USGA officials more than likely have their fingers crossed as the 2024 U.S. Open gets set to begin on Thursday at Pinehurst No. 2. For the past two years, the discussion in the early days of Open week has veered from who might be the favorite to win the national championship to the off-course drama surrounding the future of professional golf.

Two years ago at The Country Club, LIV Golf’s inaugural event had just been contested outside London, and the pre-major chatter was all about what impact the upstart Saudi-funded circuit would have on the game. Then last year at LACC, the surprise announcement of a framework deal between the PGA Tour, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and the DP World Tour drove the conversation on the driving range.

When a deal might be done and what it might look like are still front and center in the golf world, but the good news is that there have been enough majors in the last two years with PGA Tour and LIV Golf players competing together that the storyline of them vs. us has essentially played itself out. The biggest wonder now is whether the powers that be that run the majors might begin to carve out separate exemption criteria to ensure that deserving LIV golfers aren’t missing out on major starts.

Indeed, just 12 LIV players are in the field this week at Pinehurst, down from 15 a year ago. And only three advanced via qualifying, 14 others falling short.

Whether the USGA pairs any of the LIV golfers in the field with PGA Tour pros is also far less of a concern than the past two years. Yet there’s still a curiosity as to who’ll play with who during the opening two rounds when the USGA reveals the threesomes playing Thursday and Friday.

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So what’s in store for this year at Pinehurst? Tee times have yet to be announced, so we’re waiting to find out. Below is the field as of Sunday, with six spots still open for llth-hour qualifiers to emerge.

Players will be competing in threesomes off the first and 10th tees during the first and second rounds next Thursday and Friday. Check back here closer to the championship and we’ll have them posted as soon as they go live.

FIELD

Ludvig Aberg, 21

Byeong Hun An, 21

Sam Bairstow, Qualifier

Parker Bell (a), Qualifer

Sam Bennett, Qualifier

Daniel Berger, Qualifier

Christiaan Bezuidenhout, 21

Akshay Bhatia, 21

Zac Blair, Qualifier

Keegan Bradley, 11, 21

Gunnar Broin (a), Qualifier

Jackson Buchanan (a), Qualifier

Dean Burmester, Qualifier

Sam Burns, 11, 21

Brian Campbell, Qualifier

Patrick Cantlay, 11, 21

Frankie Capan III, Qualifier

Eugenio Chacarra, Qualifier

John Chin, Qualifier

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Luke Clanton (a) , Qualifier

