The PGA Tour Schedule is about to hit its next major tournament as the U.S. Open Golf Championship starts on Thursday, June 13 from Merion Golf Club in Ardmore Pennsylvania and the event will not be without major storylines, as the top three players in the world in Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Adam Scott will be playing with each other over the first two rounds.
The 113th Open will have the three teeing off in the afternoon on Thursday and then starting off from the number 11 tee in the second round early in the morning on Friday. Scott comes into the tournament after winning the Masters, while Woods will be looking to break his major drought after finishing in the top five at Augusta in April. McIlroy has had a rough start to the year, but he is looking to win his third major in as many seasons at the Open. The grouping is familiar with each other after playing 12 times together previously and it will mark the first time that Woods and McIlroy will be paired for a major.
There will be even more intrigue with the grouping between Woods and Scott, as it marks the second time that the duo will be paired since Scott hired Woods' former caddie Steve Williams after doing it once at the President Cup in 2011. Woods has 14 championships to his name, but he hasn't won one since taking the 2008 U.S. Open, but he has climbed back to number one in the world after winning four times on tour this season. Woods most recently won the Players Championship and before that he took the Farmers Insurance Open, WGC-Cadillac Championship as well as the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Some other notable pairings and groupings include major winner Bubba Watson with Dustin Johnson and Nicolas Colsaerts as well as Sergio Garcia with Stewart Cink and Padraig Harrington. This will be the first tournament that Woods and Garcia have played together since they got into some drama at the Players Championship, with Garcia accusing Woods of distracting him during one of his shots in the second round. The two players went back and forth in the media about what happened and after some marshals said Woods lied about the timing of events, another came out and defended him, but that wasn't the end of the drama. Garcia later was asked a question at the Euro Tour awards dinner and responded with a bad joke about "fried chicken" that was racist and after apologizing, the Tour chief came out and made comments and mentioned "colored" athletes for which he also apologized.
Woods mentioned that the remarks were hurtful but put it behind him to move on from all the drama at the Players Championship. Woods is now ready to try and win his 15th career major to move closer to the all-time record. ESPN will have coverage of the event and the first round will start on Thursday with coverage at 9 AM.
