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Rose paired with
Tiger and Maruyama Tiger
Woods will play the first two rounds of the 131st British Open at Muirfield in
the company of Japan's Shigeki Maruyama and England's Justin Rose, tournament
officials announced on Tuesday. Defending
champion David Duval has been grouped with Denmark's Thomas Bjorn and Japan's
Shingo Katayama while world number two Phil Mickelson has been drawn with fellow
American Hal Sutton and three-times British Open champion Nick Faldo. In
other big-name groupings, two-time U.S. Open winner Ernie Els will play with England's
Lee Westwood and U.S. Tour player Brad Faxon and Spaniard Sergio Garcia has been
matched with two-time British Open champion Greg Norman and Sweden's Robert Karlsson.
World No. 1
Woods, who is halfway toward the first professional grand slam of all four majors
in a calendar year following his triumphs at the U.S. Masters and at last month's
U.S. Open, will tee off in Thursday's first round at 8:01 a.m. GMT. "I've
played with both of them before," said Woods at a news conference on Tuesday.
"They're both nice guys so it will be a fun pairing. "Justin's
had a fantastic year with four titles worldwide and Maru (Maruyama) has won in
Dallas." Rose,
who has triumphed twice this season on the European Tour, once in South Africa
and once in Japan, was looking forward to the challenge of playing in a major
tournament with the world's best player. "I
suppose it hasn't sunk in yet but it's the world number one and I'm on the world
stage with him," said the 20-year-old Englishman after a practice round at
a damp and overcast Muirfield. "It
proves again to me how far I've come in a short period of time. "I'm
sure I will be nervous on Thursday. There's going to be a lot of attention and
a huge atmosphere but I've always found that I play my best golf when I'm a little
bit nervous on the first tee." The
British Open, the third of the year's four major championships, is being staged
at Muirfield this year for the 15th time.
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