PGA Championship tee times 2014: Start time and pairings for Thursday’s opening round

The opening round of the season’s final major begins bright and early Thursday in Louisville, and the marquee group of the day will storm the course first thing in the morning. The PGA of America grouped Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, and Padraig Harrington together for the first two rounds, and while they all may be past their primes, this will be the threesome everyone on the grounds at Valhalla will follow.

Woods jolted this 96th edition of the PGA Championship to life on Wednesday afternoon, ending days of rampant and uninformed speculation on whether he’d try to play just days after sustaining what looked to be another painful back injury. Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee characterized Tiger’s arrival at Valhalla like a “stick hitting a hornet’s nest.” Media and fans rushed to figure out if Tiger was actually on the grounds, thanks to a premature PGA announcement, and if he had plans to officially register or just test the back. It was a chaotic, surreal scene for what should normally be a quiet practice day just 18 hours before tee times begin.

The mania of Wednesday may not be matched on Thursday, because we know when and where Tiger will be, and there will be plenty of other groups out on the course. But a majority of the fans at Valhalla will be scurrying around the holes that Woods, Mickelson, and Harrington will be playing. The threesome goes off at 8:35 a.m. ET on No. 10, a longer par-5 that will probably require Tiger to take a full cut with the driver right off the top.

We have no idea what to expect from Woods right now -- he’s apparently pain-free, this back injury not occurring in the same spot as the more serious one that required surgery in March. His game, however, is no different and it’s just not sharp enough for him to be considered anything like a favorite. Deviating from his usual routine of playing at sunrise on Wednesday and getting off the grounds well before noon for that chaos of this Wednesday afternoon is probably also not an ideal way to roll into an early AM start.

While the Tiger-Phil group sucks up all the oxygen in the morning draw, the marquee trio in the afternoon definitely boasts the more realistic contenders, and the heavy favorite. Keeping with PGA Championship tradition, the first three major winners of the year will play together on Thursday and Friday. Rory McIlroy, Bubba Watson, and Martin Kaymer, a heavyweight group, will tee off No. 1 at 1:45 p.m. ET. McIlroy is the favorite, and by a deserved wide margin. This course sets up well for Rory and the way he likes to win majors, by attacking a benign course and posting plenty of red numbers. The long and hot setup should play right into his hands, and given that he’s won his last two tournaments, it will be a surprise if he’s not there late on Sunday afternoon.

The Rory-Bubba-Kaymer group will occupy most of the camera time during TNT’s afternoon broadcast. Tiger should finish up his round before TNT comes on the air at 1 p.m., but he’s expected to be featured on PGA.com’s online “marquee group stream.” Here’s the full tee sheet for Thursday’s opening round: