Woods, McIlroy will be in back-to-back groups to open PGA Championship
Pairings for the first and second rounds of the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville include back-to-back groupings featuring Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, who are among past Wanamaker Trophy winners on this course.
Woods’ group hits the first tee box, starting at No. 10, at 8:04 a.m. The group also includes Adam Scott and Keegan Bradley.
McIlroy, Dustin Johnson and Justin Rose will follow the Woods group at 8:15 a.m.
Defending PGA Championship winner Brooks Koepka anchors a marquee grouping with Max Homa and Jordan Spieth. They’ll open on the back nine at 8:37 a.m. Thursday.
World No. 1 and Masters champion Scottie Scheffler starts at hole No. 1 on Thursday with a scheduled tee time of 2:13 p.m. in a pairing with Wyndham Clark and
Brian Harman. The trio immediately follows Jon Rahm, Rickie Fowler
and Cameron Young.
McIlroy claimed a oneshot victory in 2014 at Valhalla, outlasting Phil Mickelson.
ESPN.com noted that Johnson is one of 16 LIV Golf League players in the field. Other notable LIV members include Mickelson, Rahm and Cameron Smith.
Spieth is seeking to complete the career Grand Slam but enters with four missed cuts in his past seven starts.
Scheffler is the betting favorite at 41⁄2-to-1. He has won four of his past five starts, including the Masters, and tied for second in the other. He is coming off a three-week break for the birth of his first child.
MCILROY DIVORCE
McIlroy, 35, has filed for divorce from Erica Stoll, his wife of seven years. The divorce petition was filed Monday on McIlroy’s behalf in Florida.
That was the day after McIlroy shot a 65 in the final round to win the Wells Fargo Championship at the Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte – one of his two tour wins this season.
“Rory McIlroy’s communications team confirmed today that a divorce has been filed,” McIlroy’s manager, Sean O’Flaherty, said in the statement. “They stressed Rory’s desire to ensure this difficult time is as respectful and amicable as possible. He will not be making any further comment.”
The golfer and Stoll met at the Ryder Cup in 2012. As he has relayed the story, McIlroy overslept, and Stoll was the PGA of America staff member who helped him get to Medinah Country Club in Illinois in time to tee off.
In a relationship with tennis star Caroline Wozniacki at the time, McIlroy didn’t begin dating Stoll until 2014.
They married in April 2017 at a star-studded ceremony in Ireland and had a daughter, Poppy, on Aug. 31, 2020, in Jupiter.