TULSA, Okla. – Good luck getting a spot near the 10th tee Thursday morning if you’re at Southern Hills.
22 combined majors are set to tee off at 8:11 a.m. local time in Tulsa, Oklahoma, as Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth are grouped together for the first two rounds of the PGA Championship.
Full-field tee times from the PGA Championship
The grouping is undoubtedly exciting for the fans, but for the players it means more people, more noise, more distractions.
For Spieth, who is attempting to complete the career Grand Slam, it’s all about embracing the chaos and having fun.
“Sometimes when the crowds get big enough, it’s kind of just a color blur in a way,” Spieth said. “I think last week was nice. If I had a month off and dove right into it, it’s just a little bit maybe harder to just settle in. But we had some huge crowds last week on the weekend, and I think that helps kind of feeling the nerves and the pressure of contending in a Tour event.”
The pressure of contending should be something Spieth is once again getting accustomed to, as his only two starts since the Masters resulted in a win at the RBC Heritage and a runner-up at last week’s AT&T Byron Nelson.
Spieth said Wednesday that playing Thursday and Friday at a major with Woods makes those rounds feel much more like the weekend, but that he loves playing with the 15-time major champion and doesn’t take for granted that he’ll get to do it again this week.
“I’ll get to tell my kid about it some day, I got to play with Tiger in a major,” Spieth said. “And I’ve done it before. Last year, you weren’t sure if that was ever going to happen again. I know it’s obviously great for golf, but selfishly it’s pretty exciting to be able to play these events with the guy that you idolized growing up.”
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