Tee Times For Weekend’s Golf Events

With the Crowne Plaza Invitational being held in Fort Worth, Texas and the BMW PGA Championship being held in England, our local golfers will be spread out this weekend. Add in the Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic and there will be plenty of opportunity to to watch some of our Tour pros this weekend. We take a look at where and what time they will be teeing it up on Thursday and Friday.

Charl Schwartzel (Old Palm)- Crowne Plaza Invitational 12:33pm Thursday and 7:33am Friday

Rickie Fowler (Loxahatchee River)- Crowne Plaza Invitational 12:33pm Thursday and 7:33am Friday

Frenchmans Reserve (4)-1Freddie Jacobson (Hobe Sound)- Crowne Plaza Invitational  12:44pm Thursday and 7:44am Friday

Luke Donald (Bears Club)- BMW PGA Championship 7:50am Thursday and 3:25am Friday

Ernie Els (Jupiter)- BMW PGA Championship 8:00am Thursday and 3:35am Friday

Rory Mcllroy (Palm Beach Gardens)- BMW PGA Championship 3:25am Thursday and 7:50am Friday

Lee Westwood (Old Palm)- BMW PGA Championship 8:00am Thursday and 3:35am Friday

Stacy Lewis (Medalist)- Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic 8:31am Thursday and 1:21pm Friday

Belen Mozo (Medalist)- Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic 1:54pm Thursday and 9:04am Friday

Previewing the HP Byron Nelson Championship

This week, the PGA Tour heads to Texas for the HP Byron Nelson Championship. The event, named after the late great Byron Nelson, is played on a course with a similar set up to last week’s Players Championship.

The TPC Four Seasons Resort in Irving, Texas is a par 70 course designed originally by Jay Morrish and opened in 1983. The course underwent a major overhaul in 2007 by D.A. Weibring and Steve Wolfard. The course features large greens but also has runoffs and closely mown areas just off the green that will penalize poor shots.

While the field is missing some of the big names that were present at last week’s Players, the field is still a tough one that features many local golfers from our area.

Photo courtesy of Getty Images

Photo courtesy of Getty Images

Louis Oosthuizen is highest ranked player in the 156 player field. The Old Palm resident is the seventh ranked player in the world and is coming off a 19th place finish last week. He has three top 20 finishes in his last four starts.

Oosthuzien’s neighbor in Old Palm, Charl Schwartzel is making his TPC Four Season debut this week. He is coming into this week fresh off a 55th place finish at the TPC Sawgrass last week which ended his run of consecutive top 25 finishes at 13.

Keegan Bradley won the event in 2011. The Tequesta resident went on to win Rookie of the Year honors that year. He finished in a tie for 24th in his title defense last year and has five top 10 finishes already this year. He has missed his last two cuts but will look to turn that around on a TPC Four Seasons course that he has had success on.

Dustin Johnson has had an enormous amount of success at this event over the years. The Loxahatchee River resident is 4-for-4 at the TPC Four Seasons finishing in a tie for 20th, a tie for seventh and a tie for fourth in the last three years. Injuries to his left wrist and lower back have caused him to withdraw or pull out of tournaments over the past two weeks, so his health will play a big factor in his success this week.

The HP Byron Nelson Championship takes place Thursday through Sunday and can be seen on the Golf Channel and CBS. For complete coverage on the event, visit www.pgatour.com.

Tee Times for The Players Championship

This week the PGA makes it’s annual stop at the TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. The season’s unnoficial “fifth major” is full of everyone from the top player in the world (Tiger Woods), to two first time winners on tour (Billy Horschel and Derek Ernst). Here is a look at some of the feature pairings for this weekend’s event, including Thursday and Friday’s tee times.

Tiger Woods, Matt Kuchar, Brandt Snedeker (1:49pm Thursday and 8:39am Friday)- Kuchar is the defending champion at this event. Although he won last year’s event he hasn’t had a lot of succes at Sawgrass. Before last year’s win, he had only three top-25 finishes since 2001. Woods and Snedeker haven’t fared much better. Since his lone win here in his historic 2001 season Woods has struggled to get comfortable on the TPC course. In his last five appearances, the Jupiter Island resident has posted a tie for 40, two withdraws, a tie for eighth, and a tie for 37th.

TPC SawgrassRory Mcllroy, Adam Scott, Steve Stricker (8:39am Thursday and 1:49pm Friday)- Scott is making his first start since his historic Masters win a few weeks ago. History doesn’t bode well for Scott at this event. Only one player has won the Masters and then gone on to win The Players in the same season (Woods in 2001). Mcllroy’s game has come to form nicely as of late. Since withdrawing from The Honda Classic in March, the Palm Beach Gardens resident has four top 25 finishes, including a 10th place finish at last weekend’s Wells Fargo Championship.

