| Advertisement |
June 13 (UPI) -- LIV Golf's Brooks Koepka will share a group with PGA Tour star Rory McIlroy -- arguably the most vocal LIV critic -- at the 2023 U.S. Open, the first major since the leagues decided to merge, officials announced Tuesday. The third major of the season will tee off Thursday and run through Sunday on the North Course at the Los Angeles County Club. First-round tee times for the 156-player field run through 5:27 p.m. EDT, with players teeing off on hole Nos. 1 and 10.
Advertisement
Koepka and McIlroy were listed alongside Hideki Matsuyama in one of the 52 three-man groups. They will tee off their first round at 4:54 p.m. Thursday on hole No. 1.
Koepka, the No. 13 player in the Official World Golf Ranking, will look to claim his second-consecutive major title. He won the 2023 PGA Championship last month in Rochester, N.Y., for the fifth major title of his career. Koepka claimed titles at the PGA Championship and U.S. Open within a three-month span in 2018.
McIlroy, ranked No. 3, earned his last major victory at the 2014 PGA Championship. He won additional majors at the 2011 U.S. Open, 2012 PGA Championship and 2014 British Open.
Amateur Omar Morales, Deon Germishuys and Jacob Solomon will tee off in the first group of the 2023 U.S. Open at 9:45 a.m. Thursday on the first hole.
No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, No. 7 Max Homa and No. 18 Collin Morikawa will tee off at 11:13 a.m. on No. 1. No. 3 Jon Rahm will tee off about 10 minutes later alongside No. 5 Viktor Hovland and No. 6 Xander Schauffele.
No. 9 Cameron Smith, No. 47 Patrick Reed, No. 83 Phil Mickelson, No. 90 Dustin Johnson and No. 101 Bryson DeChambeau are among the other notable LIV Golf competitors in the U.S. Open field.
Koepka became the first LIV Golf competitor to win a major when he claimed the Wanamaker Trophy on May 21 on the Oak Hill East Course.
LIV Golf, the PGA Tour and Europe's DP World Tour announced June 6 that they agreed to merge, ending two years of legal battles, player feuds and tournament banishments.
Koepka and McIlroy exchanged thoughts about each other -- through news conferences -- amid the feud. McIlroy called Koepka and other players who left the PGA Tour to join LIV Golf "duplicitous," claiming they "said one thing and did another" before their departures.
Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, which finances LIV Golf and is valued at more than $600 billion, will combine its golf-related commercial businesses and rights with those of the other tours into a "collectively owned, for-profit entity," which has yet to be named, the parties said.
Players who were suspended or left the tours to participate in LIV Golf could return for the 2024 season.
The 2023 U.S. Open will air on NBC and USA Network and stream on Peacock.
