US Open Golf 2013 Tee Times: Pairings and Predictions for Saturday

Thursday's rain-soaked round at the Merion Golf Club East course has left golfers scrambling for much of the first few days of the 2013 U.S. Open, but with cuts made Saturday morning, the field and play should start to normalize in Round 3.

Billy Horschel and Phil Mickelson stand alone at the top of the leaderboard heading into the third round with a one-stroke lead over the field at one-under. Mickelson and Horschel have both set the tone with tournament-best rounds of 67, the former's coming in Round 1 and the latter's in Round 2. 

Behind Mickelson and Horschel is a trio of well-known veterans in the course lingering at even-par. Steve Stricker and Justin Rose joined Horschel and Henrik Stenson as the only players to shoot an under-par second round this week, as course conditions left players merely hoping to keep level par. Luke Donald also lingers at even par for the tournament, 

Overall, though, these men are the anomaly at the East Course. Equipped with narrow fairways and some of the most unforgiving rough in the world, Merion has made the world's best golfers succumb to its will. There have been only 11 under-par rounds through the first 36 holes of this tournament, with the cut line moving all the way back to eight-over par before settling.

This has all given the 2013 U.S. Open the feel of one of the most difficult in history, a throwback to 2005 and 2006 where scores of five over par wound up winning the tournament.

With Day 3 action getting underway and undoubtedly sending scores even higher, here is a complete preview of everything you need to know about Saturday's round.

2013 U.S. Open Live Leaderboard

*Check back for live updates on all the scores and head to PGATour.com for a full look at the leaders.

Round Information

When: Saturday, June 15 at 12:15 p.m. ET

Where: Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa.

Watch: NBC (12 p.m. - 7 p.m. ET)

Stream: NBC Sports Live Extra (12 p.m.), U.S. Open Marquee Group Live Stream (12 p.m.)

Pairings and Tee Times for Saturday

Time (ET)	Tee	Pairing
12:28 p.m.	No. 1	K.J. Choi, Shawn Stefani
12:28 p.m.	No. 11	Jamie Donaldson, Webb Simpson, Hideki Matsuyama
12:39 p.m.	No. 1	David Lingmerth, Jason Dufner
12:39 p.m.	No. 11	Sergio Garcia, Rickie Fowler, Robert Karlsson
12:50 p.m.	No. 1	Paul Casey, Kyle Stanley, Scott Langley
12:50 p.m.	No. 11	Paul Lawrie, Lee Westwood, Carl Pettersson
1:01 p.m.	No. 1	Cheng-Tsung Pan, John Huh, Charley Hoffman
1:01 p.m.	No. 11	Adam Scott, Bio Kim, Bubba Watson
1:12 p.m.	No. 1	Marcel Siem, George Coetzee, Jason Day
1:12 p.m.	No. 11	Matt Kuchar, John Parry, Martin Laird
1:23 p.m.	No. 1	Padraig Harrington, Russell Knox, Edward Loar
1:23 p,m.	No. 11	Scott Stallings, David Hearn, Kevin Sutherland
1:34 p.m.	No. 1	Bo Van Pelt, Geoff Ogilvy, Michael Kim
1:34 p.m.	No. 11	David Howell, Peter Hedblom, Martin Kaymer
1:45 p.m.	No. 1	Jerry Kelly, Matt Bettencourt, Ernie Els
1:45 p.m.	No. 11	Michael Weaver, Kevin Chappell, Josh Teater
1:56 p.m.	No. 1	Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy
1:56 p.m.	No. 11	Steven Alker, Alistair Presnell, Morten Orum Madsen
2:07 p.m.	No. 1	Henrik Stenson, Ian Poulter, Mathew Goggin
2:07 p.m.	No. 11	Dustin Johnson, Brandt Snedeker, Jim Herman
2:18 p.m.	No. 1	Hunter Mahan, Charl Schwartzel, Nicolas Colsaerts
2:18 p.m.	No. 11	John Peterson, Simon Khan, Mike Weir
2:29 p.m.	No. 1	John Senden, Justin Rose, Steve Stricker
2:29 p.m.	No. 11	Nicholas Thompson, Kevin Phelan, Matt Weibring
2:40 p.m.	No. 1	Luke Donald, Phil Mickelson, Billy Horschel

Predictions for Top Golfers

Billy Horschel

There are plenty of adjectives to describe the rapid ascent of Billy Horschel at the 2013 U.S. Open, but surprising shouldn't be one of them. If you've been paying attention on the PGA Tour this year, the name Billy Horschel rings loud and clear in your cochlea. 

Heading into Merion, Horschel was one of the hottest golfers in the world. His six top-10 finishes during the 2013 season were tied for the most on tour, but the key thing is that five of them had come in Horschel's last seven tournaments. The 26-year-old Florida grad had ascended his way up the world ranks, getting his first PGA Tour win in the process, and stood fourth in FedEx Cup standings and fifth on the money list.

Horschel's last 7 Tournaments Pre-U.S. Open

Tournament	Finish
Houston Open	T-2
Texas Open	T-3
RBC Heritage	T-9
Zurich Classic	1
Players Championship	Cut
Memorial	T-41
St. Jude Classic	T-10

Billy Horschel was plenty of things; anonymous wasn't one of them.

