2022 U.S. Open: What are some of the most interesting groups to follow Thursday and Friday?

The 2022 U.S. Open begins Thursday with Boston-area native Michael Thorbjornsen, the 2018 U.S. Junior Amateur champion, teeing it up on the first hole at 6:45 a.m.

Thursday early tee times

At 7:18 a.m., Collin Morikawa, Jon Rahm, and James Piot, the reigning Open Championship, U.S. Open, and U.S. Amateur champions will go off on the first tee directly before Jordan Spieth, Adam Scott and Max Homa, who posted on Twitter what he considers to be the common denominator of his group:

Billy Horschel, Patrick Cantlay and Daniel Berger are three of the names being mentioned as possible winners on Sunday and they will start their round at 7:40 a.m.

At almost the same time on the 10th hole, Rory McIlroy, the recent RBC Canadian Open winner, will play with Hideki Matsuyama, a two-time PGA Tour winner this season, and Olympic gold medalist Xander Schauffele will play together in one of the featured groups of the morning.

Thursday afternoon tee times

Notable afternoon groups include FedExCup No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, Players Championship winner Cameron Smith, and two-time U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka, who will start their round on the back nine at 1:25 p.m.

Justin Thomas, winner of the PGA Championship at Southern Hills, Viktor Hovland and RBC Canadian Open runner-up Tony Finau will get their round started on the first hole at 1:14 p.m.

At 1:36 p.m.Matt Fitzpatrick, Webb Simpson and Dustin Johnson, who recently chose the LIV Invitational over the PGA will be a very interesting group to follow. The same is true for the 1:47 p.m. group consisting of LIV Invitational defector Phil Mickelson, Shane Lowry of Ireland, and Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa.

Coverage begins at 7:45 a.m. as professional and amateur golfers from 26 different countries look to come out on top at Brookline on Sunday.