PGA Championship 2011: Tiger Woods and Week's Most Intriguing Pairings

While the temperature in Atlanta will reach close to triple digits during the PGA Championship, you cannot help but wonder if the pairings for the first two rounds of the final major of the year will be just as heated.

While Tiger Woods began his comeback last week at Firestone and we saw the reemergence of Steve Williams’ greatness on Adam Scott’s bag, all of that is erased with the first threesome teeing it up at 7:30 am on Thursday with Craig Stevens, Brendon De Jonge and John Rollins.

But what a way to lead into a major, especially since the tour’s top draw, now proclaiming he is feeling better than he has in months, is back on the prowl. He may not be in what is considered “Tiger Shape,” but he is certainly someone who could make some noise this week on the course.

We already know he will make noise with the tabloids, press and the fans.

Of course we will be watching Tiger’s progress as he moves through the first two days with Davis Love III and Padraig Harrington. Love and Harrington both have tasted major’s success and their play hopefully will be calming for Woods, who returned last week after a missing the U.S Open and British Open this season. While he played in the Masters, playing well in Atlanta would help salvage a decent showing in the major tournaments.

Woods’ threesome is not the only one that provides intrigue for the weekend. As you look down the list, there are 12-13 groups that could stir the pot and make for some interesting play.

I personally like the Charl Schwartzel, Rory McIlroy and Darren Clarke group, but I am sure everyone out there is interested in seeing how the three golfers who have claimed the first three majors of the year will fare. Schwartzel plays an even game and sometimes gets lost in the shuffle. McIlroy is still the rock star.

The media would love to see him in a final pairing this weekend, hopefully against the man who has dominated golf for the past decade. Clarke is a great feel-good story. It would be wonderful to see how he does in this major after taking one on foreign soil.

The world’s top golfer, Luke Donald, is paired with Alvaro Quiros and Nick Watney. Watney is an American who can make some noise this weekend.

The threesome of David Toms, Vijay Singh and Phil Mickelson will be interesting to follow as well. The forty-somethings could challenge this weekend. Toms lost The Players Championship in a playoff to K.J. Choi and some say Mickelson choked away his chance to win at the Open Championship.

The pairing I also think will have something to do with this weekend’s outcome involves Matt Kuchar Lee Westwood and Jason Day. Kuchar is my pick to win this weekend, but don’t count Day out, who is still hungry after finishing second in both the Masters and U.S. Open. Westwood is still looking for a major championship to add to his trophy case.

If you are looking for other Americans who could be in the mix, look at Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler, who will play in the same grouping with Sergio Garcia and the pairing of Lucas Glover, Camillo Villegas and Francesco Molinari.

Adam Scott will look to Steve Williams to help read putts and determine distance in his pairing with Matteo Manassero and Ryo Ishikawa.

While there is still plenty of golf to play, the PGA has done well to pair the best with the best, which speaks more to the fact that this tournament is really as wide open as a major event has been on American soil. And if it plays much like the U.S. Open at Congressional, we could see some of the best golf played all year.

And for Tiger and the rest of the field, it could be just what American golf has needed this year.