PGA Championship 2016 tee times: Pairings for the first two rounds

The PGA of America annually boasts that it has the strongest field of the year. They try to ensure all of the top 100 in the world rankings are exempt or have an invitation. The other three majors are either too small — the Masters would have a panic attack if their entire field hit triple digits — or reserve too large swaths for “open qualifiers” that are usually not highly-ranked tour pros.

The PGA has no such “open” qualifying process. There are no amateurs invited. It’s 156 professionals. There is, of course, that slice of the field reserved for the PGA’s membership, the club and teaching pros from across the country that get in via the PGA Professional National Championship. These are the pros who give lessons and negotiate that deal on the sweater you’re interested in at the pro shop. There are 38 club pros in the field this year, and the PGA spreads these members out across the tee sheet. No two club pros play in the same group.

It seems like we were just watching Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson put on a show at Royal Troon and it’s hard to believe we already have tee times for the season’s final major. But this is the manic pace that the Olympics have thrust upon us in this 2016 summer. We knew the PGA was always going to be the one major that would have to adapt the most. There was discussion and speculation about moving it to the spring, or even winter, and playing it abroad. Or perhaps pushing it back to some point in the fall. A lot of that was far-fetched speculation, and what we ended up with was the PGA crammed in at the end of July, just two weeks after the traditional British Open date.

Stenson will play with Danny Willett and Dustin Johnson for the first two rounds next week at Baltusrol. That’s what the PGA does every year, putting the first three major winners together for the opening rounds. That will obviously be one of the marquee groups. The other two headliners are probably the trio of Jordan Spieth, Bubba Watson, and Sergio Garcia, and then on the opposite side of the draw, the group of Mickelson, Jason Day, and Rory McIlroy.

The PGA gets a bad rap just because it comes last and doesn’t have the instantly recognizable identity of the other three majors, but it’s as quality as any of them out there. The field is strong, the course is always set up fair and for an exciting leaderboard, and they don’t mess around or get too cute with the pairings sheet.

Here’s the full tee sheet for the first two rounds at the PGA:

7:00 a.m.--Mark Brown, Patton Kizzire, Bradley Dredge
7:10 a.m.--Tommy Sharp, Jon Curran, K.J. Choi
7:20 a.m.--Josh Speight, Kristoffer Broberg, Jason Kokrak
7:30 a.m.--Daniel Berger, Darren Clarke, David Lingmerth
7:40 a.m.--Aaron Baddeley, Kevin Kisner, Emiliano Grillo
7:50 a.m.--Vijay Singh, John Daly, Padraig Harrington
8:00 a.m.--Victor Dubuisson, Marcus Fraser, James Hahn
8:10 a.m.--Soren Kjeldsen, Scott Hend, Billy Hurley III
8:20 a.m.--Charley Hoffman, Matt Jones, Rikard Karlberg
8:30 a.m.--Robert Streb, Vaughn Taylor, Kevin Na
8:40 a.m.--Roberto Castro, Jonas Blixt, Gregory Bourdy
8:50 a.m.--Omar Uresti, Greg Chalmers, Ross Fisher
9:00 a.m.--David Muttitt, Smylie Kaufman, Zac Blair
12:15 p.m.--Colt Knost, Joe Summerhays, Yuta Ikeda
12:25 p.m.--Ryan Palmer, Rob Labritz, Gary Woodland
12:35 p.m.--Scott Piercy, Alex Noren, Andrew Johnston
12:45 p.m.--Rocco Mediate, Rich Berberian Jr., Shaun Micheel
12:55 p.m.--Anirban Lahiri, Tony Finau, Matthew Fitzpatrick
1:05 p.m.--Luke Donald, Matt Kuchar, Danny Lee
1:15 p.m.--Francesco Molinari, Shane Lowry, Jim Furyk
1:25 p.m.--Sergio Garcia, Jordan Spieth, Bubba Watson
1:35 p.m.--Justin Rose, Patrick Reed, Charl Schwartzel
1:45 p.m.--Danny Willett, Dustin Johnson, Henrik Stenson
1:55 p.m.--Graeme McDowell, Webb Simpson, Louis Oosthuizen
2:05 p.m.--Ben Polland, Ryan Moore, Kyle Reifers
2:15 p.m.--Mitch Lowe, Younghan Song, Kevin Streelman

7:00 a.m.--Chris Kirk, Wyatt Worthington II, Freddie Jacobson
7:10 a.m.--Brian Gaffney, Jeunghun Wang, Jason Bohn
7:20 a.m.--J.B. Holmes, Brian Stuard, Hideki Matsuyama
7:30 a.m.--Matt Dobyns, Tyrrell Hatton, Harris English
7:40 a.m.--Ernie Els, Rickie Fowler, Zach Johnson
7:50 a.m.--Jimmy Walker, Chris Wood, Branden Grace
8:00 a.m.--Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Justin Thomas, Paul Casey
8:10 a.m.--Brandt Snedeker, Brooks Koepka, Lee Westwood
8:20 a.m.--Keegan Bradley, Adam Scott, Jamie Donaldson
8:30 a.m.--Phil Mickelson, Rory McIlroy, Jason Day
8:40 a.m.--Bill Haas, Andy Sullivan, Jamie Lovemark
8:50 a.m.--Rod Perry, George Coetzee, Hideto Tanihara
9:00 a.m.--Nicolas Colsaerts, Ryan Helminen, TBD
12:15 p.m.--Michael Block, John Senden, Harold Varner III
12:25 p.m.--Johan Kok, Troy Merritt, Kevin Chappell
12:35 p.m.--Thorbjorn Olesen, Fabian Gomez, Russell Henley
12:45 p.m.--David Toms, Rich Beem, Steve Stricker
12:55 p.m.--James Morrison, Brandon Stone, Billy Horschel
1:05 p.m.--Jason Dufner, Y.E. Yang, Martin Kaymer
1:15 p.m.--Brendan Steele, Bernd Wiesberger, Byeong Hun An
1:25 p.m.--Marc Leishman, Russell Knox, Kiradech Aphibarnrat
1:35 p.m.--Thongchai Jaidee, Jim Herman, Thomas Pieters
1:45 p.m.--Soomin Lee, Joost Luiten, William McGirt
1:55 p.m.--K.T. Kim, Brad Lardon, Peter Malnati
2:05 p.m.--Daniel Summerhays, Rick Schuller, Cameron Tringale
2:15 p.m.--Bryce Molder, Brad Ott, Si Woo Kim

