PGA Championship 2017 Tee Times: Groupings and Predictions for Thursday Schedule

The PGA Championship is the last major golf championship of the year, but that will not be the case for much longer.

Instead of coming after the British Open as the sport's fourth major, the event will be contested in May starting in 2019, according to the Associated Press.

One of the reasons for that is the PGA is often thought of as the "other" major, and it does not carry the status of the Masters, U.S. Open or British Open.

This year's PGA Championship should be a memorable event, and it may mean more to Jordan Spieth than any of the other competitors. 

Spieth picked up the British Open title last month, and in winning the Claret Jug, he put himself within a victory in the PGA Championship of the career Grand Slam.

Not only would such a win put him in the elite company of Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tiger Woods, it would also make Spieth the youngest player to capture the honor.

Stuart Franklin/Getty Images

Spieth will start the tournament with this year's other major winners, as he will tee off with Sergio Garcia (Masters) and Brooks Koepka (U.S. Open) on the 10th tee of the Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina, at 8:25 a.m. ET. That same group will also play together on Friday.

Some of the other notable groups include Jimmy Walker, Phil Mickelson and Jason Dufner, who will tee off at 1:25 p.m. on the front nine, while Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Rickie Fowler will follow at 1:35 p.m.

Hideki Matsuyama, Ernie Els and Ian Poulter will tee off on No. 10 at 7:45 a.m., while Jason Day, Dustin Johnson and Henrik Stenson will also tee off on the back nine at 8:35 a.m.

Here's a look at the tee times for the full field. 

2017 PGA Championship tee times, pairings for Thursday (courtesy of CBS.com and PGATour.com)

Tee No. 1
7:20 a.m. — Grayson Murray, Rich Berberian Jr., Peter Uihlein
7:30 a.m. — Adam Rainaud, Tony Finau, Fabrizio Zanotti
7:40 a.m. — Younghan Song, Dave McNabb, Charles Howell III
7:50 a.m. — Sung Kang, Wesley Bryan, Dylan Frittelli
8 a.m. — William McGirt, Francesco Molinari, Jim Herman
8:10 a.m. — Gary Woodland, Andy Sullivan, Kyle Stanley
8:20 a.m. — Rich Beem, Vijay Singh, John Daly
8:30 a.m. — Louis Oosthuizen, Danny Willett, J.B. Holmes
8:40 a.m. — Thomas Pieters, Xander Schauffele, Rod Pampling
8:50 a.m. — Thorbjorn Olesen, Brendan Steele, Hudson Swafford
9 a.m. — Cameron Smith, Bernd Wiesberger, Brandon Stone
9:10 a.m. — K.T. Kim, Greg Gregory, James Hahn
9:20 a.m. — Richard Sterne, Ryan Vermeer, Barracuda Winner
12:35 p.m. — Lucas Glover, Matt Dobyns, Hideto Tanihara
12:45 p.m. — Mike Small, Jason Kokrak, Satoshi Kodaira
12:55 p.m. — Thomas Bjorn, Branden Grace, Pat Perez
1:05 p.m. — Adam Scott, Luke Donald, Webb Simpson
1:15 p.m. — Billy Horschel, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Si Woo Kim
1:25 p.m. — Jimmy Walker, Phil Mickelson, Jason Dufner
1:35 p.m. — Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Rickie Fowler
1:45 p.m. — Matt Kuchar, Justin Rose, Brandt Snedeker
1:55 p.m. — Daniel Berger, Jim Furyk, Kevin Kisner
2:05 p.m. — Ross Fisher, Rafa Cabrera Bello, Ryan Moore
2:15 p.m. — Jhonattan Vegas, Bryson DeChambeau, Jordan Smith
2:25 p.m. — Alex Beach, Sean O'Hair, Kevin Na
2:35 p.m. — Chris Moody, Luke List, Jamie Lovemark

Tee No. 10
7:25 a.m. — Shane Lowry, Stuart Deane, Pablo Larrazabal
7:35 a.m. — Alex Noren, Scott Herbert, Russell Knox
7:45 a.m. — Hideki Matsuyama, Ernie Els, Ian Poulter
7:55 a.m. — Daniel Summerhays, Robert Streb, Chris Wood
8:05 a.m. — Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Thomas, Patrick Reed
8:15 a.m. — Bubba Watson, Charl Schwartzel, Paul Casey
8:25 a.m. — Sergio Garcia, Brooks Koepka, Jordan Spieth
8:35 a.m. — Jason Day, Dustin Johnson, Henrik Stenson
8:45 a.m. — Padraig Harrington, Keegan Bradley, Davis Love III
8:55 a.m. — Zach Johnson, Lee Westwood, Charley Hoffman
9:05 a.m. — David Lingmerth, Scott Brown, Nicolas Colsaerts
9:15 a.m. — Scott Hend, Kenny Pigman, Andrew Johnston
9:25 a.m. — Kelly Kraft, Brian Smock, Patrick Rodgers
12:30 p.m. — David Muttitt, Bud Cauley, Graham DeLaet
12:40 p.m. — Rod Perry, Yuta Ikeda, Emiliano Grillo
12:50 p.m. — Joost Luiten, Paul Claxton, Russell Henley
1 p.m. — Patrick Cantlay, Thongchai Jaidee, Soren Kjeldsen
1:10 p.m. — Omar Uresti, Y.E. Yang, Shaun Micheel
1:20 pm. — Danny Lee, Marc Leishman, Anirban Lahiri
1:30 p.m. — Byeong Hun An, Kevin Chappell, Mackenzie Hughes
1:40 p.m. — Jonas Blixt, Steve Stricker, Brian Harman
1:50 p.m. — D.A. Points, Tyrrell Hatton, Adam Hadwin
2 p.m. — Martin Laird, Bill Haas, Graeme McDowell
2:10 p.m. — Jeunghun Wang, Alexander Levy, Jamie Broce
2:20 p.m. — JJ Wood, Ryan Fox, Haotong Li
2:30 p.m. — Jaysen Hansen, Cody Gribble, Chez Reavie

McIlroy knows that Spieth will be tough to beat as he focuses in on the PGA Championship. "He has got that knack. I call it resilience," McIlroy said, per Jason Sobel of ESPN.com. "I don't know if there's a better word to describe what it is."

Spieth's determination was on display in the British Open. He lost the lead on the back nine to Matt Kuchar but responded by playing his best golf of the tournament on the closing holes to take the Claret Jug.

Tony Dejak/Associated Press

Thursday predictions

Spieth knows that he can't win the tournament on Thursday, but he has been a sharp front-runner in his career. He likes to get out front and stay there.

That's not always possible, and Spieth should realize that staying close to the front of the pack is good enough.

He should be able to shoot an even-par round of 70, and that should keep him close.

Look for Dustin Johnson to open up with a strong first round. Johnson won three tournaments in a row earlier this year, and he was a heavy favorite to win the Masters. However, he suffered a fall just before the start of that tournament and was unable to compete. 

While he did not play well in the U.S. Open or British Open, he should get his game in gear here, and he will take the early lead.

Adam Scott has one of the best swings in the game, and if his putting is in order, he could give Johnson a run for his money.

Scott should be able to get within two strokes of the lead after the first round, as should Japanese star Hideki Matsuyama.