PGA Championship 2011 Tee Times: Breaking Down Day 1 Pairings

The PGA Championship is also known as Glory’s Last Chance and that chance started very early this morning.

The 93rd edition of the year’s last major championship starts at 7:30 a.m. EST when Craig Stevens will tee off from hole No. 1 at the Highlands Course of the Atlanta Athletic Club in Johns Creek, Georgia.

There are some interesting threesomes starting with the traditional group of winners from all three previous majors, Masters champ Charl Schwartzel, US Open champ Rory McIlroy and British Open champ Darren Clarke. They will all tee off at 1:45 p.m.

McIlroy will get to play with his childhood idol for the first two rounds, which will certainly be fun to watch. I think this might actually benefit Clarke and help him get by and make the cut.

In a group of former PGA Championship winners, Tiger Woods will play alongside 1997 PGA winner Davis Love III and 2008 PGA winner Padraig Harrington. They will tee off at 8:35 a.m.

This will be a good way for the Ryder Cup Captain Love to see how Woods is doing. This is also a good group for Woods to start off with. It will be like working out a horse on the track with a stable mate.

The past two winners of this tournament—defending champ Martin Kaymer and 2009 winner Y.E. Yang—are in a group with the surprising 2003 winner Shaun Micheel. They tee off at 1:15 p.m.

Another interesting group includes 2001 PGA winner David Toms with the man he held off that year, 2005 PGA winner Phil Mickelson and two-time PGA champ Vijay Singh. They will tee off at 8:15 a.m.

Rounding up the groups of former champions is another group with two-time PGA winner Larry Nelson—who won at the AAC in 1981—along with Steve Elkington winner in 1995 and Rich Beem winner in 2002. They tee off at 1:30 p.m.

Larry Nelson is this year’s recipient of the PGA Distinguished Service Award.

Other groups that will certainly have their following are:

The world’s top ranked player, Luke Donald, will be in a group with FedExCup leader Nick Watney with Alvaro Quiros of Spain. They tee off at 8:25 a.m.

Lee Westwood who is ranked second in the world, is in a group with Jason Day—No. 7 in the world with second place finishes at both the Masters and the US Open. American Matt Kuchar is also included in that group with a No. 11 world ranking. Their tee time is at 1:55 p.m.

Americans Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler will be competing with Sergio Garcia in a group that will surely be a display of shot making ability. They will tee off at 1:25 p.m.

One that certainly will have a crowd behind him is recent WGC-Bridgestone winner Adam Scott. He is in a group with teen sensations Ryo Ishikawa from Japan and Matteo Manassero from Italy.

Ishikawa contended with Scott at the WGC, so it will be interesting to see them paired again. They will tee off at 7:55 a.m.

Also among the players I picked to contend are long shots Webb Simpson and Bo Van Pelt. Simpson is in a group with Sean Dougherty and Gregory Bourdy with a tee time at 9:20 a.m.

Van Pelt is in his group with John Senden and recent Greenbrier Classic winner Scott Stallings. Their tee time is at 8:40 a.m.

Other notable players are top American golfer Steve Stricker teeing off at 9:05 a.m. with Paul Casey and Miguel Angel Jimenez.

Final notables:

Last year’s runner up Bubba Watson in his group with Ian Poulter and Jeff Overton at 8:45 a.m.

Anthony Kim, Ernie Els and Jhonatton Vegas at 7:55 a.m. and Louis Oosthuizen, Justin Rose and Hunter Mahan at 8:25 a.m.

For a complete listing of the 2011 PGA Championship Tee Times and Pairings click here.

- Carlos Torres