Martin Kaymer claims the few days he’s spent at the Olympics are “already the greatest week of my career.”
Olympic golf 2016: Tee times for Thursday’s first round
Golf is an Olympic sport for the first time since 1904. The world’s top 4 players are no-shows but Bubba Watson, Rickie Fowler, Henrik Stenson, and Sergio Garcia all have tee times for the 72-hole stroke-play event at Rio’s Olympic Golf Course.
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Rickie Fowler says other Olympic athletes are “almost thanking him” for risking life and limb to be in Rio.
Bubba Watson embraces living in the Olympic village with other Olympians and watching athletes from other sports perform on the world stage.
So, um, Jordan, Rory, and Dustin who, now?
With golf returning to the Olympics after 112 years in exile, it’s time to stop talking about the guys who aren’t here and start cheering for those who will take the field at Olympic Golf Course starting at 6:30 a.m. ET on Thursday. Yes, the 72-hole, individual stroke-play format could use some tweaking, but that can wait until Tokyo in 2020, perhaps the sport’s last time on the docket if things don’t go well this week.
In the meantime, Brazil’s native son Adilson da Silva, who learned to play golf using the branch of a tree cut to resemble the shape of a club, will kick off the festivities.
“It’s something that’s really, really special,” da Silva said earlier in the week about having the opportunity to hit the first tee shot of the 2016 Olympics. “Really, it’s huge.”
Marquee groupings include a pair of two-time major winners, Watson and Kaymer, along with Anirban Lahiri, at 8:14 a.m.; major-less Sergio Garcia and Patrick Reed, playing with almost-club-less Emiliano Grillo, at 9:25 a.m.; and Fowler, Justin Rose, and Jhonattan Vegas at 9:58 a.m.
It’s a small field of 60 players so everyone will go off the first tee. They will send them in groups of three over 11-minute intervals. Here’s a complete rundown of the groupings for round 1 in Rio, where it will get dark early on what is a winter day down there:
Thursday’s Round 1 tee sheet
6:30 a.m. -- Adilson da Silva, BRA; Graham DeLaet, CAN; Byeong Hun An, KOR
6:41 a.m. -- Padraig Harrington, IRL; Matteo Manassero, ITA; Danny Lee, NZL
6:52 a.m. -- Kiradech Aphibarnrat, THA; Gavin Kyle Green, MAS; Thomas Pieters, BEL
7:03 a.m. -- Julien Quesne, FRA; Marcus Fraser, AUS; Shingo Katayama, JPN
7:14 a.m. -- Nicolas Colsaerts, BEL; Jeunghun Wang, KOR; Espen Kofstad, NOR
7:25 a.m. -- Felipe Aguilar, CHI; Danny Chia, MAS; Soren Kjeldsen, DEN
7:41 a.m. -- Fabian, Gomez, ARG; David Lingmerth, SWE; Jose-Filipe Lima, POR
7:52 a.m. -- Rodolfo Cazaubon, MEX; Bernd Wiesberger, AUT; Brandon Stone, RSA
8:03 a.m. -- Danny Willett, GBR; Matt Kuchar, USA; Hao Tong, Li; CHN
8:14 a.m. -- Bubba Watson, USA; Martin Kaymer, GER; Anirban Lahiri, IND
8:25 a.m. -- Jaco van Zyl, RSA; Mikko Ilonen, FIN; David Hearn, CAN
8:36 a.m. -- Gregory Bourdy, FRA; Fabrizio Zanotti, PAR; Cheng Tsung Pan, TPE
8:47 a.m. -- Yuta Ikeda, JPN; Roope, Kakko, FIN; Miguel Tabuena, PHI
9:03 a.m. -- Ashun Wu, CHN; Nino Bertasio, ITA; Scott Hend, AUS
9:14 a.m. -- Joost Luiten, NED; Ricardo Gouveia, POR; Siddikur Rahman, BAN
9:25 a.m. -- Sergio Garcia, ESP; Patrick Reed, USA; Emiliano Grillo, ARG
9:36 a.m. -- Thorbjorn Olesen, DEN; Alex Fejka, GER; Ryan Fox, NZL
9:47 a.m. -- S.S.P. Chawrasia, IND; Seamus Power, IRL; Wen-Tang Lin, TPE
9:58 a.m. -- Rickie Fowler, USA; Justin Rose, GBR; Jhonattan Vegas, VEN
10:09 a.m. -- Henrik Stenson, SWE; Thongchai Jaidee, THA; Rafa Cabrera Bello, ESP
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