U.S. Open live golf scores, results, highlights from Thursday's Round 1 leaderboard
The 2022 U.S. Open has no shortage of storylines this year — but only a few of which have to do with who will take home the third major of the 2021-22 PGA Tour.
Instead, the golfing world will watch with great fascination those golfers — such as Phil Mickelson — who have defected from the PGA Tour and signed with the LIV Tour fresh off its inaugural event in London (won by Charl Schwartzel for his first victory since the 2016 Valspar Championship).
The upstart golf tour has been a point of major contention in the sport in recent weeks. For instance, Rory McIlroy — winner of last week's RBC Canadian Open — took a shot at LIV head man Greg Norman while expressing disappointment in Mickelson, one of the tour's biggest names.
There's also the question of whether the 17 golfers to leave the PGA for LIV will be able to qualify for this event in the future.
Despite the PGA Tour's suspension of said golfers, each of the four majors — the other three being the Masters, PGA Championship and British Open — have autonomy in deciding who qualifies for their respective events.
Whether those golfers will even be able to qualify without access to PGA Tour events in the future remains to be seen.
(Though some golfers, such as 2016 U.S. Open champion Dustin Johnson, have special exemption for future events).
Those storylines will take precedent for much of the early rounds, and potentially longer if any defectors stay in contention late into the tournament.
Otherwise, the biggest names to watch this tournament are Jon Rahm, winner of this event last year; Justin Thomas, winner of the PGA Championship; and Scottie Scheffler, who owns the other major victory this year by winning the Masters.
The Sporting News has everything you need to keep up with Thursday's action at the U.S. Open, including updated leaderboards and updates and highlights from the action: