Click Here for Groupings and Starting Times for Rounds 1 and 2.
When the 2021 PGA Championship tees off at Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course, there will be four extra special pairings for the first round, comprising of all past PGA Champions.
Here’s a closer look at each…
John Daly, Jimmy Walker, Jason Dufner
Tee times: 7:44 a.m. Thursday (1st tee); 1:09 p.m. Friday (10th tee)
Notes: Daly, who spends most of his time on the PGA Tour Champions these days and nearly won recently, famously won the PGA Championship at Crooked Stick in 1991 as the ninth and final alternate to get into the field. It was the first of two major wins for Daly, as he also won the 1995 Open Championship at St. Andrews… Walker put the cherry on top of an incredible four-year stretch on the PGA Tour with his victory in the 2016 PGA Championship at Baltusrol, holding off 2015 PGA Champion Jason Day by a single stroke… Following a playoff-loss to Keegan Bradley in the 2011 PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club, Dufner bounced back two years later to claim victory at the 2013 PGA Championship at Oak Hill in Rochester, N.Y., finishing two shots clear of 2018 U.S. Ryder Cup Captain Jim Furyk.
Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas, Brooks Koepka
Tee times: 8:33 a.m. Thursday (10th tee); 1:58 p.m. Friday (1st tee)
Notes: This is a grouping full of favorites to win this week at Kiawah. Let’s start with McIlroy. The four-time major winner claimed the first of his two PGA Championship victories right here at Kiawah in 2012 by an astounding eight strokes. That’s got to count for something, right? He’s also riding high on confidence after winning at Quail Hollow in the Wells Fargo Championship two weeks ago – his first PGA Tour win since 2019… Thomas picked up his lone major win to date at the 2017 PGA Championship at Quail Hollow. Thomas won the Players Championship back in March and has been so-so (by his lofty standards) in three starts since, the best of which was a T13 at the Valspar Championship… Injuries have plagued Koepka – a four-time major winner and back-to-back PGA Champion in 2018-2019 – but he did manage to win the Waste Management Phoenix Open in February. Injuries caused him to miss the entire month of March and he’s only teed it up in the Masters and AT&T Byron Nelson since then, both missed cuts.
Phil Mickelson, Jason Day, Padraig Harrington
Tee times: 1:14 p.m. Thursday (1st tee); 7:49 a.m. Friday (10th tee)
Notes: At age 50, there would be few things cooler at Kiawah Island this week than to see Lefty contending for a sixth major championship victory. Mickelson won the 2005 PGA Championship at Baltusrol during a Monday finish with some magic around the 18th green to finish a stroke ahead of both Thomas Bjorn and Steve Elkington… After several close calls in the majors – count ‘em NINE top 10s, including three runner-up finishes – Day finally broke through with a three-stroke victory over Jordan Spieth in the 2015 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits. In his title defense a year later at Baltusrol, Day finished runner-up to winner Jimmy Walker. Day also finished T4 at Harding Park a year ago… Harrington won all three of his major championships in a 13-month stretch, culminating with the 2008 PGA Championship at Oakland Hills, where he overcame a three-stroke 54-hole deficit to defeat Sergio Garcia and Ben Curtis by two strokes.
Y.E. Yang, Shaun Micheel, Rich Beem
Tee times: 12:58 p.m. Thursday (10th tee); 7:33 a.m. Friday (1st tee)
Notes: Tiger Woods had never surrendered a 54-hole lead in a major… until 2009 at Hazeltine when Y.E. Yang shocked the world with a final-round 70 to edge Woods by three strokes to win the PGA Championship. Yang entered the final round trailing Woods by two. His victory made Yang the first male player born in Asia to win a major… Micheel was the surprise winner of the 2003 PGA Championship at Oak Hill, putting on a masterclass in ball-striking all the way to the end. He emphatically closed out the tournament with a tap-in birdie on the 72nd hole for a two-stroke victory over Chad Campbell… Trailing by three strokes entering the final round of the 2002 PGA Championship at Hazeltine, Beem would fire a final-round 68 to edge a hard-charging Tiger Woods by one stroke to claim his lone major title. Who could ever forget Beem’s Hula dance to celebrate on the 18th green?
