The top three players in the Official World Golf Ranking will tee it up alongside each other at the Players Championship.
The threesome of No. 1 Rory McIlroy, No. 2 Jon Rahm and No. 3 Brooks Koepka highlight the featured groups for the upcoming week at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Complete groupings and tee times will be released Tuesday at noon ET.
Here is a look at all eight featured groups for the opening two rounds:
Thursday
Rory McIlroy, Brooks Koepka, Jon Rahm
McIlroy is the defending champion and reigning player of the year while Koepka is the man McIlroy beat for that honor. McIlroy ran his top-5 streak to seven straight at the Arnold Palmer Invitational while Koepka, who is still trying to regain his elite form after reaggravating a left-knee injury last November, barely cracked the top 50 at Bay Hill thanks to a third-round 81. Rahm has a pair of top-3 finishes already this year, including in his last start at the WGC-Mexico, where he was T-3.
Viktor Hovland, Collin Morikawa, Matthew Wolff
Three of the Tour’s most promising young stars, all three have now won on Tour after Hovland captured the Puerto Rico Open two weeks ago.
Justin Rose, Adam Scott, Xander Schauffele
Rose missed the cut at Bay Hill after taking his Honma clubs out of the bag. An official announcement is expected Monday. Scott, a past Players champ, won the Genesis Invitational last month while Schauffele was T-2 two years ago at TPC Sawgrass.
Matt Kuchar, Henrik Stenson, Sergio Garcia
Garcia won the 2008 Players and has five other top-10s at TPC Sawgrass, including runner-up finishes in 2007 and ’15. Kuchar and Stenson also are former Players winners, in 2012 and 2006, respectively.
Friday
Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Webb Simpson
Mickelson won the 2007 Players but has missed six of his last seven cuts at TPC Sawgrass. Simpson won this event two years ago and recently won in Phoenix. Johnson owns just one top-10 at the Players, a T-5 last year.
Rickie Fowler, Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth
Fowler is five years removed from his birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie finish and playoff victory at The Players. Thomas already owns two wins this season on Tour. Spieth has dropped to 53rd in the world and missed the cut last year at TPC Sawgrass, his fourth in five years there.
Patrick Reed, Hideki Matsuyama, Patrick Cantlay
Matsuyama owns two top-10s at The Players but no wins and is coming off a T-56 finish at Bay Hill, which snapped a streak of two straight top-6s. Reed recently won in Mexico but doesn’t have a top-20 at The Players. Cantlay is currently in position to qualify for the Olympics at No. 6 in the world.
Bryson DeChambeau, Gary Woodland, Sungjae Im
DeChambeau has continued to build momentum with a runner-up in Mexico and top-5 at API. Woodland has four top-10s this season. Im won two weeks ago at Honda and contended at Bay Hill.