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Two-time major winner Dustin Johnson and 2021 US Amateur champion James Piot led 15 LIV Golf Series players by cracking par in Thursday's first round of the US Open.
Johnson fired a two-under par 68 at The Country club to share seventh, two strokes behind leader Adam Hadwin of Canada, with fellow American Piot on 69 to share 14th.
But the Saudi-backed upstart group's talent went a combined 53-over par on Thursday, including Phil Mickelson firing an eight-over 78 on his 52nd birthday to share 144th place.
South African Louis Oosthuizen shot 77, Australia's Jed Morgan had an 82, Spain's Sergio Garcia shot 74 and South African Branden Grace was on 76 after sharing third in last week's LIV Golf debut event in England.
Golf's great divide was a major sub-plot as LIV Golf rebels and US PGA Tour stars were both allowed in the field of 156.
The US Golf Association chose not to follow a PGA Tour ban of 17 golfers who played in last week's LIV Golf debut in England, instead staying faithful to this year's US Open qualifying standards.
LIV Golf offers the largest purses in the sport's history at $25 million per regular-season event, $7.5 million more than this week's US Open prize money total.
England's Matt Fitzpatrick, who won the 2013 US Amateur at The Country Club, played alongside Johnson and said there was nothing awkward just because the American had jumped from the PGA to LIV.
"No. No. DJ is still DJ," Fitzpatrick said. "I really enjoy playing with DJ. He is a great guy, and he compliments you on good shots, which is more than some players do. In my opinion, he's a down-to-earth guy."
Johnson, who won $625 000 for taking eighth at the LIV Golf opener, missed the green and made bogey at the par-3 second but birdied from 10 feet at the third and rolled in a four-footer at the par-5 eighth. He missed the green at the par-3 11th for another bogey but landed approaches just inside five feet to set up a birdie at 13 and outside five feet ahead of a birdie at 17.
Piot, who shared 25th at the LIV opener, had three birdies and two bogeys in matching playing partners Jon Rahm and Collin Morikawa.
"I think he played the best of the three of us," second-ranked defending champion Rahm said. "He definitely had a chance to shoot lower than both Collin and I."
Many LIV players had brisker breezes with afternoon starts. Morgan had seven bogeys with a double bogey and triple bogey.
Kevin Na, who shared 33rd at the LIV opener, started off the 10th tee and birdied three of his first five holes to join the leaders, only to make a double bogey at the 15th and follow with three straight bogeys then three more on the front nine to fire a 75.
66 - Adam Hadwin (CAN)
67 - MJ Daffue (RSA), David Lingmerth (SWE), Joel Dahmen (USA), Rory McIlroy (NIR), Callum Tarren (ENG)
68 - Justin Rose (ENG), Matthew Fitzpatrick (ENG), Brian Harman (USA), Dustin Johnson (USA), Matthew NeSmith (USA), Aaron Wise (USA), Hayden Buckley (USA)
69 - Jason Kokrak (USA), Gary Woodland (USA), Justin Thomas (USA), Beau Hossler (USA), Patrick Rodgers (USA), Max Homa (USA), Will Zalatoris (USA), Nick Hardy (USA), Collin Morikawa (USA), James Piot (USA), Adam Scott (AUS), Jon Rahm (ESP)
70 - Hideki Matsuyama (JPN), Marc Leishman (AUS), Guillermo Pereira (CHI), Shaun Norris (RSA), Viktor Hovland (NOR), Adam Schenk (USA), Webb Simpson (USA), Patrick Reed (USA), Keegan Bradley (USA), Daniel Berger (USA), Scottie Scheffler (USA), Xander Schauffele (USA), Wyndham Clark (USA), Sam Bennett (USA), Travis Vick (USA), Richard Bland (ENG)
71 - Cameron Tringale (USA), Matt McCarty (USA), Joseph Bramlett (USA), Sam Burns (USA), Erik Barnes (USA), Sam Stevens (USA), Bryson DeChambeau (USA), Brandon Matthews (USA), Wil Besseling (NED), Lee Kyung-Hoon (KOR), Sebastian Sderberg (SWE), Joaquin Niemann (CHI), Corey Conners (CAN), Todd Sinnott (AUS), Seamus Power (IRL)
72 - Shane Lowry (IRL), Guido Migliozzi (ITA), Cameron Smith (AUS), Thomas Pieters (BEL), Adrien Dumont de Chassart (BEL), Mackenzie Hughes (CAN), Benjamin Silverman (CAN), Im Sung-Jae (KOR), Joohyung Kim (KOR), Harold Varner III (USA), Davis Riley (USA), Cameron Young (USA), Taylor Montgomery (USA), Austin Greaser (USA), Luke List (USA), Jordan Spieth (USA), Andrew Putnam (USA), Patrick Cantlay (USA), Lanto Griffin (USA), Bo Hoag (USA), Tommy Fleetwood (ENG), Tyrrell Hatton (ENG)
73 - Sam Horsfield (ENG), Tony Finau (USA), Kevin Chappell (USA), Brian Stuard (USA), Harris English (USA), Brooks Koepka (USA), Chan Kim (USA), Chris Naegel (USA), Denny McCarthy (USA), Stewart Cink (USA), Billy Horschel (USA), Andrew Novak (USA), Christopher Gotterup (USA), Stewart Hagestad (USA), Kevin Kisner (USA), Tom Hoge (USA), Alexander Norn (SWE), Nick Taylor (CAN), Min Woo Lee (AUS), Francesco Molinari (ITA), Victor Perez (FRA), Keita Nakajima (JPN), Daijiro Izumida (JPN)
74 - Satoshi Kodaira (JPN), Tomoyasu Sugiyama (JPN), Sergio Garcia (ESP), Lucas Herbert (AUS), Juan Sebastin Muoz (COL), Ryan Fox (NZL), Talor Gooch (USA), Kurt Kitayama (USA), Davis Shore (USA), Ryan Gerard (USA), Jim Furyk (USA), Scott Stallings (USA), Chase Seiffert (USA), Patton Kizzire (USA), Harry Hall (ENG)
75 - Laird Shepherd (ENG), William Mouw (USA), Kevin Na (USA), Troy Merritt (USA), Grayson Murray (USA), Maxwell Moldovan (USA), Jonas Blixt (SWE), Thorbjoern Olesen (DEN)
76 - Adri Arnaus (ESP), Jinichiro Kozuma (JPN), Roger Sloan (CAN), Branden Grace (RSA), Danny Lee (NZL), Kim Si-Woo (KOR), Fran Quinn (USA), Russell Henley (USA), Charles Reiter (USA), Luke Gannon (USA), Brady Calkins (USA)
77 - Michael Thorbjornsen (USA), Andrew Beckler (USA), Ben Lorenz (USA), Louis Oosthuizen (RSA), Sepp Straka (AUT), Rikuya Hoshino (JPN), Kalle Samooja (FIN), Yannik Paul (GER), Richard Mansell (ENG)
78 - Sean Jacklin (SCO), Marcel Schneider (GER), Erik Van Rooyen (RSA), Phil Mickelson (USA), Nick Dunlap (USA)
79 - Isaiah Salinda (USA), Fred Biondi (BRA)
80 - Jesse Mueller (USA)
82 - Jediah Morgan (AUS)
83 - Sean Crocker (USA), Caleb Manuel (USA), Keith Greene (USA)
