PGA Championship tee times 2017: Start time and pairings for Thursday’s opening round

Rory McIlroy has historically dominated Quail Hollow, finishing in first place after 72 holes in three of the seven events he’s played there. If he can live up to expectations this weekend, he’ll leave the North Carolina golf course with his fifth major championship.

In seven tournaments at Quail Hollow, McIlroy has finished a combined 66-under par. That history of success has made him the early favorite to raise the Wanamaker Cup, just ahead of stars like Dustin Johnson and Jordan Spieth. He’ll start his tournament alongside top-10 staples Rickie Fowler and Jon Rahm, creating one of the groups to watch Thursday — but not the biggest.

That honor goes to an 8:25 tee time belonging to all three of this year’s major winners. 2017 British Open champion Jordan Spieth will pair with U.S. Open champ Brooks Koepka and Masters titlist Sergio Garcia to give the event its first featured group. Right behind them, a threesome of world No. 1 Dustin Johnson, Jason Day, and Henrik Stenson will tee off 10 minutes later.

Quail Hollow, nearing its 60th year in existence, has made some changes in advance of its first major PGA Tour tournament. Course superintendents took 12 weeks to completely re-imagine the front nine holes in the lead up to Thursday’s opening round, adding three new holes while dramatically changing several others. The end result is a more challenging course that will make scores like the 21-under McIlroy posted there in 2015 a distant memory.

As a result, a course that was already PGA ready is now in major shape. Quail Hollow will clock in at over 7,400 yards for the Championship, and while thousands of trees have reportedly been removed during renovation, the course will still punish players who careen left or right off the tee with shot-destroying forests. Its greens will be larger and more difficult than ever.

Here’s the full, stacked field for Thursday’s opening round of the 2017 PGA Championship. It includes each member of the world’s top 10, as well as veterans like Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els each making their 100th career start at a major, as well as Vijay Singh.

All times Eastern

Tee No. 1

7:20 a.m. — Grayson Murray, Rich Berberian Jr., Peter Uihlein

7:30 a.m. — Adam Rainaud, Tony Finau, Fabrizio Zanotti

7:40 a.m. — Younghan Song, Dave McNabb, Charles Howell III

7:50 a.m. — Sung Kang, Wesley Bryan, Dylan Frittelli

8 a.m. — William McGirt, Francesco Molinari, Jim Herman

8:10 a.m. — Gary Woodland, Andy Sullivan, Kyle Stanley

8:20 a.m. — Rich Beem, Vijay Singh, John Daly

8:30 a.m. — Louis Oosthuizen, Danny Willett, J.B. Holmes

8:40 a.m. — Thomas Pieters, Xander Schauffele, Rod Pampling

8:50 a.m. — Thorbjorn Olesen, Brendan Steele, Hudson Swafford

9 a.m. — Cameron Smith, Bernd Wiesberger, Brandon Stone

9:10 a.m. — K.T. Kim, Greg Gregory, James Hahn

9:20 a.m. — Richard Sterne, Ryan Vermeer, Chris Stroud

12:35 p.m. — Lucas Glover, Matt Dobyns, Hideto Tanihara

12:45 p.m. — Mike Small, Jason Kokrak, Satoshi Kodaira

12:55 p.m. — Thomas Bjorn, Branden Grace, Pat Perez

1:05 p.m. — Adam Scott, Luke Donald, Webb Simpson

1:15 p.m. — Billy Horschel, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Si Woo Kim

1:25 p.m. — Jimmy Walker, Phil Mickelson, Jason Dufner

1:35 p.m. — Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Rickie Fowler

1:45 p.m. — Matt Kuchar, Justin Rose, Brandt Snedeker

1:55 p.m. — Daniel Berger, Jim Furyk, Kevin Kisner

2:05 p.m. — Ross Fisher, Rafa Cabrera Bello, Ryan Moore

2:15 p.m. — Jhonattan Vegas, Bryson DeChambeau, Jordan Smith

2:25 p.m. — Alex Beach, Sean O’Hair, Kevin Na

2:35 p.m. — Chris Moody, Luke List, Jamie Lovemark

Tee No. 10

7:25 a.m. — Shane Lowry, Stuart Deane, Pablo Larrazabal

7:35 a.m. — Alex Noren, Scott Herbert, Russell Knox

7:45 a.m. — Hideki Matsuyama, Ernie Els, Ian Poulter

7:55 a.m. — Daniel Summerhays, Robert Streb, Chris Wood

8:05 a.m. — Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Thomas, Patrick Reed

8:15 a.m. — Bubba Watson, Charl Schwartzel, Paul Casey

8:25 a.m. — Sergio Garcia, Brooks Koepka, Jordan Spieth

8:35 a.m. — Jason Day, Dustin Johnson, Henrik Stenson

8:45 a.m. — Padraig Harrington, Keegan Bradley, Davis Love III

8:55 a.m. — Zach Johnson, Lee Westwood, Charley Hoffman

9:05 a.m. — David Lingmerth, Scott Brown, Nicolas Colsaerts

9:15 a.m. — Scott Hend, Kenny Pigman, Andrew Johnston

9:25 a.m. — Kelly Kraft, Brian Smock, Patrick Rodgers

12:30 p.m. — David Muttitt, Bud Cauley, Graham DeLaet

12:40 p.m. — Rod Perry, Yuta Ikeda, Emiliano Grillo

12:50 p.m. — Joost Luiten, Paul Claxton, Russell Henley

1 p.m. — Patrick Cantlay, Thongchai Jaidee, Soren Kjeldsen

1:10 p.m. — Omar Uresti, Y.E. Yang, Shaun Micheel

1:20 p.m. — Danny Lee, Marc Leishman, Anirban Lahiri

1:30 p.m. — Byeong Hun An, Kevin Chappell, Mackenzie Hughes

1:40 p.m. — Jonas Blixt, Steve Stricker, Brian Harman

1:50 p.m. — D.A. Points, Tyrrell Hatton, Adam Hadwin

2 p.m. — Martin Laird, Bill Haas, Graeme McDowell

2:10 p.m. — Jeunghun Wang, Alexander Levy, Jamie Broce

2:20 p.m. — JJ Wood, Ryan Fox, Haotong Li

2:30 p.m. — Jaysen Hansen, Cody Gribble, Chez Reavie