LOUISVILLE:
Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson have been paired together for the first two rounds of the 96th PGA Championship, announced the PGA of America.
Groups revealed for next Thursday and Friday at the year’s final major at Valhalla Golf Club also saw the traditional pairing of the three major winners from earlier this year.
Mickelson and Woods will be joined by Irishman Padraig Harrington.
That trio tees off Thursday at 8:35 local time in the morning from the 10th tee and Friday at 1:45 in the afternoon off the first tee.
Woods, who won the 2000 PGA Championship at Valhalla, has a chequered history with Mickelson, notably a Ryder Cup pairing in which he delivered a death-stare glance at Mickelson in a foursomes match after the left-hander sent his tee shot into the deep rough.
Reigning Masters champion Bubba Watson of the US, US Open winner Martin Kaymer of Germany and Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy, winner of last month’s British Open, will start off the first tee at 1:45 in the afternoon Thursday and off the 10th tee at 8:35 Friday morning.
Jason Dufner, last year’s PGA Championship winner, is paired with Keegan Bradley, who beat Dufner in a playoff to win the 2011 PGA Championship, and South Korean Yang Yong-Eun, who became the first Asian man to win a major by capturing the 2009 PGA Championship at Hazeltine.
They start at 1:55 Thursday afternoon off the first tee and 8:45 Friday morning off the 10th tee, just behind the three 2014 major winners.
Two other back-to-back groups will be notable as well.
American Rickie Fowler will be joined by South Africa’s Ernie Els and France’s Victor Dubuisson. And one group behind them will be top-ranked Adam Scott of Australia, American Jordan Spieth and England’s Lee Westwood.
Sizzling Sergio seizes Bridgestone lead
Sergio Garcia surged to the top of the Bridgestone Invitational leaderboard with a sensational nine-under par 61 on Friday that included eight back-nine birdies.
The Spaniard was a sedate one-under for the day through nine after a birdie at the second hole. But he caught fire after the turn at Firestone Country Club.
A birdie at 10 was followed by a par at 11, before Garcia raced home with birdies at the last seven holes to match the course record and build a 36-hole total of 11-under 129.
He was three strokes ahead of England’s Justin Rose, who posted a three-under 67 for 132.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 3rd, 2014.
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