With seven of the top nine players in the world in attendance, there are superstar names playing throughout the day at the Honda Classic. On Friday, leader Rory McIlroy will be out early while Tiger Woods highlights the afternoon coverage on TV.
With all the talent on display at the Honda Classic this week, the leaderboard is bound to feature some superstar names throughout. On Thursday, one of the biggest caught fire to take the lead.
Rory McIlroy put on a clinic at PGA National, striping it down the middle off the tee and dropping darts on top of the flagstick with his irons. He occasionally bombed in putts, too, like the 45-footer for birdie on No. 11. His inward 30 on the back nine is something that won't be replicated in the final three rounds, and he'll be impossible to catch if he plays the way he did on Thursday.
McIlroy could very well extend his one-shot lead before much of the country is awake, as the Ulsterman goes out in the morning wave with Adam Scott and Billy Horschel at 7:25 a.m. ET. McIlroy tees off at No. 10, so he'll have an immediate chance to try and go low again on the back side. He started with three straight birdies at No. 10 on Thursday, and that's really where his round took off.
But he'll also hit the teeth of the Bear Trap -- PGA National's difficult three-hole stretch from 15 to 17 -- bright and early, and the hazards looming on those holes can always make a lead disappear with one swing. The more likely scenario, however, is that Rory is pushing double-digit under par and moving the number that the chasers, including Tiger Woods -- who's already eight shots back -- are going after.
Rory's group is the first of the marquee cluster, with Phil Mickelson, Rickie Fowler, and Graeme McDowell are going out 10 minutes later at 7:35 a.m. The afternoon wave will be anchored by Woods, who's playing alongside Zach Johnson and Keegan Bradley, an almost certain trio for the USA Ryder Cup team this fall. Woods was mediocre again on Thursday, so he'll need to put it together quickly on Friday to get back in it.
Woods struggled with the putter when he had his irons working, and then struggled off the tee and with his wedges once he finally got a little momentum going with the flatstick. It was a frustrating opening round, but as we saw here in 2012, Woods can match that low-60s number McIlroy posted and instantly become a factor again before the weekend.
Tiger's group will play behind Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson, and Luke Donald, so expect those two afternoon tee times to take up the majority of the coverage on Golf Channel, which comes on the air at 2 p.m. ET. Here's the full tee sheet for the second round (all times Eastern):
Morning wave off No. 1:
Tee Time | Players | ||
6:45 a.m. | Spencer Levin | Nicholas Thompson | Jason Kokrak |
6:55 a.m. | Stephen Ames | Josh Teater | Jamie Donaldson |
7:05 a.m. | Steven Bowditch | Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano | Stephen Gallacher |
7:15 a.m. | Boo Weekley | Scott Brown | Heath Slocum |
7:25 a.m. | Tyrone Van Aswegen | Nick Watney | Charles Howell III |
7:35 a.m. | Ken Duke | Stewart Cink | Mike Weir |
7:45 a.m. | Russell Henley | George McNeill | Jhonattan Vegas |
7:55 a.m. | Trevor Immelman | Mark Calcavecchia | Justin Hicks |
8:05 a.m. | Sean O'Hair | Matt Jones | Cameron Tringale |
8:15 a.m. | Ricky Barnes | David Hearn | Matteo Manassero |
8:25 a.m. | Jim Renner | Chesson Hadley | Jason Allred |
8:35 a.m. | Billy Hurley III | Brooks Koepka | Derek Fathauer |
Morning wave off No. 10:
Tee Time | Players | ||
6:45 a.m. | Robert Garrigus | David Lingmerth | Chad Collins |
6:55 a.m. | Charlie Wi | Erik Compton | D.H. Lee |
7:05 a.m. | Troy Matteson | Daniel Summerhays | Chris Stroud |
7:15 a.m. | D.A. Points | Retief Goosen | Angel Cabrera |
7:25 a.m. | Adam Scott | Billy Horschel | Rory McIlroy |
7:35 a.m. | Phil Mickelson | Graeme McDowell | Rickie Fowler |
7:45 a.m. | Mark Wilson | Y.E. Yang | Davis Love III |
7:55 a.m. | Michael Thompson | Lee Westwood | Robert Allenby |
8:05 a.m. | Ryan Palmer | Paul Casey | John Senden |
8:15 a.m. | Matt Every | Brian Stuard | Russell Knox |
8:25 a.m. | Jesper Parnevik | Peter Hanson | John Peterson |
8:35 a.m. | Jamie Lovemark | Jason Millard | Mark Silvers |
Afternoon wave off No. 1:
Tee Time | Players | ||
11:45 a.m. | Ben Crane | Jeff Maggert | Morgan Hoffmann |
11:55 a.m. | Andres Romero | David Lynn | Ryo Ishikawa |
12:05 p.m. | Jason Bohn | Camilo Villegas | Jerry Kelly |
12:15 p.m. | Charlie Beljan | Johnson Wagner | Harrison Frazar |
12:25 p.m. | Henrik Stenson | Sergio Garcia | Luke Donald |
12:35 p.m. | Zach Johnson | Tiger Woods | Keegan Bradley |
12:45 p.m. | J.J. Henry | Kyle Stanley | Stuart Appleby |
12:55 p.m. | John Merrick | Tommy Gainey | Kenny Perry |
1:05 p.m. | Jose Coceres | William McGirt | Scott Langley |
1:15 p.m. | Brian Harman | Brendon Todd | Roberto Castro |
1:25 p.m. | Brendan Steele | Tim Herron | James Hahn |
1:35 p.m. | Tim Wilkinson | Troy Merritt | Alan Morin |
Afternoon wave off No. 10:
Tee Time | Players | ||
11:45 a.m. | John Rollins | Bo Van Pelt | Thomas Bjorn |
11:55 a.m. | Briny Baird | Brendon de Jonge | Hideki Matsuyama |
12:05 p.m. | Brian Davis | Martin Flores | Thorbjorn Olesen |
12:15 p.m. | Patrick Reed | Chris Kirk | Vijay Singh |
12:25 p.m. | Martin Kaymer | Charl Schwartzel | Tim Clark |
12:35 p.m. | Derek Ernst | Carl Pettersson | Geoff Ogilvy |
12:45 p.m. | Woody Austin | Ted Potter, Jr. | Rory Sabbatini |
12:55 p.m. | Ben Curtis | Darren Clarke | Lucas Glover |
1:05 p.m. | Freddie Jacobson | Will MacKenzie | Greg Chalmers |
1:15 p.m. | Padraig Harrington | J.B. Holmes | Luke Guthrie |
1:25 p.m. | Jeff Overton | James Driscoll | Seung-Yul Noh |
1:35 p.m. | Brice Garnett | Hudson Swafford | Peter Uihlein |