US open reunion will be 'awkward'

BOSTON • Expect some uncomfortable moments for Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson at this week's US Open, where LIV Golf Invitational Series rebels and PGA Tour loyalists chase a Major in formidable conditions.

Seventeen players have been suspended by the PGA for their appearance in the Saudi-funded series that debuted in London last week, but the United States Golf Association (USGA) is allowing them to play in the 122nd US Open, with all four Majors operating independently of the Tour.

That will add to the intensity when the showdown starts on Thursday on The Country Club's 7,264-yard, par-70 layout in suburban Boston.

"I'm sure it will be awkward," said PGA Tour stalwart Justin Thomas, who won his second PGA Championship last month. "When I saw D.J. last week, I didn't know what to say, if it was a congrats or a bye or whatever it was.

"I think we're all grown-ups and we understand there's going to be some guys you can make some jokes to and some guys you have to leave it alone, but in the end, we're all there to win a Major."

There might be some awkwardness between world No. 5 Thomas and former world No. 1 Johnson and six-time Major winner Mickelson, both of whom have joined LIV, but ultimately, the US Open is stroke play and not match play, so there will not be much, if any, interaction among those in the field.

"I would say a lot of guys, myself included, aren't at a US Open to socialise," Thomas said. "I'm not there to have a conversation and catch up."

Other Major winners on the PGA banned list include Sergio Garcia, Graeme McDowell, Louis Oosthuizen, Martin Kaymer and Charl Schwartzel, who bagged US$4.75 million (S$6.6 million) after winning the LIV series' debut event.

Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Reed, also Major champions, joined LIV over the weekend and the duo will appear at its next event in Portland, Oregon, later this month.

But the USGA has no qualms about rewarding those who meet its US Open qualifying standards.

On refusing to trim the field of 156, the organisation said: "We simply asked ourselves this question - should a player who had earned his way into the 2022 US Open, via our published field criteria, be pulled out of the field as a result of his decision to play in another event? And we ultimately decided that they should not."

Kevin Na, another who has switched camps to join LIV, agrees with that decision.

"Majors are very important to me," he said. "That's one thing that's missing in my career and that has been a dream of mine, to win a Major championship."

Shot-making accuracy will be at a premium with the US Open's usual lightning-fast greens and thick rough.

Will Zalatoris, who lost the play-off to Thomas at the PGA Championship, expects a difficult test at Brookline.

"I played the US Amateur there in 2013. It was the hardest golf course I ever played," he said.

"It was a big-boy golf course. US Open, expect nothing different."

The Country Club has hosted three past US Opens, all won by Americans, including the historic 1913 triumph by amateur Francis Ouimet, with the last coming in 1988.

It was also the site of the 1999 Ryder Cup, when the Americans rallied on the final day to defeat Europe in the "Battle of Brookline".

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE