“We’ll be sick of each other” – Rory McIlroy given welcome US Open tee time

After an early visit before the RBC Canadian Open, Rory McIlroy was back on the grounds at Oakmont Country Club on Tuesday morning.

The Masters champion was playing a practice round on the notorious Pittsburgh layout with his good friend Shane Lowry, and planned to play with his fellow Irishman on Wednesday too.

Little did the pair know that they’d also be spending Thursday and Friday together.

In what can surely be described as a comfortable draw, McIlroy will begin the third major of the season alongside Lowry and his Masters playoff rival Justin Rose.

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“We’re practising tomorrow morning again, so we’ll be sick of each other by Friday,” Lowry told the Irish Independent at Oakmont.

“But hopefully we both play well and give ourselves a run at the weekend. I played with Rory in the first two rounds of Bay Hill this year and I was well up there.

“I love playing with Rory, and I think we’ve got a great group there with Justin Rose as well. Everybody gets on very well, but when you’re out there, there’s not too much chit-chat. There’s not much fun out there. But it will be nice.”

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With the weather set fair for the opening two rounds, McIlroy, Lowry and Rose will be off at 7:40am (12:40pm UK time) from the 10th on Thursday and 1.25pm (6:25pm UK time) from the first on Friday.

It looks like McIlroy is making another driver change for the Oakmont test, where rough measuring five inches makes finding the fairway off the tee essential.

After the head of his beloved TaylorMade Qi10 driver was deemed non-conforming at the PGA Championship, he switched to the Qi35 model last week in Canada.

But after that disastrous experiment, he is back again with the Qi10 in Pennsylvania.

Ben Parsons is the Senior Writer at bunkered and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.