Matt Fitzpatrick returns as defending champion, whereas Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka can be wanting to add to their main wins this season; this week’s main is the primary since new settlement introduced between PGA Tour, DP World Tour and PIF, who fund LIV Golf
By Ali Stafford
Last Updated: 12/06/23 6:36pm
Watch the US Open reside on Sky Sports as Matt Fitzpatrick defends his title on the Los Angeles Country Club
Watch the US Open reside on Sky Sports as Matt Fitzpatrick defends his title on the Los Angeles Country Club
After a week the place {the golfing} world delivered a plot twist worthy of a blockbuster film, it appears considerably becoming that the game heads to the house of Hollywood for the US Open.
Los Angeles Country Club hosts this week’s main, only a few miles away from the house of cinema, the place dialog will proceed to be dominated by final Tuesday’s extraordinary announcement that surprised gamers and followers alike and signalled important change on the high of the lads’s recreation.
The PGA Tour and DP World Tour agreeing a brand new business partnership with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), who bankroll the previously-considered-rival LIV Golf circuit, had been nearly unfathomable at instances after a 12 months of heated feedback, divided opinions and burned friendships between these concerned in golf’s ‘civil battle’.
PGA Tour board member Jimmy Dunne says he’s fairly sure that the PIF Saudis he’s coping with had nothing to do with 9/11
But now the script has been rewritten and makes an attempt to unify the sport have been made, with all litigation between the excursions ended and steps created to give gamers pathways to restore memberships they misplaced by becoming a member of the Saudi-backed staff circuit.
The majors – for this 12 months at the very least – have been the one manner for LIV gamers to go head-to-head in opposition to their PGA Tour counterparts, with any query marks about their skill to compete in opposition to the world’s greatest shortly quashed throughout The Masters and the PGA Championship.
As Brooks Koepka goals to win his third US Open title this week, take a look at his 5 earlier main victories
Brooks Koepka bounced again from his runner-up end at Augusta National – the place Phil Mickelson additionally shared second – to win the Wanamaker Trophy final month and all-but safe LIV participation within the Ryder Cup later this 12 months, whereas Cameron Smith and Patrick Reed are among the many others to have impressed in at the very least one of these two occasions.
There is a 15-strong LIV contingent in motion in Los Angeles, together with main stalwart Sergio Garcia and former US Open champions Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau, with this week’s occasion the primary alternative to hear from these gamers at a match for the reason that ground-breaking announcement.
Rory McIlroy has likened golf recently to being “part of a soap opera” as a result of “it feels like every week there’s something new”, though the world No 3 has additionally mentioned the business entity will ultimately be “good for the game”.
Rory McIlroy says the headlines have misinterpreted the affect of LIV within the new construction and says the PGA Tour can now management how PIF cash is used
It can be fascinating to see how far more we find out about golf’s future throughout what’s already an enormous week within the {golfing} calendar.
Who has the benefit in Los Angeles?
Just just like the finer particulars about how golf will evolve over the subsequent 12 months or two, this week’s venue can be largely an unknown to most of the sphere and pose a lot of questions of its personal.
Sky Sports’ Jamie Weir reveals the newest particulars about how the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and PIF settlement will work
The North Course at Los Angeles Country Club has by no means beforehand hosted a serious and final staged the LA Open again in 1940, that means the bulk haven’t performed it earlier than, though world No 1 Scottie Scheffler was amongst these concerned when the Walker Cup was held there in 2017.
Two-time main champion Collin Morikawa gained all 4 of his matches that week as Team USA claimed a dominant 19-7 win over Great Britain and Ireland, whereas Max Homa fired a course-record 61 on his manner to victory on the 2013 Pac-12 Men’s Golf Championship – a contest involving universities in western US states.
Live US Open Golf
June 15, 2023, 3:00pm
Live on 
2021 US Open champion Jon Rahm additionally completed inside the highest 10 that week and can be among the many favourites to add to his main tally this time round, having gained 4 instances on the PGA Tour in 2023 and been a powerful champion at The Masters in April.
The course can play as a 7,421-yard par-70 at its most size and accommodates two of the longest par-three holes in US Open historical past, together with a par-four that may be so long as 542 yards, though the precise yardage will range for every spherical.
What ought to we glance out for?
Scheffler is very probably to contend once more after already defending his WM Phoenix Open title and storming to victory at The Players earlier this 12 months, with the world No 1 posting top-12 finishes in each PGA Tour occasion he has contested this season regardless of struggling together with his putter.
Rahm can be a a number of winner in 2023 and might change into the primary participant since Jordan Spieth to win The Masters and US Open in a calendar 12 months, whereas one other encouraging show from McIlroy on the RBC Canadian Open final week means he’s primed to lastly finish his main drought.
Highlights from the ultimate spherical of the 2023 Masters at Augusta National
McIlroy gained the US Open in 2011 however has not added to his main tally since 2014, lengthy earlier than Rahm and Scheffler have been skilled, with Koepka – who gained the PGA Championship final month to declare his fifth main – wanting to make it back-to-back main victories.
Matt Fitzpatrick returns to defend his title and Homa can be amongst these aiming to change into the primary maiden main winner of the 12 months, as Mickelson – a six-time runner-up on the US Open – has one other alternative to full the profession Grand Slam.
Phil Mickelson has completed second on the US Open an unprecedented six instances, is 2023 lastly the 12 months he can finish his heartache on the match?
Patrick Cantlay has previous data of Los Angeles Country Club from his UCLA days and could be anticipated to impress, with final month’s PGA Championship runner-up Viktor Hovland and Sunday’s RBC Canadian Open winner Nick Taylor all probably to be in competition.
The final 12 US Open champions have come from contained in the world’s high 30 and just one of the final 45 males’s main champions have come from exterior the highest 50, when Mickelson ripped up the document books to win the 2021 PGA Championship and change into the oldest main champion.
Will we see a shock winner in Los Angeles? Who will prevail within the California sunshine? Given the drama and debate we have now already seen within the sport over the previous week, nothing would come as a shock…
Watch the 123rd Open all through the week reside on Sky Sports. Live protection begins on Thursday from 3pm on Sky Sports Golf.
Discussion about this post