US Open 2022: Tiger withdraws but DJ and Mickelson allowed to play despite joining LIV

Mike Norman
08 June 2022
3:00 min read

Dustin Johnson will be at next week's US Open despite resigning from the PGA Tour

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There's a big name absentee from next week's US Open, and two star names who will be playing, though they're not necessarily the players you might have expected. Mike Norman has the details...

"Both players have already confirmed that they intend to be at Brookline next week with Johnson trading at 44.043/1 in the US Open Winner market, while Mickelson is 280.0279/1 to complete a very unlikely Career Grand Slam"

It was initially thought that Tiger Woods' withdrawal after the third round of last month's USPGA Championship was an insurance policy to make sure he would be fit for next week's US Open, while those deciding to join the controversial LIV Golf Tour may be banned from playing at The Country Club.

But in a twist of events on Tuesday afternoon news broke that Tiger would not be fit enough to tee it up at Brookline.

And on the same afternoon, the USGA released a statement saying that anyone already qualified for the 2022 US Open would not be barred from participating for choosing to play in this week's LIV Golf Invitational, meaning the likes of Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson are now fully expected to play in the season's third major.

Tiger needs more time to 'get stronger'

Those who watched Tiger hobble his way around Augusta National over the weekend of the US Masters were perhaps surprised that the 15-time major champion even tee'd it up at Southern Hills last month, but not as surprised that arguably the greatest golfer ever to grace the game eventually made the cut.

He once again hobbled his way around the third round, but thankfully he had the common sense to call it quits immediately after playing his 54th hole of the week in tournament play.

Tiger Woods wins Tour Championship.JPG

But with the US Open just three weeks later it was always going to be a push for Tiger to be fit enough to tee it up at Brookline, and his withdrawal on Tuesday was confirmed on Twitter when he posted, "I will not be competing in the US Open as my body needs more time to get stronger for major championship golf."

The 46-year-old added that he fully intends to play next month's Open Championship at St Andrew's, where he is currently available to back at 70.069/1.

DJ and Mickelson free to play

Johnson and Mickelson are just two of a handful of PGA Tour regulars who have decided to join the newly formed LIV Golf Tour with DJ taking it one step further by formally announcing that he had resigned from the PGA Tour earlier in the week.

It would have been a very controversial decision from the USGA to ban them from playing the US Open at such short notice and on Tuesday afternoon it was confirmed that they would be allowed to participate.

"Regarding players who may choose to play in London this week, we simply asked ourselves this question - should a player who had earned his way into the 2022 U.S. Open, via our published field criteria, be pulled out of the field as a result of his decision to play in another event? And we ultimately decided that they should not", the statement read.

Both players have already confirmed that they intend to be at Brookline next week with Johnson trading at 44.043/1 in the US Open Winner market, while Mickelson is 280.0279/1 to complete a very unlikely Career Grand Slam.

Market struggling to find a clear favourite

World number one Scottie Scheffler is the 15.014/1 favourite to win his second major of the season, but with just over a week to go before the tournament commences there is potential for him to be overhauled at the head of the market.

Jon Rahm and Scottie Scheffler.jpg

Rory McIlroy 16.015/1, and last month's USPGA Champion Justin Thomas 18.017/1 are both playing in this week's Canadian Open - along with Scheffler - and should any of the trio have a much better week than the other two, then a clear favourite could emerge.

Defending champion John Rahm is trading at 17.016/1, while Cameron Smith - also playing in Canada this week - can be backed at 21.020/1 currently. It's 26.025/1 bar the top five in the market.

US Open Winner Odds - Betfair Exchange