Among the four majors, the U.S. Open usually has the most interesting groupings. Time and care are put in by the USGA to put threesomes together for the first two days that are fun for the players and bring extra intrigue for the fans.
This year appears to be no different. On Thursday, groupings were announced for the first two rounds of next week’s U.S. Open at Erin Hills.
Bullets
- Last Three Champs: One grouping contains the winners of the last three U.S. Opens. World No. 1 Dustin Johnson (2016), Jordan Spieth (2015), and Martin Kaymer (2014), tee off at 9:35 AM on Thursday.
- The Intrigue: The big question for when the groupings were being put together: when will Phil Mickelson tee off? Mickelson is unlikely to play, opting to attend his oldest daughter’s high school graduation instead, but there was talk that if Phil got a late tee time and a little bit of luck from mother nature (there is a 20% chance of thunderstorms right now), he might be able to just catch his tee time.
- Late Start: Phil got his wish (sort of): He is set to tee off at 2:20 PM local time, the third-to-last tee time of the day (for some reason the USGA didn’t slot him dead last at 2:42 PM). With the graduation slated to happen at 12 PM local time, it still looks like a stretch, but Phil isn’t withdrawing yet. He is currently paired with Steve Stricker and Stewart Cink.
- All World: The grouping that immediately precedes the Mickelson threesome is one of the better ones: World No. 2 Rory McIlroy tees off with Jason Day (No. 3) and Justin Rose (No. 11) at 2:09 PM.
- Green Jacket Winners: 2017 Masters champion Sergio Garcia will play with two fellow Green Jacket winners, Bubba Watson and Adam Scott. This trio tees off at 1:36 PM.
- Under the Radar: World No. 10 Jon Rahm, who already has six top-5 finishes this year, is grouped with Hideki Matsuyama (No. 4) and Rickie Fowler (No. 9) at 7:51 AM. This is the only group with three players all ranked inside the world top-10. Although Fowler missed the cut at the St Jude Classic so he may fall out on Monday.
Quotable
“Maybe I’ll fly up and be on Golf Channel. I can tell everybody how to finish second.”
–Phil Mickelson
Tee Times, Thursday, Round One
U.S. Open, Erin Hills, June 15, 2017
No. 1 Tee
6:45 AM — Jordan Niebrugge, Talor Gooch, Kevin Dougherty
6:56 AM — Andres Romero, Brice Garnett, Player TBD
7:07 AM — Yusaku Miyazato, J.T. Poston, Aaron Rai
7:18 AM — David Lingmerth, Paul Dunne, Haotong Li
7:29 AM — Stewart Hagestad (a), Chez Reavie, Gene Sauers
7:40 AM — Brandt Snedeker, Alex Noren, Tyrrell Hatton
7:51 AM — Rafa Cabrera Bello, Thomas Pieters, Brooks Koepka
8:02 AM — Gary Woodland, J.B. Holmes, Jason Kokrak
8:13 AM — Russell Knox, Scott Gregory (a), Martin Laird
8:24 AM — Kevin Kisner, Billy Horschel, Branden Grace
8:35 AM — Webb Simpson, Ernie Els, Lucas Glover
8:46 AM — Tyson Alexander, Christopher Crawford (a), Max Greyserman
8:57 AM — Matthew Campbell, Garrett Osborn, Walker Lee (a)
12:30 PM — Jack Maguire, Corey Conners, Ben Kohles
12:41 PM — Eddie Pepperell, Chan Kim, Player TBD
12:52 PM — Jhonattan Vegas, Yuta Ikeda, Sean O’Hair
1:03 PM — Andrew Johnston, Brian Stuard, George Coetzee
1:14 PM — Marc Leishman, Pat Perez, Si Woo Kim
1:25 PM — Russell Henley, Scottie Scheffler (a), Harris English
1:36 PM — Bubba Watson, Adam Scott, Sergio Garcia
1:47 PM — Henrik Stenson, Charl Schwartzel, Louis Oosthuizen
1:58 PM — Jimmy Walker, Justin Thomas, Paul Casey
2:09 PM — Jason Day, Justin Rose, Rory McIlroy
2:20 PM — Steve Stricker, Stewart Cink, Phil Mickelson
2:31 PM — Ryan Brehm, John Oda (a), Jonathan Randolph
2:42 PM — Mason Anderson (a), Derek Barron, Roman Robledo
No. 10 Tee
6:45 AM — Player TBD, Ted Potter Jr., Daniel Chopra
6:56 AM — Shugo Imahira, Player TBD, Matthew Wallace
7:07 AM — Charley Hoffman, Jason Dufner, Hideto Tanihara
7:18 AM — Jeunghun Wang, Thomas Aiken, Bradley Dredge
7:29 AM — Scott Harvey (a), Jamie Lovemark, Michael Putnam
7:40 AM — Brian Harman, Tommy Fleetwood, Bud Cauley
7:51 AM — Hideki Matsuyama, Rickie Fowler, Jon Rahm
8:02 AM — Lee Westwood, Ross Fisher, Graeme McDowell
8:13 AM — Danny Willett, Zach Johnson, Angel Cabrera
8:24 AM — Matt Kuchar, Francesco Molinari, Patrick Reed
8:35 AM — Martin Kaymer, Jordan Spieth, Dustin Johnson
8:46 AM — Joaquin Niemann (a), Stephan Jaeger, Joel Stalter
8:57 AM — Daniel Miernicki, Sahith Theegala (a), Player TBD
12:30 PM — Wade Ormsby, Oliver Bekker, Kyle Thompson
12:41 PM — Brandon Stone, Troy Merritt, Player TBD
12:52 PM — Satoshi Kodaira, Daniel Summerhays, Alexander Levy
1:03 PM — William McGirt, Keegan Bradley, Kevin Na
1:14 PM — Brad Dalke (a), Wesley Bryan, Brendan Steele
1:25 PM — Nick Flanagan, Richie Ramsay, Bryson DeChambeau
1:36 PM — Daniel Berger, Roberto Castro, Bill Haas
1:47 PM — Adam Hadwin, Emiliano Grillo, Cheng-Tsung Pan
1:58 PM — Scott Piercy, Shane Lowry, Jim Furyk
2:09 PM — Matthew Fitzpatrick, Peter Uihlein, Byeong Hun An
2:20 PM — Kevin Chappell, Maverick McNealy (a), Bernd Wiesberger
2:31 PM — Xander Schauffele, Trey Mullinax, Chameron Champ (a)
2:42 PM — Sam Ryder, Alex Smalley (a), Andy Pope