Masters winner Tiger Woods, chasing a 16th major title, and defending champion Brooks Koepka lead a powerhouse field into Thursday's opening round of the PGA Championship at rain-drenched Bethpage Black.
Woods, who ended an 11-year major title drought last month at Augusta National, and Koepka, who held off Woods to win last year's PGA crown, join reigning British Open champion Francesco Molinari of Italy in the feature group of the first two days.
"I'm just looking forward to playing with him," Koepka said of Woods.
"I don't think we've really been paired together too much, especially over the last couple years. It'll definitely be interesting."
"The pairing I'm involved in, it's going to be just a boatload of fun for all of us."
"Fairways are plenty wide because it's wet. You've got to hit it not only straight but you've got to hit it far."
"There's definitely going to be a component to stamina as the week goes on. Four days over a tough championship that is mentally and physically taxing takes its toll."
- Koepka, McIlroy go long -
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"It's a fun place to play in front of the fans. They're all energetic and hopefully you ride that momentum."
"I think you've got to attack the par-5s. with my length, you've got to take advantage of the par-5s and just try to hang on on the rest of them."
"You have to hit the ball in the fairway. That's a big stat, driving accuracy. If you start to miss these fairways you're not going to be able to get to the greens."
- Intimidating Bethpage -
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"You lose a shot or two out there, and you don't feel like you're going to get it back. That's the intimidation factor of Bethpage Black," Ireland's Padraig Harrington said. "Bethpage, it really doesn't give you anything."
"New York crowds for me are great. I do like a little bit of boisterousness."
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