Golf Legend Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy headline feature groups on first two days of Players Championship

Golf’s great, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy will headline the featured group coverage at The Players Championship as a star-studded field descends on TPC Sawgrass.

Two-time Players champion Woods, who has allayed fears over his health this week, will play the first two rounds alongside defending champion Webb Simpson and reigning Masters champion Patrick Reed.

Woods has missed the last two weeks of PGA Tour action with a neck injury but arrives in Florida determined to tie Jack Nicklaus for the most victories in the history of the tournament.

His trio hit the first tee at 5.27pm UK time on Thursday, but before then is the featured three-ball of Justin Rose, Xander Schauffele and Justin Thomas (12.32pm), while McIlroy is joined by two former winners Phil Mickelson (2007) and Matt Kuchar (2012) at 1.04pm.

McIlroy comes into the PGA Tour’s flagship event on the back of top-six finishes in his first five appearances of 2019 and is bidding to join Henrik Stenson and Woods as the only players to win the Players, the FedExCup, a major and a WGC event.

Once the Woods group is underway, the American trio of Rickie Fowler, Brooks Koepka and Jordan Spieth make up the final featured group of the opening day.


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