2016 Northern Trust Open: Tee times, pairings for Sunday’s final round

The Northern Trust Open lost a little bit of juice when Jordan Spieth missed the cut Friday night, preventing some Sunday showdown between him and Rory McIlroy in the first PGA Tour event they’ve played together this year. But just a little, and about everything else after that has broken the right way, setting up the most anticipated Sunday so far in 2016.

Most importantly, McIlroy is still here and he’s in the hunt, just two shots off the lead and with a late tee time. So much of the hype coming into the 2016 season centered around Rory’s return to the throne that Spieth nabbed last year. Rory said it was a bit of a lost year, largely due to that ankle injury he suffered right in the middle of the summer that prevented a title defense at The Open and a less-than-100 percent showing at the PGA. Spieth’s legendary year has come and gone, and we remember what it’s like to watch Rory at his best. It’s captivating from tee to green. We want to see the two now go at it, and Rory started this year determined to get back to No. 1, something he thought was attainable before the Masters.

Rory can take the first step toward that re-ascendance to the top spot Sunday in his very first stateside start. When Rory is on, there’s no one more thrilling to watch. Spieth may be better when both are at their best -- a debate that’s sure to rage for at least the entire year but may never be settled. But Rory’s best work is more fun to watch than anyone on the planet. Let’s see if he can do it at the best non-major course on Tour.

Aside from Rory’s presence on the first page of the leaderboard, what makes Sunday so juicy is the prevalence of talent and big bombers all around him. Bubba Watson, who won here in 2014 to start what was the best year of his career, is back on top of the leaderboard at 12-under. This is a course that Bubba has always carved up, including when he grumpily sauntered around two years ago en route to the win. He bombs away and knows the angles, even if those aren’t from the fairway. He’ll be tough to beat Sunday, and having Bubba in the lead, for good or bad, is always interesting and worth watching.

In addition to Bubba and Rory, there’s Dustin Johnson, Adam Scott, Hideki Matsuyama, and Justin Rose all within shouting distance. It’s surprising that DJ has never won this event. He’s always right near the top of the leaderboard or losing in a playoff like last year to James Hahn. Like Bubba, this seems to be a venue where he can shoot past the rest of his colleagues and it’s right there for him again on Sunday. He’ll be in the penultimate group off the 1st tee.

This is a loaded tee sheet at the bottom. Given the time of year with limited daylight and the location of the west coast swing, the Tour will continue to send them off two tees in groups of three to keep things moving and on schedule. They’ll be out on the course fairly early on the west coast, setting up that estimated 6 to 6:15 p.m. finish on CBS back in the eastern U.S. Here’s the full tee sheet for the final round:

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