GULLANE, Scotland — There are several tasty marquee groupings for the first two rounds of the British Open this week at Muirfield, led by Phil Mickelson, the winner of last week’s Scottish Open, playing alongside Rory McIlroy. The third in their group, who might as well be invisible, is Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama.
Tiger Woods, ranked No. 1 in the world and who has not played since the U.S. Open last month because of a strained elbow, is paired with Graeme McDowell and Louis Oosthuizen.
Ernie Els, the defending champion and the Open champion when it was last played at Muirfield (in 2002), will play with reigning U.S. Open champion Justin Rose and Brandt Snedeker.
Adam Scott, the reigning Masters champion, is paired with Luke Donald and Matt Kuchar.
The old-man grouping consists of Nick Faldo, Tom Watson and Freddie Couples.