor Andy Williams as a celebrity host from 1968 through 1988. It originated as the San Diego Open in 1952 and used that name in its title through 1985. Title sponsors were added in 1981, first with Wickes for two years, then three with Isuzu. Shearson Lehman Brothers became the title sponsors in 1986, replaced by Buick in 1992 and Farmers Insurance in 2010. The event is organized by The Century Club of San Diego. Although the San Diego Open began in 1952, the PGA Tour recognizes two earlier events of the same name: Leo Diegel won both events, in December 1927 and January 1929. It was an autumn event in 1956 and 1957, not held in 1958, and returned as a winter event in early 1959.

Sanford Burnham Prebys is a 501(c)(3) non-profit medical research institute focusing on basic and translational research, with major research programs in cancer, neurodegeneration, diabetes, and infectious, inflammatory, and childhood diseases. The Institute also specializes in stem cell research and drug discovery technologies. The Institute employs more than 500 scientists and staff at its campus in La Jolla, California. It is recognized for its NCI-designated Cancer Center, its drug discovery center (Conrad Prebys Center for Chemical Genomics) and the Sanford Children’s Health Research Center and its strategic partnerships with the biotech and pharmaceutical industry. Sanford Burnham Prebys operates an NCI-designated Cancer Center (one of seven basic research centers in the U.S.) and is ranked in the top 2% of research institutions worldwide by the number of citations. It is also #6 in the nation for the Nature Index of nonprofit/non-government institutions in biomedical science. Since its inception in 1976, the institution has grown from a small building in West San Diego to a campus in La Jolla including an accredited graduate school with more than 350 postdocs, graduate students and interns mentored per year. Current Institute educational programs serve trainees with professional development programs, postdoctoral scientific training and graduate programs in Biomedical Sciences. The Sanford Burnham Prebys educational system partners with the Sanford Burnham Prebys Science Network, the Office of Education, Training & International Services to cover an array of scientific career and professional development topics.

Scripps Research, previously known as The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), is a nonprofit American medical research facility that focuses on research and education in the biomedical sciences. Headquartered in San Diego, California, the institute has over 170 laboratories employing 2,100 scientists, technicians, graduate students, and administrative and other staff, making it the largest private, non-profit biomedical research organization in the United States and among the largest in the world.The institute holds over 1,100 patents, has produced 11 FDA-approved therapeutics, and has generated over 50 spin-off companies. According to the 2017 Nature Innovation Index, Scripps Research is the #1 most influential research institution in the world. The Scripps Research graduate program is ranked 9th nationally in the biological sciences, 6th for organic chemistry, and 6th for biochemistry.In 2022, their Jupiter, FL campus became a part of the University of Florida. Jupiter-based graduate students remain part of the Scripps Research graduate program.

Torrey Pines is a community of 2,600 acres (1,100 ha) in the northern coastal area of San Diego, California, residential with large areas of office space along I-5. The large office, retail, entertainment and academic facilities in University City a.k.a. UTC (over 9 million sq. ft. of office space), Sorrento Mesa/Sorrento Valley (also over 9 million sq. ft.), Torrey Pines (over 2.6 million sq. ft.), and Del Mar Heights/Carmel Valley (over 4.4 million sq. ft.), together form San Diego's "North City edge city", edge city being a major center of employment outside a traditional downtown.

The Torrey Pines Gliderport (FAA LID: CA84) is a city-owned private-use glider airport located in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego, California, United States, 11 nautical miles (20 km) northwest of the city's central business district.It was first established as a soaring site in 1930, and is the home to hang gliding, paragliding, radio-controlled model sailplanes, and full-scale man-carrying sailplanes. It is listed as a National Landmark of Soaring of the National Soaring Museum, a San Diego City Historical Site (#315), and a Model Aviation Landmark of the Academy of Model Aeronautics. It is listed on the California Register of Historic Places and the National Register of Historic Places. It is considered by glider enthusiasts of all types to be the "Kitty Hawk of the West".Full-scale sailplanes are operated by the Associated Glider Clubs of Southern California, only during special permit windows between February and April, while models, hang gliders, and paragliders fly any time the wind permits. The local Flight Director and Concessionaire maintains and enforces safety rules to protect both pilots and spectators.

The Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine (SCRM) or the Sanford Consortium is a non-profit biomedical research institute located in La Jolla, California. It was formed from a collaboration between the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, Scripps Research, the University of California, San Diego, and the La Jolla Institute for ImmunologyThe SCRM 'consortium' research building is 136,700 square-feet. It is located on a 7.5-acre property nearby to and leased from UCSD.The development and construction of the SCRM building and facilities from 2007 through 2011 cost $106,572,300 in construction and $21,028,500 in equipment acquisition costs.

General Atomics is an American energy and defense corporation headquartered in San Diego, California, specializing in research and technology development. This includes physics research in support of nuclear fission and nuclear fusion energy. The company also provides research and manufacturing services for remotely operated surveillance aircraft, including the Predator drones, airborne sensors, and advanced electric, electronic, wireless, and laser technologies.

DIII-D is a tokamak that has been operated since the late 1980s by General Atomics (GA) in San Diego, USA, for the U.S. Department of Energy. The DIII-D National Fusion Facility is part of the ongoing effort to achieve magnetically confined fusion. The mission of the DIII-D Research Program is to establish the scientific basis for the optimization of the tokamak approach to fusion energy production.DIII-D was built on the basis of the earlier Doublet III, the third in a series of machines built at GA to experiment with tokamaks having non-circular plasma cross sections. This work demonstrated that certain shapes strongly suppressed a variety of instabilities in the plasma, which led to much higher plasma pressure and performance. DIII-D is so-named because the plasma is shaped like the letter D, a shaping that is now widely used on modern designs, and has led to the class of machines known as "advanced tokamaks." Advanced tokamaks are characterized by operation at high plasma β through strong plasma shaping, active control of various plasma instabilities, and achievement of steady-state current and pressure profiles that produce high energy confinement for high fusion gain (ratio of fusion power to heating power). DIII-D is one of two large magnetic fusion experiments in the U.S. (the other being NSTX-U at PPPL) supported by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science. The program is focusing on R&D for pursuing steady-state advanced tokamak operation and supporting design and operation of the ITER experiment now under construction in France. ITER is designed to demonstrate a self-sustained burning plasma that will produce 10 times as much energy from fusion reactions as it requires for heating.

Black's Beach is a secluded section of beach beneath the bluffs of Torrey Pines on the Pacific Ocean in La Jolla, San Diego, California, United States. It is officially part of Torrey Pines State Beach. The northern portion of Black's Beach is owned and managed by the California Department of Parks and Recreation, while the southern portion of the beach, officially known as Torrey Pines City Beach, is jointly owned by the city of San Diego and the state park, but is managed by the city of San Diego. This distinction is important as Black's Beach is most known as a nude beach, a practice that is now prohibited in the southern portion managed by the city of San Diego.Black's Beach was named for the Black family who had a horse ranch overlooking the beach. They sold the land, and then it was subdivided into La Jolla Farms lots. The Farms' residents retained the Black family's private road to the beach. Many mansions can be seen in the southern portion of the beach, including the Salk Mansion. There is a funicular that goes all the way down from a mansion on the cliff to the beach into a structure known by locals as the mushroom house. A submarine canyon funnels swells into Black's Beach, making it appealing to surfers but dangerous for inexperienced swimmers. Usually, lifeguards are at the beach until 6:00 p.m., year round. Due to budget cuts, lifeguard patrols were limited but have increased because of funding by UC San Diego. Stingrays can be found along the coastline when the water gets above 50 degrees.