Smith to confront awkward new golf world as blockbuster US Open pairings revealed

Smith to confront awkward new golf world as blockbuster US Open pairings revealed

Cameron Smith has been placed in a blockbuster US Open grouping as LIV Golf stars face their latest awkward reunion with the PGA Tour at The Los Angeles Country Club.

Smith will step onto the first tee with defending champion Matt Fitzpatrick, and popular young player Sam Bennett, who turned pro after a dazzling display at the Masters.

He will do so after LIV Golf’s financial backers, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), agreed a deal to join forces with the PGA Tour to bring to an end golf’s civil war.

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PGA loyalists still processing merger | 01:19

It leaves the future of LIV Golf players, which include Smith, up in the air with the circuit no certainty to continue past 2023.

The deal between the PGA Tour and PIF includes an agreement to open up a “fair” process for defectors to re-join, although it’s unclear at what cost.

Smith, and other LIV Golf players, will need to push that noise to the background though as they contend for the year’s third major, and the final one on US soil.

And it will be the hardest. with the Los Angeles Country Club shaping up as a daunting challenge with brutally thick rough and long holes, including two par-3s at nearly 300 yards.

Smith will tee off with Fitzpatrick and Bennett at 9.32am on Friday, and from the 10th tee at 4.02am on Saturday (AEST).

Meanwhile, Jason Day is paired with Justin Rose and Rickie Fowler at the reverse times of 4.02am Friday and 9.32am Saturday.

Adam Scott will play with Gary Woodland and Corey Conners.

Elsewhere, PGA Championship winner and LIV Golf star Brooks Koepka is in a blockbuster pairing with PGA Tour pin-up boy Rory McIlroy.

See all the tee off times below!

Rory unleashes on PGA merger with Liv | 01:05

US OPEN 2023 TEE TIMES — ROUNDS ONE AND TWO (all times AEDT)

— Aussies in bold, * denotes 10th hole tee off

2:45am/8:15am.* – Omar Morales (a), Deon Germishuys, Jacob Solomon

2:45am*/8:15am. – Berry Henson, Ryutaro Nagano, Hank Lebioda

2:56am/8:26am.* – Ryan Gerard, Yuto Katsuragawa, Michael Brennan (a)

2:56am*/8:26am. – Michael Kim, Jordan Smith, Wenyi Ding (a)

3:07am/8:37am.* – Hayden Buckley, Adam Svensson, Pablo Larrazabal

3:07am*/8:37am. – Scott Stallings, Preston Summerhays (a), Lucas Herbert

3:18am/8:48am.* – Carson Young, Dylan Wu, Roger Sloan

3:18am*/8:48am. – Jens Dantorp, Patrick Rodgers, Ryan Armour

3:29am/8:59am.* – Ryo Ishikawa, Kevin Streelman, Matthieu Pavon

3:29am*/8:59am – Thomas Pieters, Aaron Wise, Gordon Sargent (a)

3:40am/9:10am.* – Shane Lowry, Justin Thomas, Tommy Fleetwood

3:40am*/9:10am. – Bryson DeChambeau, Francesco Molinari, Tyrrell Hatton

3:51am/9:21am.* – Sungjae Im, K.H. Lee, J.T. Poston

3:51am*/9:21am. – Tom Hoge, Sergio Garcia, Sepp Straka

4:02am/9:32am* – Gary Woodland, Adam Scott, Corey Conners

4:02am*/9:32am – Justin Rose, Rickie Fowler, Jason Day

4:13am/9:43am* – Collin Morikawa, Max Homa, Scottie Scheffler

4:13am*/9:43am – Patrick Reed, Matt Kuchar, Si Woo Kim

4:24am/9:54* a.m. – Denny McCarthy, Joel Dahmen, Adam Hadwin

4:24am*/9:54am – Xander Schauffele, Viktor Hovland, Jon Rahm

4:35am/10:05am.* – Matthew McClean (a), Seamus Power, Ryan Fox

4:35am*/10:05am. – Martin Kaymer, Stewart Cink, Michael Thorbjornsen (a)

4:46am/10:16am.* – Mac Meissner, Barclay Brown (a), Gunn Charoenkul

4:46am*/10:16am. – David Horsey, Brendan Valdez (a), Paul Barjon

4:57am/10:27am.* – Alexander Yang (a), Jesse Schutte, Andy Svoboda

4:57am*/10:27am. – Jordan Gumberg, Kyle Mueller, Bastien Amat (a)

8:15am/2:45am.* – Brent Grant, Vincent Norrman, Charley Hoffman

8:15am*/2:45am. – Ross Fisher, Nico Echavarria, Paul Haley II

8:26am/2:56am.* – Simon Forsström, Carlos Ortiz, Maxwell Moldovan (a)

8:26am*/2:56am. – Nick Dunlap (a), Nick Hardy, Sam Stevens

8:37am/3:07am.* – Eric Cole, Thriston Lawrence, Adam Schenk

8:37am*/3:07am. – Taylor Pendrith, Aldrich Potgieter (a), Romain Langasque

8:48am/3:18am.* – Luke List, Wilco Nienaber, Alejandro Del Rey

8:48am*/3:18am. – Andrew Putnam, Victor Perez, Abraham Ancer

8:59am/3:29am.* -. Adrian Meronk, Harris English, Joaquin Niemann

8:59am*/3:29am. – Phil Mickelson, Padraig Harrington, Keegan Bradley

9:10am/3:40am.* – Alex Noren, Wyndham Clark, Austin Eckroat

9:10am*/3:40am. – Mito Pereira, Emiliano Grillo, Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira (a)

9:21am/3:51am.* – Kurt Kitayama, Cam Davis, Russell Henley

9:21am*/3:51am. – Tom Kim, Sahith Theegala, Cameron Young

9:32am/4:02am.* – Cameron Smith, Sam Bennett, Matt Fitzpatrick

9:32am*/4:02am. – Sam Burns, Dustin Johnson, Keith Mitchell

9:43am/4:13am.* – Billy Horschel, Chris Kirk, Brian Harman

9:43am*/4:13am. – Tony Finau, Jordan Spieth, Patrick Cantlay

9:54am/4:24am.* – Brooks Koepka, Hideki Matsuyama, Rory McIlroy

9:54am*/4:24am. – Davis Thompson, Min Woo Lee, Justin Suh

10:05am/4:35am* – Sebastián Muñoz, Nick Taylor, Taylor Montgomery

10:05am*/4:35am. – Taylor Moore, Mackenzie Hughes, Ben Carr (a)

10:16am/4:46am. – Olin Browne Jr., David Puig, Karl Vilips (a)

10:16am*/4:46am. – Patrick Cover, David Nyfjall (a), Frankie Capan III

10:27am/4:57am.* – Corey Pereira, Isaac Simmons (a), J.J. Grey

10:27am*/4:57am. – Austen Truslow, Christian Cavaliere (a), Alex Schaake