US Open returns to Los Angeles amid new upheaval in global golf

The US Open returns to Los Angeles next week for the first time in 75 years, but the biggest uncertainty facing the world's top golfers isn't the unfamiliar Los Angeles Country Club North Course.

READ | PGA chief accepts 'hypocrite' claims after LIV Golf merger

The bombshell announcement that the PGA Tour and DP World Tour were throwing in with rebel LIV Golf's Saudi backers has spawned at least as many questions as answers.

Four-time major winner Rory McIlroy, who lent his voice to the PGA Tour as it navigated two years of turmoil, says he believes the deal will be better for the game of golf but that he can't help feeling "somewhat like a sacrificial lamb."

"I've put myself out there and this is what happens," McIlroy said when the deal was sprung on unsuspecting players on Tuesday.

He's certainly not the only PGA Tour loyalist to feel that way.

They and their LIV Golf counterparts - still for now barred from their former tours and the Ryder Cup - will come together to play a course many have never seen.

The exclusive club in posh Beverly Hills, a stone's throw from Hollywood, did host a 2017 Walker Cup amateur match-play tournament - where two-time major champion Collin Morikawa and 2022 Masters champion Scottie Scheffler led the United States to victory over Britain and Ireland.

"I'll first lay eyes on it when I get to LA," McIlroy noted, although the intelligence he has received makes him think the classic par-70 layout could provide "one of the best US Opens there has been for a while."

2022: Matt Fitzpatrick (ENG)

2021: Jon Rahm (ESP)

2020: Bryson DeChambeau (USA)

2019: Gary Woodland (USA)

2018: Brooks Koepka (USA)

2017: Brooks Koepka (USA)

2016: Dustin Johnson (USA)

2015: Jordan Spieth (USA)

2014: Martin Kaymer (GER)

2013: Justin