Wyndham Clark, 1, 2, 11, 21

Eric Cole, 21

Corey Conners, 11, 21

Cameron Davis, Qualifier

Jason Day, 11, 21

Santiago De la Fuente (a), 20

Bryson DeChambeau, 1, 21

Thomas Detry, 21

Nick Dunlap, 4

Nicolas Echavarria, Qualifier

Austin Eckroat, 2, 21

Harris English, 2, 21

Tony Finau, 11, 21

Matt Fitzpatrick, 1, 11, 21

Tommy Fleetwood, 2, 11, 21

Grant Forrest, Qualifier

Rickie Fowler, 2, 11, 21

Ryan Fox, 10

Lucas Glover, 11, 12, 21

Max Greyserman, Qualifier

Emiliano Grillo, 11, 21

Chesson Hadley, Qualifier

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Adam Hadwin, 21

Stewart Hagestad (a), 5

Brian Harman, 8, 11, 21

Tyrrell Hatton, 11, 21

Russell Henley, 11, 21

Jim Herman, Qualifier

Harry Higgs, Qualifier

Rico Hoey, Qualifier

Tom Hoge, 21

Nicolai Hojgaard, 21

Max Homa, 11, 21

Billy Horschel, 13

Rikuya Hoshino, 16

Beau Hossler, Qualifier

Viktor Hovland, 11, 12, 21

Mark Hubbard, Qualifier

Mackenzie Hughes, 13

Sungjae Im, 11, 21

Ryo Ishikawa, Qualifier

Stephan Jaeger, 21

Ben James (a) , Qualifier

Casey Jarvis, Qualifier

Carter Jenkins, Qualifier

Dustin Johnson, 1, 2, 6

Takumo Kanaya, Qualifier

Sung Kang, Qualifier

Riki Kawamoto, Qualifier

Martin Kaymer, 1

Bryan Kim (a), 5

S.H. Kim, Qualifier

Si Woo Kim, 11, 21

Tom Kim, 2, 21

Chris Kirk, 21

Kurt Kitayama, 21

Frederik Kjettrup (a), Qualifier

Jake Knapp, 21

Brooks Koepka, 1, 7, 21

Ben Kohles, 14

Matt Kuchar, Qualifier

Min Woo Lee, 2, 21

Justin Lower, Qualifier

Shane Lowry, 8, 21

Willie Mack III, Qualifier

Peter Malnati, 13

Matteo Manassero, Qualifier

Richard Mansell, Qualifier

Hideki Matsuyama, 6, 21

Logan McAllister, Qualifier

Denny McCarthy, 21

Ashton McCulloch (a), Qualifier

Michael McGowan, Qualifier

Rory McIlroy, 2, 11, 12, 21

Tom McKibbin, Qualifier

Mac Meissner, Qualifier

Adrian Meronk, 15

Phil Mickelson, 7

Edoardo Molinari, Qualifier

Francesco Molinari, Qualifier

Taylor Moore, 11, 21

Omar Morales (a), Qualifier

Collin Morikawa, 7, 8, 11, 21

Chris Naegel, Qualifier

Alex Noren, 21

Matthieu Pavon, 21

Taylor Pendrith, 13

Victor Perez, 15

Chris Petefish, Qualifier

J.T. Poston, 21

Seamus Power, Qualifier

Colin Prater (a), Qualifier

David Puig, Qualifier

Jon Rahm, 1, 2, 6, 11, 21

Aaron Rai, Qualifier

Charles Reiter, Qualifier

Brandon Robinson Thompson, Qualifier

Robert Rock, Qualifier

Justin Rose, 21

Gordon Sargent (a), 18

Isaiah Salinda, Qualifier

Carson Schaake, Qualifier

Xander Schauffele, 2, 7, 11, 21

Scottie Scheffler, 2, 6, 9, 11, 12, 21

Adam Schenk, 11, 21

Jason Scrivener, Qualifier

Taisei Shimizu, Qualifier

Neal Shipley (a), 5

Greyson Sigg, Qualifier

Webb Simpson, Qualifier

Cameron Smith, 2, 8, 9

Jordan Spieth, 1, 11, 21

Sepp Straka, 11, 21

Adam Svensson, Qualifier

Andrew Svoboda, Qualifier

Hiroshi Tai (a), 19

Nick Taylor, 11, 21

Sahith Theegala, 21

Justin Thomas, 7, 21

Davis Thompson, Qualifier

Brendon Todd, Qualifier

Erik van Rooyen

Joey Vrzich, Qualifier

Tim Widing, Qualifier

Wells Williams (a), Qualifier

Gary Woodland, 1

Tiger Woods, 23

Brandon Wu, Qualifier

Cameron Young, 21

Will Zalatoris, 21

QUALIFYING CATEGORIES

F-1. Winners of the U.S. Open Championship the last 10 years (2014-23)

F-2. From the 2023 U.S. Open Championship, the 10 lowest scorers and anyone tying for 10th place

F-3. Winner of the 2023 U.S. Senior Open Championship

F-4. Winner of the 2023 U.S. Amateur Championship

F-5. Winners of the 2023 U.S. Junior Amateur and U.S. Mid-Amateur Championships, and the 2023 U.S. Amateur runner-up (must be an amateur)

F-6. Winners of the Masters Tournament from 2020-2024

F-7. Winners of the PGA of America Championship from 2019-2024

F-8. Winners of The Open Championship from 2019-23

F-9. Winners of The Players Championship from 2022-2024

F-10. Winner of the 2023 European BMW PGA Championship

F-11. Those players who qualified and were eligible for the season-ending 2023 Tour Championship

F-12. Multiple winners of PGA Tour events that award full-point allocation for the FedEx Cup, from the conclusion of the 2023 U.S. Open to the initiation of the 2024 U.S. Open:

F-13. The Top 5 players in the 2024 FedExCup standings as of May 20, 2024 who are not otherwise exempt

F-14. The points leader from the 2023 Korn Ferry Tour season using combined points earned on the Official Korn Ferry Tour Regular Season Points Standings and points earned in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals

F-15. The top two players from the final 2023 Race to Dubai Rankings who are not otherwise exempt as of May 20, 2024

F-16. The top player on the 2024 Race to Dubai Rankings as of May 20, 2024 who is not otherwise exempt

F-17. Winner of 2023 The Amateur Championship conducted by The R&A (must be an amateur)

F-18. Winner of the 2023 Mark H. McCormack Medal (Men’s World Amateur Golf Ranking; must be an amateur)

F-19. Winner of the 2024 NCAA Division I Men’s Individual Golf Championship (must be an amateur)

F-20. Winner of the 2024 Latin America Amateur Championship (must be an amateur)

F-21. From the current Official World Golf Ranking, the top 60 points leaders and ties as of May 20, 2024. Players must select a qualifying site at the time of entry.

F-22. From the current Official World Golf Ranking, the top 60 points leaders and ties as of June 10, 2024 (if not previously exempt).

F-23. Special exemptions as selected by the USGA.

This article was originally published on golfdigest.com