Bryson DeChambeau will open his defence of his US Open title on Thursday when he is paired with Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama and US Amateur champion Tyler Strafaci on the South Course at Torrey Pines in San Diego.
DeChambeau, obviously, was not paired with 2017-18 US Open champion Brooks Koepka when the tee times for the event were announced. The two have had a simmering feud that has heated up recently after a Golf Channel video went viral at the PGA Championship.
Retired PGA player and analyst Brad Faxon said the United States Golf Association explored the idea of pairing DeChambeau with Koepka, but that DeChambeau declined the option.
“The USGA did call Bryson DeChambeau and his agent and asked them if they would be OK with that, and Bryson declined,” Faxon said. However, DeChambeau and his agent, Brett Falkoff, said the golfer was not asked by the USGA to be paired with Koepka.
“The USGA did not reach out to Bryson regarding a potential pairing with Brooks Koepka. Bryson is fully focused on defending the US Open at Torrey Pines this week,” Falkoff said in a statement to ESPN.
Asked about a potential pairing with Koepka, DeChambeau said, “I would be OK with that, but there was never really anything that went through me.”
Koepka also said he was not asked about being paired with DeChambeau, but that it would not have mattered to him if he was.
“I play my own game. I don’t care who I’m paired with,” he said. “It doesn’t matter to me what goes on. It makes no difference to me. I’m out there trying to play my own game. What happens inside the ropes, it won’t bother me.”
You’re putting it in front of people, the game of golf, who probably don’t normally look at golf, don’t play it, might get them involved.
Koepka revealed at the PGA Championship that he had become distracted during an interview after a talking DeChambeau had walked by. The leaked video showed Koepka rolling his eyes and dropping a choice word in the process.
The incident led to some back-and-forth between the two on social media, and Koepka said the constant discussion of the feud between the two can only grow interest in the game.
“It’s bringing new eyeballs,” he said. “Pretty much everything you look at online, it’s got this in the headline, or it’s up there as a big news story. To me, that’s growing the game.
“You’re putting it in front of eyeballs, you’re putting it in front of people, the game of golf, who probably don’t normally look at golf, don’t play it, might get them involved.”
DeChambeau called the entire situation “fun.” “There’s a point where it’s great banter,” he said. “I personally love it. I think that, as time goes on, I hope on the weekend we can play against each other and compete. I think it would be fun and would be great for the game.”
Koepka will play the first two rounds at Torrey Pines with Justin Thomas and Collin Morikawa.
US Open first round tee times
San Diego 11 hours behind UAE
Bold indicates starting on Hole 10
06.45 (17.45 UAE time) A Pope, B Kennedy, T Aiken
06.45 S Theegala, E Molinari, G Sigg
06.56 Y Asaji, M Armitage, J Vegas
06.56 C Baker, JJ Spaun, F Gomez
07.07 C Young, W Nienaber, G Migliozzi
07.07 P Rodgers, R Shelton , P Coody
07.18 B Harman, T Fleetwood, M Wolff
07.18 R Henley, M Hughes, H English
07.29 C Morikawa, J Thomas, B Koepka
07.29 F Molinari, H Stenson, S Lowry
07.40 K Kisner, B Horschel, M Kuchar
07.40 M Fitzpatrick, T Hatton, V Hovland
07.51 M Homa, X Schauffele, P Mickelson
07.51 M Kaymer, W Simpson, G Woodland
08.02 J Kokrak, C Champ, C Conners
08.02 T Finau, A Ancer, D Berger
08.13 P Barjon, S Ryder, R Ishikawa
08.13 K Si-Woo, K Na, B Wiesberger
08.24 D Frittelli, M Laird, KH Lee
08.24 J Walker, I Poulter, R Palmer
08.35 R Cabrera Bello, A Meronk, S Kang
08.35 JT Poston, A Hadwin, J Long
08.46 A Bhatia, A Kozan, A Ortiz
08.46 L Fernando Barco, D Meyer, M Sharpstene
08.57 J Hervol, H Springer, R Cootes
08.57 M Carmona, W Furr, D Shore
12.30 D Coupland, T Pendrith, W Ormsby
12.30 Z Zaback, S Allan, E Cole
12.41 T Hoge, B Hoag, J Highsmith
12.41 H Buckley, T Montgomery, J Smith
12.52 E Van Rooyen, C Bezuidenhout, C Schwartzel
12.52 C Reavie, R Bland, T Merritt
13.03 G Higgo, C Hammer, J Niemann
13.03 R MacIntyre, V Perez, M Wallace
13.14 L Westwood, S Cink, P Casey
13.14 T Strafaci, H Matsuyama, B DeChambeau
13.25 W Zalatoris, S Scheffler, J Spieth
13.25 A Scott, S Garcia, B Watson
13.36 M Leishman, J Rahm, P Reed
13.36 D Johnson, R McIlroy, J Rose
13.47 P Cantlay, L Oosthuizen, S Im
13.47 M Jones, B Steele, C Smith
13.58 K Streelman, B Grace, C Hoffman
13.58 C Ortiz, Z Johnson, L Griffin
14.09 S Munoz, R Hoshino, B Todd
14.09 S Burns, C Kim, T Detry
14.20 W Clark, M Schmid, M Southgate
14.20 C Osborne, P Malnati, B Stuard
14.31 S Ralston, D Wu, J Suh
14.31 J Huh, J Veerman, Z Sucher
14.42 L Gagne, K Westmoreland, C Crawford
14.42 R Lamb, M Johnson, C Schaake
