Posted at 7:35 a.m., Friday, June 8, 2007
Tiger, defending champion Ogilvy paired at U.S. Open
Associated Press
OAKMONT, Pa. — Tiger Woods and Geoff Ogilvy will play together the first two rounds next week at Oakmont, continuing a recent trend of the U.S. Open and British Open champions in the same group.Joining them will be U.S. Amateur champion Richie Ramsay of Scotland when the U.S. Open begins Thursday.
While the USGA claims that the rest of the draw is random, there were some curious groupings, and some with plenty of star power.
Phil Mickelson, No. 2 in the world ranking, will play the first two rounds with Jim Furyk (No. 3 in the world) and Adam Scott (No. 4). Colin Montgomerie is playing with Chris DiMarco, who both have two playoff losses in the majors.
And there shouldn't be any need for translation in this group — Jose Maria Olazabal, Sergio Garcia and Pablo Martin, all from Spain.
Stuart Appleby and Robert Allenby, best friends from Australia whose identity is often mistaken because of how closely their names are spelled, will be joined by Scott Verplank.
Then there's Boo Weekley and Bubba Watson, former teammates at tiny Milton High School in the Florida panhandle. They will be paired the first two days with Nobuhiro Masuda of Japan.
Fred Funk qualified for the U.S. Open at age 51. He'll be playing with 49-year-old Jeff Sluman.
