BROOKLINE, Mass. — This year’s U.S. Open began as the setting for an unprecedented showdown between golfers who had remained loyal to the established PGA Tour and a breakaway pack of ex-colleagues who recently joined the new, rebel, Saudi-backed LIV Golf series. But the anticipated confrontation at the Country Club outside Boston fizzled in the first round Thursday when golfers from both camps got along without friction.
The LIV Golf-aligned players also faded from contention early.
By Sunday, the ongoing split in men’s professional golf was hardly settled, but it was overshadowed by a riveting final-round shootout among three of the sport’s best young players: Matt Fitzpatrick, 27, of England, and the Americans Will Zalatoris, 25, and Scottie Scheffler, 25.