Come Thursday at the U.S. Open, the reality of golf’s new world order will play out at The Country Club. Eleven golfers who participated in the debut last week of the LIV Golf Invitational series—including former U.S. Open winner Dustin Johnson and six-time runner-up Phil Mickelson—will be competing at Brookline, the USGA deciding to let them play even as seven of them have been suspended from competing on the PGA Tour. The potential for awkwardness is high.
In turn, the question many have is how will the USGA handle threesome pairings as the renegades return. Who will Mickelson play with as he makes his first appearance in a PGA Tour-sanctioned event since February? Will James Piot, the U.S. Amateur champion who has turned pro and played over in London last week, find himself in a traditional threesome with Jon Rahm and Collin Morikawa, the reigning U.S. Open and Open Championship winners? Or is something else in store?
Interestingly, the USGA often has made a habit of trying to get creative when it comes to early round tee times. Pairings of past winners of USGA events are frequent, but sometimes officials get even a little more esoteric. In 2013, before the ban on anchored putting, there was a pairing of three major winners who used long putters (Adam Scott, Keegan Bradley and Webb Simpson). Threesomes of long drivers seem to happen every year. College alums or international brethren find a way of being grouped together. And famously when the U.S. Open was previously held at Torrey Pines in 2008, the USGA went ahead and paired the No. 1, 2 and 3 players in the world—Tiger Woods, Mickelson and Adam Scott.
So what’s in store for this year at The Country Club? Tee times have yet to be announced, so we’re waiting to find out. Below is the field as of Sunday, the latest play in being David Lingmerth, who replaced Martin Kaymer when the 2014 U.S. Open winner withdrew on Saturday due to injury.
Players will be competing in threesomes off the first and 10th tees during the first and second rounds next Thursday and Friday. Check back here closer to the championship and we’ll have them posted as soon as they go live.
Erik Barnes, Final qualifying
Andrew Beckler, Final qualifying
Sam Bennett (a), Final qualifying
Fred Biondi (a), Final qualifying
Jonas Blixt, Final qualifying
Joseph Bramlett, Final qualifying
Hayden Buckley, Final qualifying
Brady Calkins, Final qualifying
Patrick Cantlay, 11, 12, 20
Kevin Chappell, Final qualifying
Wyndham Clark, Final qualifying
Sean Crocker, Final qualifying
Matthys Daffue, Final qualifying
Joel Dahmen, Final qualifying
Bryson DeChambeau, 1, 11, 20
Adrien Dumont de Chassert, Final qualifying
Harris English, 2, 11, 20
Luke Gannon, Final qualifying
Ryan Gerard, Final qualifying
Chris Gotterup, Final qualifying
Keith Greene, Final qualifying
Lanto Griffin, Final qualifying
Adam Hadwin, Final qualifying
Harry Hall, Final qualifying
Nick Hardy, Final qualifying
Bo Hoag, Final qualifying
Blily Horschel, 10, 11, 20
Rikuya Hoshino, Final qualifying
Beau Hossler, Final qualifying
Mackenzie Hughes, Final qualifying
Daijiro Izumida, Japan, Final qualifying
Sean Jacklin, Final qualifying
Dustin Johnson, 1, 6, 11, 20
Chan Kim, Final qualifying
Kurt Kitayama, Final qualifying
Satoshi Kodaira, Final qualifying
Brooks Koepka, 1, 2, 7, 11, 20
Jinichiro Kozuma, Final qualifying
Danny Lee, Final qualifying
David Lingmerth, Final qualifying
Ben Lorenz (a), Final qualifying
Caleb Manuel, Final qualifying
Hideki Matsuyama, 6, 11, 12, 20
Brandon Matthews, Final qualifying
Denny McCarthy, Final qualifying
Matt McCarty, Final qualifying
Troy Merritt, Final qualifying
Maxwell Moldovan, Final qualifying
Taylor Montgomery, Final qualifying
Collin Morikawa, 2, 7, 8, 11, 20
William Mouw (a), Final qualifying
Jesse Mueller, Final qualifying
Grayson Murray, Final qualifying
Chris Naegel, Final qualifying
Matthew Nesmith, Final qualifying
Andrew Novak, Final qualifying
Louis Oosthuizen, 2, 11, 20
Andrew Putnam, Final qualifying
Fran Quinn, Final qualifying
Charles Reiter (a), Final qualifying
Davis Riley, Final qualifying
Patrick Rodgers, Final qualifying
Isaiah Salinda, Final qualifying
Xander Schauffele, 2, 11, 15, 20
Scottie Scheffler, 2, 6, 11, 12, 20
Adam Schenk, Final qualifying
Davis Shore, Final qualifying
Ben Silverman, Final qualifying
Todd Sinnott, Final qualifying
Roger Sloan, Final qualifying
Jordan Spieth, 1, 8, 11, 20
Scott Stallings, Final qualifying
Brian Stuard, Final qualifying
Tomoyasu Sugiyama, Final qualifying
Nick Taylor, Final qualifying
Justin Thomas, 7, 9, 11, 20
Michael Thorbjornsen (a), Final qualifying
Travis Vick (a), Final qualifying
2022 U.S. Open qualifying categories (a-amateur):
1: Winners of the U.S. Open the last 10 years (2012-21)
2: From the 2021 U.S. Open, the 10 lowest scorers and anyone tying for 10th place
3: Winner of the 2021 U.S. Senior Open
4: Winner of the 2021 U.S. Amateur
5: Winners of the 2021 U.S. Junior Amateur & U.S. Mid-Amateur and the 2021 U.S. Amateur runner-up (must be an amateur)
6: Winners of the Masters the last five years (2018-22)
7: Winners of the PGA Championship (2017-22)
8: Winners of The Open Championship the last five years (2017-21)
9: Winners of the 2021, 2022 Players Championship
10: Winner of the 2021 European Tour BMW PGA Championship
11: Those players who qualified for the 2021 Tour Championship
12: Multiple winners of PGA Tour events that award a full-point allocation (June 2021-June 2022)
13: Winner of the 2021 British Amateur (must be an amateur)
14: Winner of the 2021 Mark H. McCormack Medal (top-ranked in WAGR, must be an amateur)
15: Winner of the 2020 Olympic Gold Medal (contested in 2021)
16: From the four-event U.S. Open 2022 European Qualifying Series (Betfred British Masters, Soudal Open, Dutch Open and Porsche European Open), the top 10 aggregate point earners that are not otherwise exempt
17: From the 2020-21 Asian Tour Final Order of Merit, the top finisher who is not otherwise exempt as of May 23
18: From the 2021-22 ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia Final Order of Merit, the top finisher who is not otherwise exempt as of May 23
19: From the 2021-22 Sunshine Tour Order of Merit, the leading player who is not otherwise exempt as of May 23
20: Top-60 point leaders and ties from the current Official World Golf Ranking as of May 23, 2022
21: Top-60 point leaders and ties from the current Official World Golf Ranking as of June 6, 2022
22: Special exemptions selected by the USGA