The PGA Tour heads south this week for the OHL Classic at Mayakoba. Here are some early-round groupings to keep an eye on, as Graeme McDowell looks to defend his title in Mexico (all times ET):
7:30 a.m. Thursday, 12 p.m. Friday: Graeme McDowell, Russell Knox, Charley Hoffman
McDowell returns to defend the title he won a year ago in a Monday playoff that also featured Knox, who nearly won in consecutive starts last fall. McDowell will look to bounce back from a missed cut in Las Vegas, while Knox opened the season with a pair of top-10 finishes in Asia. Rounding out the trio will be Hoffman, who won this event in 2014.
7:40 a.m. Thursday, 12:10 p.m. Friday: Emiliano Grillo, Jhonnatan Vegas, Billy Hurley III
Grillo used an early-season win last year to spark a run that led to Rookie of the Year honors, and the Argentine will have plenty of fans this week in Playa del Carmen. He’ll play alongside a pair of surprise winners on Tour last season, as Vegas captured the RBC Canadian Open and Hurley won the Quicken Loans National.
12 p.m. Thursday, 7:30 a.m. Friday: Jim Furyk, Keegan Bradley, Luke Donald
Furyk will be making his first career start in Mexico, as well as his first start since the Deutsche Bank Championship. He’ll be joined by Bradley, who contended here a year ago and enters off back-to-back top-10 finishes, and Donald, the former world No. 1 whose last worldwide top-10 finish came at the Wyndham Championship in August.
12:10 p.m. Thursday, 7:40 a.m. Friday: Jon Rahm, Billy Horschel, Tony Finau
Rahm played well here last year, netting a top-10 finish while still an amateur at Arizona State. He has since gotten his nascent pro career off to a strong start and will look to snag his first career win at El Camaleon Golf Club. Horschel remains in search of his first win since capturing the 2014 FedEx Cup, while the long-hitting Finau won for the first time last season in Puerto Rico.