7:00 a.m.--Michael Block, John Senden, Harold Varner III
7:10 a.m.--Johan Kok, Troy Merritt, Kevin Chappell
7:20 a.m.--Thorbjorn Olesen, Fabian Gomez, Russell Henley
7:30 a.m.--David Toms, Rich Beem, Steve Stricker
7:40 a.m.--James Morrison, Brandon Stone, Billy Horschel
7:50 a.m.--Jason Dufner, Y.E. Yang, Martin Kaymer
8:00 a.m.--Brendan Steele, Bernd Wiesberger, Byeong Hun An
8:10 a.m.--Marc Leishman, Russell Knox, Kiradech Aphibarnrat
8:20 a.m.--Thongchai Jaidee, Jim Herman, Thomas Pieters
8:30 a.m.--Soomin Lee, Joost Luiten, William McGirt
8:40 a.m.--K.T. Kim, Brad Lardon, Peter Malnati
8:50 a.m.--Daniel Summerhays, Rick Schuller, Cameron Tringale
9:00 a.m.--Bryce Molder, Brad Ott, Si Woo Kim
12:15 p.m.--Chris Kirk, Wyatt Worthington II, Freddie Jacobson
12:25 p.m.--Brian Gaffney, Jeunghun Wang, Jason Bohn
12:35 p.m.--J.B. Holmes, Brian Stuard, Hideki Matsuyama
12:45 p.m.--Matt Dobyns, Tyrrell Hatton, Harris English
12:55 p.m.--Ernie Els, Rickie Fowler, Zach Johnson
1:05 p.m.--Jimmy Walker, Chris Wood, Branden Grace
1:15 p.m.--Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Justin Thomas, Paul Casey
1:25 p.m.--Brandt Snedeker, Brooks Koepka, Lee Westwood
1:35 p.m.--Keegan Bradley, Adam Scott, Jamie Donaldson
1:45 p.m.--Phil Mickelson, Rory McIlroy, Jason Day
1:55 p.m.--Bill Haas, Andy Sullivan, Jamie Lovemark
2:05 p.m.--Rod Perry, George Coetzee, Hideto Tanihara
2:15 p.m.--Nicolas Colsaerts, Ryan Helminen, TBD

7:00 a.m.--Colt Knost, Joe Summerhays, Yuta Ikeda
7:10 a.m.--Ryan Palmer, Rob Labritz, Gary Woodland
7:20 a.m.--Scott Piercy, Alex Noren, Andrew Johnston
7:30 a.m.--Rocco Mediate, Rich Berberian Jr., Shaun Micheel
7:40 a.m.--Anirban Lahiri, Tony Finau, Matthew Fitzpatrick
7:50 a.m.--Luke Donald, Matt Kuchar, Danny Lee
8:00 a.m.--Francesco Molinari, Shane Lowry, Jim Furyk
8:10 a.m.--Sergio Garcia, Jordan Spieth, Bubba Watson
8:20 a.m.--Justin Rose, Patrick Reed, Charl Schwartzel
8:30 a.m.--Danny Willett, Dustin Johnson, Henrik Stenson
8:40 a.m.--Graeme McDowell, Webb Simpson, Louis Oosthuizen
8:50 a.m.--Ben Polland, Ryan Moore, Kyle Reifers
9:00 a.m.--Mitch Lowe, Younghan Song, Kevin Streelman
12:15 p.m.--Mark Brown, Patton Kizzire, Bradley Dredg
12:25 p.m.--Tommy Sharp, Jon Curran, K.J. Choi
12:35 p.m.--Josh Speight, Kristoffer Broberg, Jason Kokrak
12:45 p.m.--Daniel Berger, Darren Clarke, David Lingmerth
12:55 p.m.--Aaron Baddeley, Kevin Kisner, Emiliano Grillo
1:05 p.m.--Vijay Singh, John Daly, Padraig Harrington
1:15 p.m.--Victor Dubuisson, Marcus Fraser, James Hahn
1:25 p.m.--Soren Kjeldsen, Scott Hend, Billy Hurley III
1:35 p.m.--Charley Hoffman, Matt Jones, Rikard Karlberg
1:45 p.m.--Robert Streb, Vaughn Taylor, Kevin Na
1:55 p.m.--Roberto Castro, Jonas Blixt, Gregory Bourdy
2:05 p.m.--Omar Uresti, Greg Chalmers, Ross Fisher
2:15 p.m.--David Muttitt, Smylie Kaufman, Zac Blair