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Good Tuesday morning, golf fans, as we gear up for the third major of the year.

1. Remembering, contextualizing Homa’s LACC 61

PGATour.com’s Sean Martin…”Max Homa’s 61 in the first round of the 2013 Pac-12 Championship shocked everyone on site.”

• “Los Angeles Country Club, a clandestine club hidden in the midst of a city obsessed with fame, had not hosted an outside tournament for a half-century. But a new generation of members, with one eye toward hosting even bigger events, was eager to show off its recently-renovated course and change the reputation of a club once described as ‘aloof’ and ‘a cloistered enclave.’”

• “The proceedings did not begin as planned, however. Not after a college kid – not even the best player on his team – broke the course record in the opening round.”

• “Hosting a U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club had been discussed for decades. That score left some wondering if the new course could fulfill such aspirations.”

• …”The work on Los Angeles Country Club’s North Course had been performed by one of golf’s leading architects, Gil Hanse. He resuscitated a design blunted by the passing years and buried under soil and silt, restoring a rolling, rustic layout that blended beautifully with the surrounding topography while confronting players with the strategic quandaries that designer George C. Thomas was famous for.”

2. Senate scrutiny

Steve Gardner for USA Today…”The PGA Tour and LIV Golf may have already finalized the terms of their planned merger, but it won’t take place without a closer look from Capitol Hill.”

• “Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, said Monday the deal raises concerns “about the Saudi government’s role in influencing this effort and the risks posed by a foreign government entity assuming control over a cherished American institution.”

• “Blumenthal sent letters to both the PGA Tour and LIV Golf seeking records and emails about how the deal was reached and how the newly formed entity will be structured and operated.”

3. Final 6 in the field

Reuters report…”Emiliano Grillo was among the final six golfers to gain entry into this week’s U.S. Open.”

• “The USGA on Monday announced the three final exemptions as well as three alternates who will compete in the 156-man field in Los Angeles.”

• “Grillo, Pablo Larrazabal and Adam Schenk made the field once the updated Official World Golf Rankings were released, with the trio in the top 60.”

• …”The final three spots in the field went to Bastien Amat, Michael Kim and Maxwell Moldovan, who were first alternates coming out of qualifying.”

4. “Little 17”

Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine…”As the world’s best navigate the rookie U.S. Open venue’s par-4 17th hole, look right of the green and you’ll discover, somewhat hidden in the trees, the green to another hole, the one they call “Little 17.” The short par-3 was part of W. Herbert Fowler’s 1921 creation, but the controversial one-shotter went away as part of George C. Thomas Jr. and William P. Bell’s 1928 redesign – and it remained hidden until being brought back as an alternate hole in a 2010 restoration by Gil Hanse, Jim Wagner and Geoff Shackelford.”

• “The only word that I can think of to describe the hole is extreme,” Hanse said in a 2021 Fowler biography, comments that were reprinted in a recent USGA feature. “It’s extreme in its location, its diminutive nature, its contouring and the penalties it can extract. However, it is also extreme in the sense of joy it brings to those who are fortunate to be able to take on the challenges of this rediscovered gem.”

• “However, when it was first imagined by Fowler, who enlisted Thomas to supervise the 1921 reimagining of the original Beverly Course, “Little 17” incited more fury than joy. Prior to Thomas’ redesign, the North Course hosted the 1925 Cal State Open and 1926 Los Angeles Open, the inaugural edition of what is now called the Genesis Invitational, which the PGA Tour contests annually at nearby Riviera Country Club, another Thomas gem.”

5. Lynch: PGA Tour-PIF deal measured in lost reputations

Golfweek’s Eamon Lynch…”Regardless of what twists in the road lie ahead, the perception now exists that Saudi Arabia owns professional golf. Dunne has dismissed that notion, but he who signs billion-dollar checks – Al-Rumayyan, in this case – usually doesn’t concern himself with counting votes on the board. Once a safe place for corporations to park their marketing dollars, the sport is now a tainted space in which those who do business will face uncomfortable and unanswerable questions from their own stakeholders about human rights abuses, mass executions and sundry other atrocities.”

• “Monahan can point to savings in the deal – chiefly the billable hours at white-shoe law firms – but in so many other ways the costs are immeasurable. The association with an abhorrent regime will surface in every partner meeting, in mocking commentary every time the Tour positions itself as inclusive or forward-thinking. This moral aspect matters less to Tour members and executives. Monahan torched their trust, but anger dissipates. If the settlement promises money, then he can survive as commissioner. But his faintly anguished look while sitting next to Al-Rumayyan revealed a man fully aware that his reputation won’t endure the abject about-face he performed.”

6. Aiming for the HyFlyers

Golf Digest’s Joel Beall…”LIV Golf and Phil Mickelson’s HyFlyers team have been sued for copyright infringement.”

• “In a federal lawsuit filed at the end of last week in district court in New Jersey, Cool Brands Supply, a corporation in Argentina that specializes in skateboard lifestyle merchandise, accused LIV Golf and Mickelson of using a “nearly identical logo.” Attorneys for Cool Brands Supply allege “defendants’ adoption and use of their knockoff logo nearly twenty years after Plaintiff commenced use and in the face of Plaintiff’s federal trademark registration is not just reckless and inexplicable—it is willful infringement and unfair competition.”

7. Cam Smith thought golf’s merger news was a joke

Sky Sports Report…”Cameron Smith revealed he initially thought the news of golf’s merger was a joke before receiving a phone call from Yasir Al-Rumayyan outlining the situation.”

• “The announcement last week of the agreement between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), the backer of LIV Golf, took many within the sport and outside it by surprise.”

• “Smith, who defected to LIV after winning the Open Championship at St Andrews last year, admitted he was one of those who had no idea it was coming and did not believe it until PIF governor Al-Rumayyan contacted him.”

• “I guess the first reaction was I thought it was kind of a joke that had come out, and then [Al-Rumayyan] gave me a call and kind of explained what was going on,” Smith said at his press conference ahead of this week’s US Open.

• “He didn’t really explain too much. I think there’s still a lot of stuff to be worked out, and as time goes on, we’ll get to know more and more. But there are definitely a lot of curious players, I think, on both sides as to what the future is going to look like.”

8. Rory cancels pre-tournament press conference

Bunkered.co.uk Report…”Rory McIlroy was due to speak to the media on Tuesday ahead of this week’s US Open Championship.”

• “That now looks like it WON’T be happening.”

• “The four-time major champion has reportedly cancelled his scheduled pre-tournament press conference.”

• “The move comes just a week after the PGA Tour announced its intention to partner with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) in a surprise move that promises to bring an end to a year of division in men’s professional golf.”

9. Rory to play with Brooks

Ryan Young for Yahoo Sports…”The golf gods (or NBC) were smiling Monday when the pairings were released for the 123rd U.S. Open.”

• “Teeing off together in the afternoon at Los Angeles Country Cub will be Rory McIlroy and Brooks Koepka, two of the central players in the PGA Tour versus LIV Golf battle that has been waged over the last year and a half.”

• “Naturally, that should make for some extra entertainment in Southern California this week.”