Editor's note: Unlike on the PGA TOUR, where pairings are generated automatically based on exemption categories, the United States Golf Association can use its own discretion in making tee times for the U.S. Open. Here are some of the more interesting ones the USGA came up with for Winged Foot. For complete pairings, click here.
7:33 a.m. (No. 1, Thursday) and 1:03 p.m. (No. 10, Friday) Vijay Singh, Shingo Katayama, David Toms | |
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Two of the pre-tournament favorites in Toms and Singh play with the smiling player from Japan who always sports a trademark cowboy hat. Singh has won three majors while Toms won the 2001 PGA Championship where Katayama tied for fourth. |
8:06 a.m. (No. 1, Thursday) and 1:36 p.m. (No. 10, Friday) Fred Couples, Jose Maria Olazabal, Mike Weir | |
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Another pairing of major champions features some of the most popular players in the game. The fans from north of the border will have a short commute to New York to see Weir play, and he's playing much better this year. Couples contended at the Masters, as did Olazabal, so it should be an interesting group. |
8:17 a.m. (No. 1, Thursday) and 1:47 p.m. (No. 10, Friday) Davis Love III, Justin Leonard, Nick Price | |
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Love won the last major championship played at Winged Foot -- and guess what? He beat Justin Leonard there by five strokes to earn the 1997 PGA Championship. Price turns 50 in January, but he's one of those players who hasn't let age take its toll and has the fairways and greens game it takes to contend. |
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9:12 a.m. (No. 1, Thurs.) and 2:42 p.m. (No. 10, Fri.): John Koskinen, A-Tadd Fujikawa, Stephen Woodard |
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The focus in this group of qualifiers will be Fukjikawa, the 15-year-old Hawaiian who beat out nine others with rounds of 71 and 70 to secure his berth. |
12:52 p.m. (No. 1, Thursday) and 7:22 a.m. (No. 10, Friday) Ben Crane, Mark Calcavecchia, Mark Brooks | |
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Two of the game's more deliberate players are paired with one of the fastest. Calcavecchia's patience may be tested but Winged Foot should provide enough of a challenge that his mind won't be able to wander. |
1:03 p.m. (No. 1, Thursday) and 7:33 a.m. (No. 10, Friday) Jay Haas, Joey Sindelar, Tom Lehman | |
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Three of the game's nicest players and most respected elder statesmen can be found in this group. Lehman still has a chance to make the U.S. Ryder Cup team he will captain in September. Haas, at 52, successfully qualified for the U.S. Open eight days after he made the Senior PGA Championship his third straight Champions Tour victory. The 48-year-old Sindelar will be a favorite of the New Yorkers. |
1:25 p.m. (No. 1, Thurs.) and 7:55 a.m. (No. 10, Fri.) Tiger Woods, A-Edoardo Molinari, Michael Campbell | |
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Tiger Woods -- need we say more? The game's No. 1 player is playing in his first tournament since the Masters, and the death of his father. The reigning British Open champ finds himself in the marquee pairing that always features the defending U.S. Open champion (Campbell) and the last U.S. Amateur winner (Molinari). |
1:58 p.m. (No. 1, Thursday) and 8:28 a.m. (No. 10, Friday) Tim Herron, Carl Pettersson, Kevin Stadler | |
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These three may not have hit the fitness trailer as much as some of the others on the PGA TOUR, but they can play. Herron won the Bank of America Colonial while Pettersson captured the Memorial Tournament two weeks later. Stadler won the Johnnie Walker Classic on the European Tour this year. |
7:55 a.m. (No. 10, Thursday) and 1:25 p.m. (No. 1, Friday) Phil Mickelson, Tim Clark, Thomas Bjorn | |
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The bulk of the attention here will be on Mickelson, and rightly so. He's won the last two major championships, after all. Bjorn and Clark played prominent roles in each of those, though. The Dane tied for second at the PGA Championship at Baltusrol last fall while Clark was second at the Masters this spring. |
8:17 a.m. (No. 10, Thursday) and 1:47 p.m. (No. 1, Friday) Luke Donald, Trevor Immelman, Zach Johnson | |
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You can watch three of the game's top young players in this pairing. None have won a major yet, but all three have the kind of credentials to contend. Donald won The Honda Classic earlier this year. Immelman has put together back-to-back second-place finishes on TOUR within the last five weeks and Johnson has been solid all year as he bids to make his first Ryder Cup team. |
8:28 a.m. (No. 10, Thursday) and 1:58 p.m. (No. 1, Friday) Retief Goosen, Stewart Cink, Padraig Harrington | |
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Goosen is a two-time U.S. Open champion. His first came in a playoff over Mark Brooks in 2001 and the second was a two-stroke victory over Phil Mickelson in 2004 at Shinnecock Hills. Cink would have been in that 2001 playoff had it not been for a double bogey on the 72nd hole. Harrington is one of Europe's brightest hopes to break a major drought at the U.S. Open that stretches back to Tony Jacklin in 1970. |
1:14 p.m. (No. 10, Thursday) and 7:44 a.m. (No. 1, Friday) J.B. Holmes, Camilo Villegas, Scott Hend | |
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A trio of the game's biggest hitters should attract the crowds. Hend, who is playing the Nationwide Tour this year, averages 315 yards off the tee while Holmes checks in at 312.3 and Villegas 306.8. Holmes won the FBR Open by seven strokes earlier this year while Villegas, also a TOUR rookie, has three top-three finishes already. |
1:47 p.m. (No. 10, Thursday) and 8:17 a.m. (No. 1, Friday) Ernie Els, Chris DiMarco, K.J. Choi | |
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Like his fellow countryman Retief Goosen, Els is a two-time U.S. Open champion with victories in 1994 and '97. He's been slow to regain his form after knee surgery but his immense talent and affable nature make him a fan favorite. DiMarco, the hero of the 2005 Presidents Cup, is trying to play his way onto the Ryder Cup Team, so a top-10 finish would go a long way. |