Lee Westwood, Nick Watney, Ian Poulter (1:18pm Thursday and 8:08am Friday)- Watney and Westwood were both in contention on Sunday at last week’s Wells Fargo Championship. Watney finished in a tie for 10th, while the Old Palm resident finished in a fourth place tie. Poulter has taken some time off since he missed the cut at the Masters.

Rickie Fowler, Hunter Mahan, Jim Furyk (8:08am Thursday and 1:18pm Friday)- Fowler has struggled at times since getting his first tour win last year At Quail Hollow. The Loxahatchee River resident already has three top 10 finishes this year though and will look to get his second career win this weekend. Furyk is one of the many local Jacksonville area players competing this weekend. That hasn’t always lead to a lot of success on this course though. Furyk will look to change that this weekend at his local course.

Ernie Els, Dustin Johnson, Billy Horschel (8:29am Thursday and 1:39pm Friday)- This pairing features two local Palm Beach County golfers and a first time winner. Els (Jupiter) has not made the cut at the TPC Sawgrass since 2009. Already with three top 25 finishes this year, Els will look to change his luck around at The Players this year. Johnson has four top 25 finishes this year but hasn’t had a lot of success at this event. The Loxahatchee River resident has yet to card a top 25 finish at this event. Horschel is another local Jacksonville product. He lives down the street and was “quite bummed” that he didn’t get to play in the event last year. Well, he won his first tour event two weeks ago and will look to finally take a crack at this challenging TPC course.

For a complete list of tee times and coverage of The Players Championship, visit www.pgatour.com.

Tee Times for the Zurich Classic of New Orleans

Here is a look at some of the key pairings and tee times for the first two rounds of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

Ernie Els, Rickie Fowler, Michael Thompson (12:30pm Thursday and 7:30am Friday)- All three in this pairing have a connection to the South Florida community. Els and Fowler are residents here (Els in Jupiter and Fowler on the Loxahatchee River), and Thompson one the Honda Classic at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens. Els competed in this event for the first time last year, losing in a playoff to the winner Jason Dufner, while Fowler finished in a tie for 10th.

Frenchmans Reserve (6)Justin Rose, Keegan Bradley, Billy Horschel (12:40pm Thursday and 7:40pm Friday)- Keegan Bradley has five top ten finishes already this year including four in his last five events. The Tequesta resident missed the cut at the event last year. Rose also has been playing well as of late. He has three top tens in his last five starts and is coming off a tenth place finish in New Orleans last year. Horschel is still looking for his first win on tour and has had several near misses this year. He missed the cut here last year but in his last three tournaments in 2013 he has a second, third, and ninth place finish.

Jason Dufner, Bubba Watson, Nick Watney (7:30am Thursday and 12:30pm Friday)- All three in this group are past Zurich Classic winners. Dufner is the defending champion, defeating Ernie Els in a playoff last year. Watson won the event in 2011 when he beat Webb Simpson in a playoff as well. Watney is the only one of the three to win in regulation when he won in 2007 by three shots.

Guan Tianlang, Henrik Norlander, Justin Bolli (1:40pm Thursday and 8:40am Friday)- The 14 year old Tianlang was the youngest ever to compete in and make the cut at the Masters and will look to do more of the same this week. He will be featured in an international pairing with Norlander from Stockholm, and Bolli from Greenville, South Carolina.

For a complete list of tee times and pairings visit www.pgatour.com.

Tiger Woods Wins Player of the Month Honors For March

Tiger Woods and Annika Sorenstam win Battle at BighornJupiter Island resident Tiger Woods won the PGA Tour’s Avis Player of the Month Honors for the month of March. Woods had quite the month of March. He entered two tournaments during the month, winning them both.

He won the WGC Cadillac Championship in Doral at the beginning of the month and then two weeks later he won the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill. He was even part of the team that won the Tavistock Cup the day after the event at Bay Hill. The Tavistock Cup is an exhibition event held right down the road from Bay Hill at Isleworth Golf and Country Club. While it is not a sanctioned PGA Tour event, it does involve PGA Tour players.

In addition to his multiple victories, Woods also moved to the top of two key lists. With his victories, he took over first in the FedEx Cup standings as well as returned to number one in the world golf rankings. For the world golf rankings, it was the first time Woods, a member at the Medalist Club, was at the top of the list since 2010.