Golf
Bob Harig, ESPN Senior Writer 4y

Defending U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland paired with Open titlist Shane Lowry, U.S. Amateur winner Andy Ogletree

Golf, PGA Tour

Gary Woodland will begin defense of his U.S. Open title alongside Open champion Shane Lowry and U.S. Amateur winner Andy Ogletree on Thursday at 1:05 p.m. at Winged Foot Golf Club.

The 2020 tournament was postponed from June until this week due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Woodland won the U.S. Open in 2019 at Pebble Beach and Lowry won The Open at Royal Portrush last summer. Ogletree, who played at Georgia Tech, won the 2019 U.S. Amateur at Pinehurst.

Three-time U.S. Open champion Tiger Woods is grouped with the most recent major winner, Collin Morikawa, and Justin Thomas. They begin play off the first tee at 8:07 a.m. with a 1:27 p.m. tee time on Friday. Morikawa, in just his second major championship start, won the PGA Championship last month at Harding Park.

Other groupings have Rory McIlroy, Adam Scott and Justin Rose off at 8:07 a.m. off the 10th tee; Jordan Spieth, Patrick Reed and Hideki Matsuyama off at 7:56 a.m..

No. 1 ranked Dustin Johnson, the reigning PGA Tour player of the year, will tee off at 1:16 p.m. with Bryson DeChambeau and Tony Finau.

Phil Mickelson, who in 2006 had one of his record six runner-up finishes in the U.S. Open at Winged Foot, begins play at 1:27 p.m. with Paul Casey and No. 2-ranked John Rahm.

Due to the pandemic, the United States Golf Association scrapped local and sectional qualifying for the U.S. Open and went with an all-exempt format based on numerous criteria. It also reduced the field from 156 to 144 players in order to accommodate less daylight.

Tee times begin at 6:50 a.m. and run through 2:10 p.m. with players alternating starting from the first and 10th tees for the first two rounds.

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