The US Open will next week return to Los Angeles for the first time in 75 years.

The shocking news that the US PGA Tour and DP World Tour were joining forces with the Saudi backers of rebel LIV Golf raised as many questions as it did answers.

Rory McIlroy, who has won four majors, helped the PGA Tour through two years of trouble. He says he thinks the deal will be good for golf, but he can’t help feeling “a little bit like a sacrificial lamb.”

“I’ve put myself out there and this is what happens,” McIlroy said when the deal was sprung on unsuspecting players on Tuesday.

He’s not the only fan of the PGA Tour who feels this way.

They and their LIV Golf peers, who are still banned from their old tours and the Ryder Cup, will play on a course that many of them have never seen before.

The exclusive club in posh Beverly Hills, which is close to Hollywood, did host a Walker Cup amateur match-play tournament in 2017. Two-time major champion Collin Morikawa and 2022 Masters champion Scottie Scheffler led the United States to victory over Britain and Ireland.

“I’ll first lay eyes on it when I get to LA,” McIlroy noted, although the intelligence he has received makes him think the classic par-70 layout could provide “one of the best US Opens there has been for awhile.”

Jon Rahm, from Spain, won his second major title at the Masters in April and will be the US Open champion in 2021. He said he was surprised that the US Golf Association could fit all of the required hospitality and viewing areas into the refined venue.

But Rahm said, “From a golf course point of view, the golf course is very good.” He was not worried about the notorious LA traffic.

High enough to bring the US Open to Los Angeles for the first time since 1948, when Ben Hogan won at Riviera Country Club.

In the 1920s, George Thomas designed three courses in the city of Los Angeles, California: Riviera, LA Country Club, and Bel-Air Country Club.

But Gil Hanse’s restoration of the North Course, which was finished in 2010, made it possible for LACC to host this major championship.

It will be a different look for the US Open, which is known for its tight fairways and thick rough.

Instead, golfers will see wide fairways and Bermuda grass rough that might look harmless but isn’t.

The test, on the other hand, is real and has challenging changes in elevation and slopes that remind me of Augusta National.

Brooks Koepka has won back-to-back US Opens in 2017 and 2018. He just won his fifth major title at the PGA Championship at Oak Hill, beating out Scheffler to become the first player with LIV to win a major title.

Early odds are on him, Scheffler, and Rahm to win. Tiger Woods, who has won 15 majors, won’t be there because he is still recovering from surgery on his right ankle, which was hurt in a car accident in April.

It wouldn’t be the US Open without a look at Phil Mickelson, who has won six majors and come in second place a record six times, but has never won his national open to complete a career Grand Slam.

Mickelson, who is 52, and Koepka tied for second place at the Masters. They are the leaders of a LIV Golf US Open challenge that also includes Cameron Smith, who won the British Open in 2022, Dustin Johnson, who won the US Open in 2011, and Sergio Garcia, who won the Masters in 2010.

After making it through qualifying in Texas last month, Garcia will play in the US Open for the 24th time in a row.

Matt Fitzpatrick of England will try to keep the title he won at Brookline last year.