LOS ANGELES — Someone at the USGA has either a flair for the dramatic, a great sense of humor, an attraction to awkward moments … or all of the above.
When the tee times for this week’s 123rd U.S. Open at the Los Angeles Country Club were announced on Monday, one of them stood out as undoubtedly the sexiest of showdowns: Rory McIlroy and Brooks Koepka grouped together.
Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama will be the third wheel, er, player in the grouping.
McIlroy, the 34-year-old from Northern Ireland, has been the most outspoken player in the PGA Tour’s war with the Saudi-backed LIV Golf tour.
And the 33-year-old Koepka has been the best player on LIV, having just won the PGA Championship last month at Oak Hill after nearly winning the Masters before finishing runner-up in April.
The PGA Championship victory was Koepka’s fifth major championship victory since 2017. McIlroy, meanwhile, has been stuck on four major championship wins since his last win in 2014.
Koepka is ranked 13th in the world, largely because the LIV events do not get world ranking points, and can move to as high as No. 5 with a win this week at LACC. McIlroy is ranked No. 3 in the world.
PGA Tour and LIV Golf are ending a war — by joining forces.
The two golf leagues, along with the European DP World Tour, are merging into one company after a period of fierce rivalry, one where LIV Golf defectors were banned from competing on the Tour.
LIV, financed by the Saudi Public Investment Fund and led by legendary golfer Greg Norman, lured some of the top names in golf last year with reported nine-figure contracts, including Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau.
Other huge golf names, however, like Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, stayed loyal to the Tour, despite being offered a massive amount of money.
Follow The Post’s coverage of the PGA Tour-LIV Golf merger
Norman said last year Woods turned down a payday in the range of $700 million-$800 million to stick with the PGA Tour.
With the merger, the Saudi-backed LIV and the Tour are ending an antitrust battle and agreed to end all litigation between the two sides.
“After two years of disruption and distraction, this is a historic day for the game we all know and love,” PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said in a statement. “This transformational partnership recognizes the immeasurable strength of the PGA TOUR’s history, legacy and pro-competitive model.”
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The two players, both of whom live in the Jupiter, Fla., area, played a practice round together at Augusta National and remain friendly.
A week removed from the PGA Tour and LIV Golf making the stunning announcement that the two have agreed in principle to merge, McIlroy and Koepka will do it for real, beginning at 4:54 p.m. Eastern on Thursday at LACC.
Among some other marquee groupings for Thursday and Friday: Collin Morikawa, Max Homa and Scottie Scheffler at 11:13 a.m.; Xander Schauffele, Viktor Hovland, Jon Rahm at 11:24 a.m.; Phil Mickelson, Padraig Harrington and Keegan Bradley at 12:59 p.m.; Tony Finau, Jordan Spieth and Patrick Cantlay at 4:43 p.m.