The tee times for the opening round of the Portugal Invitational have been confirmed, with some of the biggest names in the field grouped together for Friday’s first competitive action at The Els Club Vilamoura. Ernie Els, Miguel Ángel Jiménez, Pádraig Harrington, Bernhard Langer, Stewart Cink and Zach Johnson are among those featuring in a series of standout groups.
The inaugural Portugal Invitational will get under way at 10:10am on Friday, with players starting simultaneously from the first and tenth tees. The 78-player field will begin its first competitive round at The Els Club Vilamoura, with tee times running through to 12:22pm.
Much of the attention will be focused on a particularly strong sequence of groups heading out from the first tee late in the morning. At 11:38am, two-time major champion Zach Johnson will play alongside two-time U.S. Open winner Retief Goosen and Boo Weekley.
They will be followed at 11:49am by another eye-catching trio featuring Stewart Cink, Colin Montgomerie and Justin Leonard, bringing together three of the most recognisable names in the field.
At 12:00pm, Pádraig Harrington, Bernhard Langer and Darren Clarke will tee off together in a group packed with major championship pedigree.
One of the most anticipated groups of the opening round follows at 12:11pm, when tournament host Ernie Els begins his competitive week alongside Jerry Kelly, fresh from his victory at the ISPS HANDA Senior Open, and Spanish star Miguel Ángel Jiménez.
There will be plenty of notable groups elsewhere in the draw too. Y.E. Yang, David Duval and Michael Campbell, all major champions, will tee off from the first at 11:05am, while Tom Lehman starts from the tenth at 11:49am alongside James Kingston and David Frost.
All three rounds will be televised in the United States on GOLF Channel and Sport TV for Portugal, while international PGA TOUR Champions coverage will be available in more than 170 countries and territories through the Tour’s network of media partners.
Round 1 Tee Times – Friday, July 31
1st tee
10:10am – Billy Andrade, Richard Green, Tag Ridings
10:21am – Ricardo Gonzalez, Darren Fichardt, Paul Stankowski
10:32am – Kirk Triplett, Jeff Maggert, Mark Hensby
10:43am – Alex Cejka, Tommy Gainey, Rod Pampling
10:54am – Joe Durant, Matt Gogel, Tom Pernice Jr.
11:05am – Y.E. Yang, David Duval, Michael Campbell
11:16am – K.J. Choi, Freddie Jacobson, Stephen Ames
11:27am – Cameron Percy, Søren Kjeldsen, Scott Hend
11:38am – Boo Weekley, Zach Johnson, Retief Goosen
11:49am – Stewart Cink, Colin Montgomerie, Justin Leonard
12:00pm – Pádraig Harrington, Bernhard Langer, Darren Clarke
12:11pm – Ernie Els, Jerry Kelly, Miguel Ángel Jiménez
12:22pm – Dicky Pride, Ben Crane, Bo Van Pelt
10th tee
10:10am – Jamie Donaldson, Greg Chalmers, Tim O’Neal
10:21am – Rory Sabbatini, Johan Edfors, Brian Gay
10:32am – Stuart Appleby, Michael Wright, Emanuele Canonica
10:43am – Simon Griffiths, Mark Calcavecchia, Mark Wilson
10:54am – Jason Caron, Peter Baker, Steve Allan
11:05am – Doug Barron, Steve Flesch, Greg Owen
11:16am – Keith Horne, Gene Sauers, Chad Campbell
11:27am – Chris DiMarco, David Drysdale, Woody Austin
11:38am – Fred Funk, Charlie Wi, Adilson da Silva
11:49am – James Kingston, Tom Lehman, David Frost
12:00pm – Vaughn Taylor, Andrew Marshall, Bob Estes
12:11pm – John Rollins, Paul Goydos, Thomas Levet
12:22pm – Mikael Lundberg, Brett Quigley, Tim Petrovic
Ends
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