England's Matt Fitzpatrick was the U.S. Open Champion in 2022 ©Getty Images

The U.S. Open which tees off at the Los Angeles Country Club tomorrow will be under the spotlight as the first major in men’s golf since the merger between the Saudi backed LIV circuit and the United States Professional Golfers Association (PGA) was announced earlier this month.

The subsequent days have been equally tumultuous as US PGA Commissioner Jay Monahan stepped away from his role to “recover from a medical situation” and the United States senate announced they were launching an investigation into the LIV-PGA deal.

The U.S. Open is third major of the season and comes less than a month after Brooks Koepka, a player who had thrown his lot in with the LIV circuit, won the US PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club

He inevitably faced questions about the merger.

I haven't paid too much attention to it, honestly," Koepka said.

"I've been trying to prep for this week.

"I'm just trying to make sure I come into a major championship, there's four weeks a year I really care about and this is one of them, and I want to play well."

Brooks Koepka won the US PGA title last month ©Getty Images
Brooks Koepka won the US PGA title last month ©Getty Images

Koepka will have to wait until later afternoon to join the fray.

His tee off time is 4:54 pm when he joins Hideki Matsuyama, the first Japanese player to win a major when he took the Masters Green Jacket at Augusta and Rory McIlroy who won the last four majors came back in 2014.

In 2022, Matt Fitzpatrick won the U.S. Open at Brookline Massachusetts, to become only the third Englishman to win the title in almost 100 years after Tony Jacklin in 1970 and Justin Rose in 2013.

Fitzpatrick partners Cameron Smith, the Australian who won the 2022 Open and then joined the LIV tour.

They are joined by American Sam Bennett and begin at 4:32.

Jordan Spieth begins his quest for a fourth major about 10 minutes later alongside American compatriots Tony Finau and Patrick Cantlay.

Scottie Scheffler, who won the Masters in 2022 has occupied number one ranking for 38 weeks.

He is scheduled to start at 8:13 alongside Los Angeles local favourite Collin Morikawa who won the 2020 PGA title at TPC Harding Park San Francisco and the Open at Royal St George’s Sandwich in 2021.

The early morning power trio is completed by Max Homa, another local player who is ranked seventh but has yet to win a major.

Spaniard Jon Rahm won the season's first major at Augusta©Getty Images
Spaniard Jon Rahm won the season's first major at Augusta©Getty Images

Masters Champion Jon Rahm of Spain begins at hole number ten at 11:24 alongside Norwegian joint runner up at the PGA last month and Tokyo Olympic gold medallist Xander Schauffele.

The tournament is scheduled to conclude on Sunday and victory means a prize of $17.5million (£13.8 million/€16.18 million).

The competition returns to Los Angeles for the first time in 75 years.

The winner in 1948 was Ben Hogan destined to become one of the greatest players in the sport's history.