Phil Mickelson will have a marquee grouping and a new caddie on the bag this week when he returns to The Greenbrier Classic. Here’s a look at some of the early-round tee times to keep an eye on in White Sulphur Springs, W. Va. (all times ET):
8 a.m. Thursday, 1 p.m. Friday: Patrick Reed, Jonas Blixt, Charles Howell III
Reed is the top-ranked player in this week’s field at No. 21 in the world, and will look to crack the top 20 on the leaderboard for the fourth straight week. He’ll be joined by Blixt, who teamed with Cameron Smith to win the Zurich Classic earlier this season, and Howell, who lost a playoff to Kyle Stanley last week at the Quicken Loans National.
12:30 p.m. Thursday, 7:30 a.m. Friday: Jimmy Walker, Jim Herman, Smylie Kaufman
The reigning PGA champ has been slowed by Lyme Disease this year, as Walker has missed two straight cuts and hasn’t cracked the top 10 since Kapalua. But his Greenbrier record includes a runner-up finish in 2013 and T-4 results in 2010 and 2011. He’ll be joined by Herman and Kaufman, each with career win to their credit and looking to bounce back from missed cuts last week.
12:50 p.m. Thursday, 7:50 a.m. Friday: Kevin Kisner, Si Woo Kim, Mackenzie Hughes
Kisner won earlier this year at Colonial and followed that performance with a T-6 finish at the Memorial the following week. Kim has largely struggled to rekindle the dazzling form that earned him top honors at TPC Sawgrass as he continues to battle injury, while rounding out the trio will be Hughes who notched his maiden victory at the RSM Classic in the fall.
1 p.m. Thursday, 8 a.m. Friday: Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson, Danny Lee
Mickelson has missed the cut in each of his three prior Greenbrier appearances, most recently in 2013. He’ll hope to turn that around with his brother, Tim, on the bag for Mickelson’s first round since a surprising split with his longtime caddie Jim “Bones” Mackay. Like Mickelson, Watson is a Greenbrier Sporting Club member with property on the resort while Lee won this event in a four-man playoff in 2015 but was unable to defend his title last year because of flooding that led to the event’s cancellation.
Source: Internet
