Five groups to watch

Rickie Fowler, Bubba Watson, Justin Rose 8:02 a.m. ET Thursday (10th tee), 1:27 p.m. Friday (1st tee) Fowler is the fan favorite and remains in search of his first major, Watson will likely receive mixed reviews from the N.Y. faithful and Rose just keeps doing what he’s doing to mild fanfare stateside. Tiger Woods, Brooks Koepka, Francesco Molinari 8:24 a.m. Thursday (10th tee), 1:49 p.m. Friday (1st tee)

Main event grouping featuring the three most recent major winners. Jon Rahm, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth 1:16 p.m. Thursday (1st tee), 7:51 a.m. Friday (10th tee)

The most accomplished major champ in this group enters Bethpage in significantly worse form than the others. Spieth, going for the career Grand Slam for the second time in nine months, was ranked No. 8 in his try at Bellerive. He’s fallen to No. 39. Rahm and DJ are very much in the discussion and figure to be around at the end. Pat Perez, Kevin Kisner, Bryson DeChambeau 1:27 p.m. Thursday (1st tee), 8:02 a.m. Friday (10th tee) Perez and Kisner are longtime friends, kindred spirits and at least in the top 5 for most entertaining personalities on Tour. DeChambeau’s ball-striking puts him firmly in the mix. Rory McIlroy, Phil Mickelson, Jason Day 1:38 p.m. Thursday (1st tee), 8:13 a.m. Friday (10th tee) Three major champions who should get these crowds going big time late Thursday once the drinks are flowing. Phil is basically the mayor of Bethpage, McIlroy is trying to cash in on his first major since 2014 and Day has all the game you could want to see.