Through two rounds in southeastern Pennsylvania, Horschel has certainly kept his hot streak going. He's tied with Mickelson on the leaderboard and has been a bastion of accuracy all week. While Horschel played more than his regularly allotted 18 holes on Friday—he still had some leftover from Thursday—everyone has been talking about his second round. Always accurate on the approach, Horschel hit all 18 of his greens in regulation on Friday, the first time in over two decades that's happened.

Now the question remains: Can he keep it up? Even as he's soared to the top of the leaderboard here at Merion, there's a very big difference between being the 36-hole leader at a U.S. Open and the Zurich Classic, the location of Horschel's first career win. Conditions will worsen, scores will skyrocket and only those who can avoid foundering survive.

All signs point to Horschel being one of those players. His accuracy striking the ball is nothing new this season, and Horschel's supreme confidence is a must at the U.S. Open.

Look for Horschel to stick firmly within the thick of the leaders, even if he doesn't come away with a 54-hole lead heading into Sunday.

Prediction: Three-over 73 (two over for the tournament); tie for fourth place after Round 3.

Phil Mickelson

Horschel will be paired with arguably the crowd favorite at Merion in Phil Mickelson. The 42-year-old Californian has always acquitted himself well to U.S. Open crowds, his gregarious personality shining through as fans sometimes fail to stick within the etiquette of the game. 

But even when fans are yelling out their Thanksgiving dinner requirements, Lefty's steely calm has remained this week. He's tied with Horschel for the lead and has yet to finish a day—yes, there have only been two, but still—outside the top of the leaderboard.

Friday's round took on a particularly Mickelsonian finish. Standing on the 18th green with an option to play his final putt, a birdie opportunity, or have it leftover in the morning, Mickelson did what only he could. He stood deep on the green, calmly went into his backstroke and hit a shot so long it would have made Stephen Curry envious.

As Jason Sobel of Golf Channel put it, perhaps Phil should simply wait until nightfall to play his entire 18 on Saturday:

Unfortunately, the PGA probably won't be too keen on that idea. Mickelson will have to play all 18 on Saturday in the broad daylight, which also means facing the harsh reality that he's again in prime position to win a U.S. Open. Five times Mickelson has finished in second place at his home country's Open event, each defeat coming with a bigger heartbreak than the last. 

Will this be the year Phil finally gets the U.S. Open monkey off his back? It's starting to look more and more like that's the case. He's coming off as a 7-2 favorite heading into the weekend, per Bovada, which is doubly low as the 7-1 odds given to Tiger Woods and Justin Rose, his two closest competitors. 

More importantly, Mickelson is striking the ball beautifully. He's hit 75 percent of his fairways and greens in regulation thus far; no wonder he's tied for the lead. But what those scores also mean is that Mickelson is leaving plenty of strokes on the putting green. Should he get the short stick working, Lefty could open up a massive lead over the competition heading into Sunday.

Prediction: Even-par 70 (one-under for the tournament); alone in first place after Round 3.

Tiger Woods

Throughout the first two rounds of this tournament, it's felt like just another major for Tiger Woods. The world's top-ranked golfer hasn't been victorious at one of golf's five major events since 2008, with each tournament passing as fans think he's this close to doing it again. 

That feeling hasn't been prevalent at Merion. Woods has struggled with consistency, and a looming arm injury has left some more worried about his long-term prognosis than anything else. Woods' longtime friend Notah Begay told Golf Channel's Kelly Tilghman that Tiger had to undergo electrical stimulation on his elbow after Thursday's action:

For his part, Woods was his typically flippant self about the injury. According to Golf Channel's Jason Sobel, Tiger wasn't exactly forthcoming with news on his condition with reporters:

So it would probably surprise some that despite the gloom and doom talk surrounding Tiger's name that he's a mere four strokes off the lead heading into the weekend. Despite the injuries, the inconsistent play and poor putting, Tiger is in a tie for 13th place. In fact, Woods is closer now through two rounds than he was at the Masters, a time when everyone was talking about him having the field "right where he wants them."

In other words, don't buy into the narrative. 

Whether that ultimately leads to a win or not—the only thing most fans and Woods himself really cares about—is another story. The 37-year-old great has never won a tournament when outside the top five after 36 holes, yet another piece of evidence of his front-running legacy. Woods' ability to pulverize a field once in the lead has never been the question. It's his inability to roar (sorry) from behind that's always held him back; that's kept him "in contention" but without championships.

Though it's impossible to ever count Tiger completely out, expect more of the same result on Saturday.

Prediction: One-over 71 (four-over for the tournament); tie for ninth place after Round 3

Projected 2013 U.S. Open Leaderboard Thru 3 Rounds

Pos	Golfer	OVR
1	Phil Mickelson	E
T-2	Steve Stricker	+1
T-2	Charl Schwartzel	+1
T-4	Billy Horschel	+2
T-4	Justin Rose	+2
T-4	Hunter Mahan	+2
T-7	Nicolas Colsaerts	+3
T-7	Luke Donald	+3

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