Here's a look at this week's Featured Groups at the U.S. Open. For a complete list of all groups and tee times, click here. Which groups are you most interested in following this week? Let us know.
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| Tee times |
| Tiger Woods, Bubba Watson, Phil Mickelson |
Rd. 1: 10:33 a.m. ET (9th tee) |
Rd. 2: 4:18 p.m. ET (1st tee) | |
SAN FRANCISCO -- Phil Mickelson will be the first to tell you that he hasn't always been as ready out of the gate as he should have been this year. That won't be the case on Thursday and Friday at the U.S. Open, though.
Not when he finds himself in the same group with Tiger Woods, his long-time rival, and Masters champ Bubba Watson. The threesome tees off No. 9 at 10:33 a.m. ET on Thursday and 4:18 p.m. ET on Friday -- and Mickelson, who calls the pairing "fabulous," expects to be highly motivated.
"I get excited to play with Tiger, I love it," the big lefthander explained. "I think we all do. He gets the best out of me. I think when it's time to tee off on Thursday I'll be ready to play. One of the issues I've had this year I've been a little mentally lethargic on Thursday and Friday. I won't be this week."
Mickelson also likes the fact that the two will be competing in the same conditions, on the same side of the draw, as he looks for that breakthrough victory after five runner-up finishes and Woods tries to win his fourth U.S. Open.
"The one player I'm most concerned about if I play my best golf that may have a chance to beat me is Tiger," he said. "... Sometimes we'll get a huge advantage in tee times, based on weather conditions or whatnot, if we're in the same wavelength, neither of us will have a distinct advantage."
Mickelson and Woods first played together in 1997 during the final round of the PGA Championship at Winged Foot and each shot 75. Prior to this week, the two have been in the same group 30 times and interestingly, it's a dead heat right now with each player besting the other 13 times with four ties.
Woods held the edge early in their careers but Mickelson has shot the lower score eight of the last 12 times the two have played together with one draw. One of those came earlier this year at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am where Mickelson fired a 64 to win the tournament for the fourth time and Woods went backwards with a 75.
"When we first started playing together, I don't know what it was exactly, but I didn't play my best when we were paired together," Mickelson said. "And the last five years or so I've been able to focus clearly when we play. I've been able to enjoy the challenge of playing with him and I've always enjoyed his company. I've played some of my better golf these last five years with him."
Woods is six years younger than Mickelson, who turns 42 on Saturday, so the native Californians didn't play junior golf or college golf against each other. While he thinks he actually may have played in the same group with Ernie Els and Vijay Singh more often than with Mickelson, Woods understands the fascination.
"We've had a lot of battles throughout the years, I can tell you that," Woods noted, specifically mentioning the first two rounds of the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines that he went on to win in a playoff over Rocco Mediate.
"It's different for us ever to be paired up in the same group, first of all. That never happens. We try to spread it around a little bit. That's why 2008 was so different for us because on the TOUR we never get that pairing. For us to get that pairing was exciting I think for everyone and I think this year will be the same."
Watson, for his part, said he expects the first two rounds to be like "Sunday at the Masters, huge galleries." But the three are hardly strangers to each other. Early in his career, Watson frequently joined Woods for his dawn-patrol practice rounds and he played with Mickelson as recently as the first two rounds of the Memorial Tournament.
"We're not going to be focused on what each other is doing, we're going to be focused on the tough golf course at hand and the mental preparation," Watson noted. "We need to be on top of our game for 18 holes. But it will be fun, though, it's two legends."
Watson, who is 32, says he won't be intimidated. At the same time, though, he knows both are World Golf Hall of Famers, Mickelson inducted in May and Woods a first-ballot, shoo-in as soon as he turns the magic 4-0.
"Obviously you step up your game," Watson said. "The atmosphere is different, the atmosphere starts out with Thursday with big crowds. ... You're stepping up there in a different situation. Your mental focus, your preparation is different. Everything is heightened a little bit. Hopefully we step up our game. Hopefully I step up my game. ...
"These are the people I grew up watching in high school. Now getting to play with them. I didn't get to see around the older guys. But these are two legends of the game. One is probably number one of all time and one is probably top five, for sure. So you're going to learn a lot from them, seeing how they go about their business."