Absence of Tiger Woods means Phil Mickelson can take advantage at Brookline

Another major, another chance for one player to make history by winning the US Open to complete a career grand slam.

The attempts of Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth to join golf’s most exclusive club, at the Masters and US PGA respectively, were somewhat overshadowed by the presence of Tiger Woods – but that will not be the case at Brookline.

Woods withdrew from the year’s third major in order to give his battered body more time to heal for the final one, the 150th Open Championship on the Old Course at St Andrews, site of two of his three Open triumphs.

It was the right decision considering the way he struggled through a third round of 79 in the US PGA at Southern Hills, his highest ever score in the event, but leaves the way clear for his former rival, a certain Philip Alfred Mickelson, to take centre stage for the second week running.

Mickelson ended his exile from the game by accepting a reported US 200 million (£159.5m) to compete in the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Invitational Series, starting with the opener at Centurion Club in Hertfordshire.

The six-time major winner had not been seen since February, missing the Masters and his title defence in the US PGA, following the fallout from his explosive comments about Saudi Arabia and the PGA Tour.

Mickelson described the Saudis as “scary m************” with a “horrible record on human rights”, including the murder of Washington Post reporter Jamal Khashoggi, in an interview with the author of an unauthorised biography.

Yet he added that working with the Saudis was a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to reshape how the PGA Tour operates, an organisation he also accused of “obnoxious greed”.

The 51-year-old’s lengthy absence led to speculation that he had been suspended,