US Open pairings often are fun, as the USGA expresses its often non-existent sense of humor in the groupings. In the past, they’ve created what fans and sportswriters recognized as the “jerk” group, or the “best players to not win a Major group,” and so on. This year, I can immediately see a couple, although they’re pretty mild: There’s a past winners group of Jim Furyk, Retief Goosen, and Angel Cabrera and an All-Aussie group of Adam Scott, Geoff Ogilvy, and Robert Allenby.
Sergio, Steve Stricker and Paul Casey might be in the “best not to win a major group.” Phil, Yang and Harrington might be the Tiger’s Enemies list. Stewart Cink, Ben An, Lucas Glover are all reigning champs—of the Open Championship, US Amateur and US Open.
They didn’t pair Tiger with Phil, but they did stick him in a group with two solid family men, Ernie Els and Lee Westwood. I wonder if that’s an accident, or if they’re simply pairing the slumping superstar with a couple of rising players. Ernie had a hot beginning of the year, and Lee has been playing very well of late.
The complete list is below. See if you can spot any trends and leave a comment:
| GROUP | TEE | TIME | PLAYERS | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 7:00 | D. Pappas | G. Woodland | P. Sheehan |
| 2 | 10 | 7:00 | R. Cabrera-bello | J. Mallinger | S. Allan |
| 3 | 1 | 7:11 | S. Marino | G. Havret | C. Warren |
| 4 | 10 | 7:11 | M. Ilonen | D. Lamely | J. Morrison |
| 5 | 1 | 7:22 | T. Taniguchi | S. Hansen | E. Molinari |
| 6 | 10 | 7:22 | B. Gay | S. Khan | B. Van Pelt |
| 7 | 1 | 7:33 | F. Molinari | S. Kjeldsen | H. Fujita |
| 8 | 10 | 7:33 | C. Villegas | Z. Johnson | L. Donald |
| 9 | 1 | 7:44 | T. Clark | K. Choi | M. Weir |
| 10 | 10 | 7:44 | R. Goosen | J. Furyk | A. Cabrera |
| 11 | 1 | 7:55 | A. Scott | G. Ogilvy | R. Allenby |
| 12 | 10 | 7:55 | S. Appleby | R. Sabbatini | S. Ames |
| 13 | 1 | 8:06 | M. Kuchar | J. Leonard | S. Verplank |
| 14 | 10 | 8:06 | P. Mickelson | P. Harrington | Y. Yang |
| 15 | 1 | 8:17 | S. Cink | A – B. An | L. Glover |
| 16 | 10 | 8:17 | D. Frost | K. Yokoo | E. Axley |
| 17 | 1 | 8:28 | I. Poulter | Y. Ikeda | H. Stenson |
| 18 | 10 | 8:28 | N. Watney | H. Mahan | R. Barnes |
| 19 | 1 | 8:39 | T. Immelman | R. Karlsson | D. Toms |
| 20 | 10 | 8:39 | J. Dufner | T. Jaidee | R. McGowan |
| 21 | 1 | 8:50 | J. Gore | A. Atwal | J. Herman |
| 22 | 10 | 8:50 | K. Na | A – B. Martin | M. Bettencourt |
| 23 | 1 | 9:01 | A – A. Putnam | T. Tryon | H. Leon |
| 24 | 10 | 9:01 | C. Barlow | K. Jones | R. Gates |
| 25 | 1 | 9:12 | K. Eger | A. Martin | J. Curran |
| 26 | 10 | 9:12 | D. McCarthy | A – J. Bramlett | T. Hampshire |
| 27 | 1 | 12:30 | S. Wheatcroft | A – M. Hoffmann | R. Karlberg |
| 28 | 10 | 12:30 | T. Pilkadaris | R. Barcelo | G. Boyd |
| 29 | 1 | 12:41 | M. Leishman | R. Echenique | J. Rollins |
| 30 | 10 | 12:41 | J. Lucquin | C. Stroud | G. Maybin |
| 31 | 1 | 12:52 | R. Mediate | G. McDowell | S. Micheel |
| 32 | 10 | 12:52 | S. Dyson | J. Henry | A. Cejka |
| 33 | 1 | 1:03 | D. Duval | T. Lehman | B. Curtis |
| 34 | 10 | 1:03 | M. Campbell | S. Noh | P. Goydos |
| 35 | 1 | 1:14 | S. Garcia | S. Stricker | P. Casey |
| 36 | 10 | 1:14 | A. Baddeley | P. Martin | R. Davies |
| 37 | 1 | 1:25 | B. Estes | B. De Jonge | B. Davis |
| 38 | 10 | 1:25 | A. Quiros | R. Moore | M. Sim |
| 39 | 1 | 1:36 | L. Westwood | E. Els | T. Woods |
| 40 | 10 | 1:36 | V. Singh | D. Johnson | D. Love III |
| 41 | 1 | 1:47 | B. Crane | P. Hanson | J. Kelly |
| 42 | 10 | 1:47 | R. Ishikawa | R. McIlroy | T. Watson |
| 43 | 1 | 1:58 | M. Kaymer | S. O’Hair | C. Schwartzel |
| 44 | 10 | 1:58 | K. Perry | M. Jimenez | F. Funk |
| 45 | 1 | 2:09 | H. Slocum | O. Wilson | J. Senden |
| 46 | 10 | 2:09 | R. Fisher | B. Snedeker | L. Oosthuizen |
| 47 | 1 | 2:20 | M. Gronberg | A. Yano | H. Frazar |
| 48 | 10 | 2:20 | D. Summerhays | A – S. Langley | M. Richardson |
| 49 | 1 | 2:31 | J. Preeo | A – K. Phelan | M. Silvers |
| 50 | 10 | 2:31 | E. Compton | A – R. Henley | J. Allred |
| 51 | 1 | 2:42 | K. Kim | A – B. Blakeman | B. Peffley |
| 52 | 10 | 2:42 | E. Justesen | J. Smith | A – H. Swafford |
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Group 44 “Elder statesmen that still have game”
Group 9 “Smaller in size”
Group 8 “Also, smaller in size”
Group 42 “Golf with grandpa”
Group 37 “Bob, Brenden, and Brian”
Group 31 “Mediate, McDowell, Micheel”
D. Duval/T. Lehman/B. Curtis – former “Open” Champions (as in British Open). I think I may have seen someone else’s observation about this group so I can’t claim any great insight in picking this out.
It is interesting how many of the names mean nothing to me. I do not follow all the tours closely so conceivably the hottest player on the European, Asian or Nationwide Tour might be unknown to me. Still, when there is a 3-some of professionals like …T. Pilkadaris R. Barcelo G. Boyd…and I have no idea who anyone of them is, I start to think I may not know much about the professional golf scene.