PGA Championship: Tiger Woods out with Koepka and Molinari in early start
By Keith Jackson
Last Updated: 13/05/19 10:04am
Tiger Woods will be among the early starters for the first round of the 101st PGA Championship at Bethpage Black in New York next week.
Woods will make his first appearance since his historic Masters victory last month and will be accompanied by defending champion Brooks Koepka and Open holder Francesco Molinari when they begin the second major of the year from the 10th tee at 8:24am local time - 1:24pm BST.
The PGA of America have retained the tradition that the holders of the three other majors play the first two rounds together, and the marquee threeball will tee off two groups after world No 2 Justin Rose heads out with Rickie Fowler and Bubba Watson.
Koepka held off a valiant final-round charge from Woods to land his second major of 2018 at Bellerive last August, and he gets the chance to defend his crown just nine months later with the tournament being brought forward to mid-May for the first time.
Two-time PGA champion Rory McIlroy, still without a major victory since lifting the Wanamaker Trophy at Valhalla in 2014, goes off in the afternoon wave and will be partnered by 2005 winner Phil Mickelson and Jason Day, who claimed his maiden major in this event in 2015.
McIlroy, Mickelson and Day will go off the first tee at 6:38pm BST, with Jordan Spieth beginning his latest quest to complete a Grand Slam of majors 22 minutes earlier, with Dustin Johnson and Jon Rahm for company.
Other notable threesomes include Group 19 at 12:40pm, which features Masters champions Sergio Garcia and Adam Scott along with 2017 PGA winner Justin Thomas, while this week's British Masters host Tommy Fleetwood plays in the group beforehand with Shane Lowry and Erik Van Rooyen.
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Meanwhile, Sky Sports commentator and 2002 PGA champion Rich Beem got his wish as he was grouped with 1991 winner John Daly, who has been granted permission to use a golf cart due to a chronic knee problem.
Beem tweeted earlier this week that he "really hoped to be paired with my pal", and included a video of a cart crashing at high speed on the golf course.
"I hope I don't get a lot of grief from the fans," Daly said after the PGA of America revealed he would be able to make us of the cart. "My knee is screwed. I had the meniscus cut out and I have osteoarthritis so bad ... I can walk up a hill, I just can't walk down one."
But the decision was criticised in some quarters, with six-time major champion Sir Nick Faldo saying: "I think walking is an integral part of being a pro golfer. I'll leave it at that."
