See You Later

A poster inside the players' service tent at Brookline is full of signatures, while competitors – who may be parting ways soon – get in some work on the practice range. (Click on images to enlarge.)
BROOKLINE, MASSACHUSETTS | For all the things this U.S. Open could be, here’s another one:

It could be one of the last times when the best players in the world are together at the same place, at least for a while.

They will do it again next month at the Open Championship at the Old Course at St. Andrews but after that, the splintered world of professional golf will go its various ways, with some players chasing money and some chasing championships while the game endures what feels like a civil war.

The fissure is already bone-deep, with the new loyalists to LIV Golf and its Saudi-backed mega-millions on one side, the PGA Tour defenders on the other, the awkwardness as real as the deep tangles of fescue lining the fairways at The Country Club this week.

It’s possible the professional game will ne...