Irish Open champion Shane Lowry will play the opening two rounds of his first World Golf Championship event alongside England’s Justin Rose and American Marc Turnesa when the Bridgestone Invitational gets underway at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio on Thursday.
The Esker Hills golfer picked up an invite to the event after his dramatic victory at Baltray earlier in the summer and it will be his first professional event on American soil. The event, which carries a purse of €6million, will be contested by just 80 players and has no weekend cut.
Lowry tees off from the first hole on Thursday at 8.52am local time (2.52pm Irish time), with a 12.37pm (6.37pm) slot on Friday off the tenth tee.
Rory McIlroy has been paired with defending champion Vijay Singh and Masters runner-up Kenny Perry, while Pádraig Harrington will accompany Dane Soren Hansen and American Scott Verplank.
Darren Clarke plays the opening two rounds alongside Nick Dougherty and Woody Austin, with Luke Donald and David Love making up the three-ball with Graeme McDowell.
Fresh from his victory at last weekend’s Buick Open, Tiger Woods has been drawn with Sergio Garcia and Sweden’s Carl Pettersson for the opening 36 holes.
Tee-times for opening two rounds of WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, Firestone
CC, Akron, Ohio (USA unless stated, all times Irish, second round time in brackets):
FIRST HOLE (Tenth on Friday)
2.30 (6.15)Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind), David Toms, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha)
2.41 (6.26)Trevor Immelman (Rsa), Lucas Glover, Nathan Green (Aus)
2.52 (6.37)Justin Rose (Eng),
Shane Lowry (Irl), Marc Turnesa
3.03 (6.48)Martin Kaymer (Ger), Sean O'Hair, Jim Furyk
3.14 (6.59)Boo Weekley, Robert Allenby (Aus), Chad Campbell
3.25 (7.10)K J Choi (Kor), Jerry Kelly, Tim Clark (Rsa)
3.36 (7.21)Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa), Mathew Goggin (Aus), Charles Howell III
6.15 (2.30)Nick Watney, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa)
6.26 (2.41)Christian Cevaer (Fra), Stewart Cink, Nick O'Hern (Aus)
6.37 (2.52)Ben Curtis, Lee Westwood (Eng), Shingo Katayama (Jpn)
6.48 (3.03)Stuart Appleby (Aus), Pat Perez, Ian Poulter (Eng)
6.59 (3.14) Anthony Kim, YE Yang (Kor), Oliver Wilson (Eng)
7.10 (3.25)Tiger Woods, Carl Pettersson (Swe), Sergio Garcia (Spa)
7.21 (3.36)Paul Casey (Eng), Zach Johnson, Retief Goosen (Rsa)
TENTH HOLE (First on Friday)
2.30 (6.15)Brian Gay, Angel Cabrera (Arg), Richard Sterne (Rsa)
2.41 (6.26)Justin Leonard, Henrik Stenson (Swe), Prayad Marksaeng (Tha)
2.52 (6.37)Hunter Mahan, Adam Scott (Aus), Mike Weir (Can)
3.03 (6.48)Rory Sabbatini (Rsa), Steve Stricker, Ross Fisher (Eng)
3.14 (6.59)Luke Donald (Eng),
Graeme McDowell(Irl), Davis Love III
3.25 (7.10)Kenny Perry, Vijay Singh (Fij),
Rory McIlroy (Irl)
3.36 (7.21)Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els (Rsa), Camilo Villegas (Col)
6.15 (2.30)Chih-bing Lam (Sin), Danny Lee (Nzl), Anthony Kang
6.26 (2.41)Woody Austin, Nick Dougherty (Eng),
Darren Clarke(Irl)
6.37 (2.52)Geoff Ogilvy (Aus), Yuji Igarashi (Jpn), Dustin Johnson
6.48 (3.03)Cameron Beckman, Soren Kjeldsen (Den), Gregory Havret (Fra)
6.59 (3.14)Anders Hansen (Den), J.B. Holmes, Alvaro Quiros (Spa)
7.10 (3.25)
Pádraig Harrington(Irl), Soren Hansen (Den), Scott Verplank
