Northern Trust Open 2015: Tee times, pairings for Thursday’s first round

The PGA Tour’s annual West Coast swing will draw to a close this week at what is arguably the best course on the regular yearly schedule. Riviera will host the 2015 Northern Trust Open, a tournament loaded with tradition at one of the best classic layouts in the country. The title sponsor may be different, but this event has been around forever, and continues to draw a solid field largely due to the character of the course.

Bubba Watson, the defending champion at this event, headlines the field and will start his tournament in the afternoon wave alongside Dustin Johnson and Bill Haas. That will be the must-watch group during the late afternoon/early evening Golf Channel broadcast. They go off No. 1 at 3:02 p.m. ET and GC will have live coverage from 5 to 8 p.m. ET.

It was at this event last year that Bubba really got his career season rolling. He started calling it the “Year of Rejoicing,” whatever that means to the mercurial and temperamental lefty. Just a couple weeks after giving away the Phoenix Open, Bubba took the title at Riviera and ended an almost two-year drought to set up another green jacket, a summer of contention and top 10s, and a WGC title in the fall. Bubba looked pretty good again at Phoenix three weeks ago, and while he may be controversial, he could be America’s best player going forward with Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson fading.

The one guy who can absolutely push Bubba right now is his playing partner, Dustin Johnson. This will be his third straight event after taking a six-month personal leave of absence, getting engaged, and welcoming a newborn son. Johnson obviously made headlines for all the wrong reasons last year, but he’s still arguably the most naturally talented player not named Rory McIlroy. Historically, he does well early in the year but this season is obviously different given the long layoff from competitive golf. He looked sloppy at Torrey Pines, but then turned it on late Sunday at Pebble to sneak out a top five finish in just his second start back. He finished in second here behind Bubba in 2014 and expect these two bombers to be in contention again this week.

The marquee group on the opposite side of the draw from Bubba and DJ will feature Jordan Spieth, Sergio Garcia, and Fred Couples. Spieth had a solid week at Pebble Beach and should be in fine form as the West Coast swing closes and the Tour moves to Florida. Garcia is making his season debut stateside. The Spaniard made the trip to the season’s only stop in the LA area and his ball-striking is a big advantage on this layout. And then there’s Couples, who will probably keep playing (and contending) at this event until he’s 75 years old. Couples pretty much has a standing invite here, and he’s going to take it every year. He loves Riviera that much and has played that well here.

Spieth, Couples, and Garcia are off the iconic 10th hole, perhaps the best par-4 on the entire PGA Tour, at 10:22 a.m. ET. Here’s the full tee sheet for Thursday’s opening round (all times ET):