TRADITIONALLY THE FINAL golf Major of the year, the PGA Championship tees off at Bethpage Black in New York on Thursday with all eyes on Tiger Woods after his sensational return to the winners’ circle at the Masters.
Ireland’s Padraig Harrington, Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry and Graeme McDowell discovered their tee times for the opening rounds last night.
Lowry will be the first of the Irish contingent to tee off, beginning from the 10th tee in a group with England’s Tommy Fleetwood and South Africa’s Erik Van Rooyen from 12.29 Irish time (07.29 local).
McDowell will also be out early in the morning, from 12.50 Irish time, while Harrington play alongside Martin Kaymer and Keegan Bradley from 18.05 Irish time. To be followed half an hour later by Rory McIlroy with Phil Mickelson and Jason Day.
Woods, meanwhile, will set out in a tantalising early duel with Francesco Molinari and Brooks Koepka — the last three Major winners tee off from the 10th tee at 13.24 Irish time.
At 43, Woods is pushing for a 16th Major and he is one of five players who could be the world number one with a win this weekend.
Selected Thursday (local) tee times for USPGA Championship
First Tee
7:51: Graeme McDowell (NIR), Chez Reavie (USA), Brendan Jones (AUS)
8:02: Tyrrell Hatton (ENG), Russell Knox (SCO), Li Haotong (CHN)
12:32: Emiliano Grillo (ARG), Daniel Berger (USA), Paul Casey (ENG)
12:43: Tony Finau (USA), Billy Horschel (USA), Ian Poulter (ENG)
12:54: Matt Fitzpatrick (ENG), Rafa Cabrera Bello (ESP), Gary Woodland (USA)
1:05: Padraig Harrington (IRL), Martin Kaymer (GER), Keegan Bradley (USA)
1:16: Jon Rahm (ESP), Dustin Johnson (USA), Jordan Spieth (USA)
1:27: Pat Perez (USA), Kevin Kisner (USA), Bryson DeChambeau (USA)
1:38: Rory McIlroy (NIR), Phil Mickelson (USA), Jason Day (AUS)
10th Tee
6:56: Thomas Pieters (BEL), Patton Kizzire (USA), Adam Hadwin (CAN)
7:18: Henrik Stenson (SWE), David Lipsky (USA), Richard Sterne (RSA)
7:29: Shane Lowry (IRL), Erik Van Rooyen (RSA), Tommy Fleetwood (ENG)
7:40: Sergio Garcia (ESP), Kelly Kraft (USA), Adam Scott (AUS)
7:51: Charley Hoffman (USA), Louis Oosthuizen (RSA), Patrick Reed (USA)
8:02: Rickie Fowler (USA), Bubba Watson (USA), Justin Rose (ENG)
8:13: Xander Schauffele (USA), Hideki Matsuyama (JPN), Alex Noren (SWE)
8:24: Brooks Koepka (USA), Francesco Molinari (ITA), Tiger Woods (USA)
1:05: Steve Stricker (USA), Brian Harman (USA), Patrick Cantlay (USA)
1:38: Danny Willett (ENG), Webb Simpson (USA), Zach Johnson (USA)
Tough blow to lose so many important players. Molony and Penny were two of the stars of the 6 Nations while Byrne and Hackshaw were key playmakers at 10 and 12 with Hacksahw being the captain. I’d fancy Allison to come into the backrow instead of Molony without too much drop off in quality as he might have started if he’d been fit for the 6 Nations. Replacing Penny is nigh on impossible but Healy and French/Moore will do a fine job coming in at 10 and 12. The issue will be the lack of depth now we’re down some big players and guys having so many big games in such a short period of time.
Its concerning the amount of serious injuries in a young squad like that already
One “IQ” player is that a good return should there be more
@Exiled Dub: why should there be more?
also Iwan Hughes is a IQ rugby product who is with Ulster now.
I wonder how the other home countries are getting on, say England next week ?? Do we have the worst list ???)
@Martin Quinn: A few injuries and also the unavailability of #10 Marcus Smith because he’s playing for England development XV vs the Barbarians ! A disappointing priority for the rest of the squad, I imagine.
See https://www.englandrugby.com/news/england-men-u20s-squad-update/
@Martin Quinn: No mention of Australian injuries here:
https://www.rugby.com.au/news/2019/05/07/world-u20-championships-junior-wallabies-squad
They beat NZ 24-0 in a final recently !
@Martin Quinn: Italy had to omit 3 injured players who were “more or less important”. See:
https://www.federugby.it/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=112&Itemid=427
So my guess is that our missing 5, 6, 7, 10 and 12 represent the greatest omissions in our group.
Ah well, cometh the hour, cometh the man …
@Martin Quinn: https://u20rugby.wordpress.com if you’re interested keep an eye on this
@Glenbower:
Thanks for that :: Glen
@Eddie Hekenui:
Thanks for that :: EDDIE