US Open 2012 Tee Times: Pairings and Predictions for Friday

It's becoming apparent that the 2012 U.S. Open is going to be one of those majors where the winning score isn't very far away from par.

But we knew that coming in. This is Olympic Club. It's a dangerous course, and although you won't be seeing any birdies or 260-yard double eagles, it is still intriguing.

The difficulty of the course leaves things wide open, and all you need to do is check the Day 1 leaderboard for proof. 

Let's take a closer look at where to catch all the Day 2 action and the players you must keep your eyes on. 

Where: The Olympic Club, San Francisco, Calif.

When: Friday, June 15, 2012; 10:00 a.m. EST

TV: 12:00-3:00 p.m. EST on ESPN; 3:00-5:00 p.m. on NBC; 5:00-10:00 p.m. on ESPN

Live Stream: You can catch all the action on Watch ESPN (ESPN3)

Pairings to Watch

Tiger Woods, Bubba Watson and Phil Mickelson

It might not be the most highly ranked pairing at the U.S. Open (as Watson and Mickelson proved on Day 1), but it is certainly the most intriguing. 

Tiger has looked like the Woods from 2000 during the past couple of weeks, Mickelson has always been the Robin to Tiger's Batman, and Watson is a balls-to-wall type of golfer who swings a pink driver. 

Most of the storylines will focus on this group, and it's clear why. 

Luke Donald, Rory McIlroy and Lee Westwood

Oh, no big deal. Just the Nos. 1, 2 and 3 golfers in the world.

McIlroy has been struggling for the past month, but the defending U.S. Open champion always seems to bring his A-game to major tournaments. 

Donald, the No. 1 player in the world, and Westwood, who has 13 top-10 finishes at major championships (including a third place at the U.S. Open last year) aren't slouches, either.

If you were to pick a pairing that would produce the winner of this tournament, this is the one you would have chosen. 

Notable Tee Times for Day 2 (All Times EST)

Time	Golfer	Golfer	Golfer
10:44 a.m.	Luke Donald	Rory McIlroy	Lee Westwood
10:55 a.m.	Jim Furyk	Sergio Garcia	Graeme McDowell
11:21 a.m.	Matt Kuchar	Ian Poulter	Steve Stricker
11:43 a.m.	Rickie Fowler	Ryo Ishikawa	Dustin Johnson
4:18 p.m.	Tiger Woods	Phil Mickelson	Bubba Watson

Predictions

Tiger enters Saturday at top of leaderboard

Last week at the Memorial, we saw the chip-in-fist-pump Tiger, and that led a lot of people to believe he was going to dominate at Olympic this week.

I wanted to see him put together a solid round first, but after an extremely impressive one-under round that currently has Woods in a tie for second, you can color me convinced. 

As long as he stays consistent—and signs point to that holding true—Woods will grab the lead and won't look back.

Phil misses the cut

Lefty hasn't missed the cut since the 2007 Open Championship, but that streak is going to end on Friday. 

His game is just too aggressive to be successful on this tough course. 

Mickelson went plus-six on Day 1, and if he wants to have any chance at competing, he'll have to attack the fairways and greens and go after birdies.

As he starts to do that more and more, things will just get worse and more bogeys will result. Phil's tournament will end disappointingly on Friday. 

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