{"id":11486,"date":"2012-06-14T23:21:29","date_gmt":"2012-06-14T21:21:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/06\/golf-mcilroy-set-for-late-teeoff-as-u-s-open-begins\/"},"modified":"2012-06-14T23:21:29","modified_gmt":"2012-06-14T21:21:29","slug":"golf-mcilroy-set-for-late-teeoff-as-u-s-open-begins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/golf-mcilroy-set-for-late-teeoff-as-u-s-open-begins\/","title":{"rendered":"Golf-McIlroy set for late teeoff as U.S. Open begins"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

By Mark Lamport-Stokes<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

SAN FRANCISCO, June 14<\/span> (Reuters) – World number two Rory
\nMcIlroy was preparing for an early afternoon tee-off to launch
\nhis title defence as the 112th U.S. Open began under leaden
\nskies on a cool but dry morning at the Olympic Club on Thursday.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

McIlroy, who claimed his first major title by a commanding
\neight shots at Congressional Country Club last year, was
\nscheduled to start on the first hole at 1329 local time (2029
\nGMT).<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The Northern Irishman has been drawn with European Ryder Cup
\nteam mates, world number one Luke Donald and third-ranked Lee
\nWestwood, for the first two rounds.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Tournament favourite Tiger Woods, who clinched the most
\nrecent of his 14 major titles at the 2008 U.S. Open, has been
\npaired with U.S. Masters champion Bubba Watson and Phil
\nMickelson in a glamour grouping.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The three Americans, all winners of the Masters after
\nleft-hander Watson triumphed at Augusta National in April, will
\nstart on the ninth tee at 0733 (1433).<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Players normally begin their rounds from the first and 10th
\ntees at the U.S. Open but tournament officials decided to change
\nthat for logistical reasons as the ninth tee is closer to the
\nclubhouse at Olympic’s Lake Course.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen, beaten by Watson in a
\nplayoff at the Masters, was paired with last year’s U.S. Open
\nrunner-up, Australian Jason Day, and 2011 U.S. PGA Championship
\nrunner-up Jason Dufner of the United States.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Three of the sport’s promising young players, Japan’s Ryo
\nIshikawa and Americans Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler, were
\nalso grouped together.
\n\u00a0 Continued…<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Mark Lamport-Stokes SAN FRANCISCO, June 14 (Reuters) – World number two Rory McIlroy was preparing for an early afternoon tee-off to launch his title defence as the 112th U.S. Open began under leaden skies on a cool but dry morning at the Olympic Club on Thursday. McIlroy, who claimed his first major title by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[830,2370,183],"class_list":{"0":"post-11486","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-news","8":"tag-reuters","9":"tag-south-africa-2","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11486\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}