OAKMONT, Pa. (AP) _ 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.
Mike Weir of Bright's Grove, Ont., will play with K.J. Choi and
David Toms. Calgary's Stephen Ames is grouped with Thomas Bjorn and
Ben Curtis.
There are three other Canadians in the field.
Jon Mills of Oshawa, Ont., will play with Tom Gillis and Craig
Kanada. Adam Speirs of Winnipeg will tee off with Chris Condello and
Jacob Rogers. Richard Lee, who was born in Toronto and raised in
Vancouver, will play with D.J. Brigman and George McNeill.
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.
