ESPN - Woods, Mickelson headline star-studded pairings at U.S. Open - Golf


The stars will align, at least in the early going, at the U.S. Open.

The USGA released the top pairings on Wednesday for the start of the tournament on June 12 at Torrey Pines, and big names will be playing together the first two days.

World's No. 1 Tiger Woods will be paired with No. 2 Phil Mickelson and third-ranked Adam Scott. Woods and Mickelson played together once before at the U.S. Open, in the 1999's third round at Pinehurst. The late Payne Stewart won that year, with Mickelson second and Woods third.

Ernie Els, Justin Rose and Geoff Ogilvy make up another trio. Stewart Cink, Sergio Garcia and Vijay Singh will be together. And K.J. Choi, Jim Furyk and Steve Stricker make up the other big-name grouping.

All told, the top 12 players in the world will be accounted for in the four groups.

The rest of the field will be announced Thursday morning.