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The season's final major, or "glory's last shot" as Jim Nantz so lovingly calls it, tees off this week at The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island. A number of Cleveland connections will look to tame Pete Dye's masterpiece on the Carolina shore, including Jason Dufner.
The North Olmsted native looked well on his way to his first career major last year at this event at Atlanta Athletic Club, but he gave up a five-shot lead over the final four holes before losing in a playoff to Keegan Bradley. Dufner rebounded from that disappointment with a beautiful 2012 season, capturing wins in New Orleans and at the Byron Nelson. He nearly went back-to-back in the DFW area before Zach Johnson's putter beat him out at Colonial. Dufner enters Kiawah in form, playing well in Akron this past week. He had a T25 at Augusta and a T5 at Olympic. He'll look to finally crack through in the third and final American-based major of the season.
Dufner will play alongside the oft-injured Paul Casey and Australian Geoff Ogilvy. He's locked up his Ryder Cup position but his push for a first career major begins Thursday at 8:20 a.m. ET.
Kiawah features the most oceanside holes in the Northern Hemisphere -- an astounding feature considering all the amazing links courses along the sea in Europe. Nine holes head out east and nine holes head out west, making for an incredible shot-shaping test if the wind is up. The PGA of America will send groups off both tees on the first day, with one of the largest and perhaps the deepest field of the year. A complete schedule of Thursday's tee times:
Morning wave off No. 1:
| 7:20 a.m.: Kelly Mitchum, D.A. Points, Marcel Siem |
| 7:30 a.m.: John Senden, Ken Duke, Michael Frye |
| 7:40 a.m.: Greg Chalmers, Spencer Levin, Michael Thompson |
| 7:50 a.m.: Thomas Bjorn, Robert Garrigus, Charley Hoffman |
| 8 a.m.: Lucas Glover, Ben Curtis, Trevor Immelman |
| 8:10 a.m.: Scott Stallings, Jeev Milkha Singh, Johnson Wagner |
| 8:20 a.m.: Shaun Micheel, David Toms, John Daly |
| 8:30 a.m.: Bernd Wiesberger, Ryan Palmer, Robert Karlsson |
| 8:40 a.m.: Alvaro Quiros, Cameron Tringale, Ryan Moore |
| 8:50 a.m.: Tommy Gainey, Jason Day, Carl Pettersson |
| 9 a.m.: Mike Small, Brian Davis, John Huh |
| 9:10 a.m.: Sean O'Hair, Brian Cairns, Seung-Yul Noh |
| 9:20 a.m.: Ben Crane, Marty Jertson, Thongchai Jaidee |
Morning wave off No. 10:
| 7:20 a.m.: Matteo Manassero, Charles Howell III, Mark Brown |
| 7:30 a.m.: Pat Perez, Corey Prugh, Martin Laird |
| 7:40 a.m.: Toru Taniguchi, Rory Sabbatini, Rafael Cabrera-Bello |
| 7:50 a.m.: Jose Maria Olazabal, Branden Grace, Matt Dobyns |
| 8 a.m.: Darren Clarke, Ryo Ishikawa, Gary Woodland |
| 8:10 a.m.: Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy, Jim Furyk |
| 8:20 a.m.: Jason Dufner, Paul Casey, Geoff Ogilvy |
| 8:30 a.m.: Keegan Bradley, Martin Kaymer, Tiger Woods |
| 8:40 a.m.: Louis Oosthuizen, Ian Poulter, Steve Stricker |
| 8:50 a.m.: Lee Westwood, Bill Haas, Angel Cabrera |
| 9 a.m.: Stewart Cink, Peter Hanson, Tim Clark |
| 9:10 a.m.: Jeff Coston, Bud Cauley, Robert Rock |
| 9:20 a.m.: Joost Luiten, Alan Morin, Thomas Aiken |
Afternoon wave off No. 1:
| 12:30 p.m.: Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, George McNeill, Frank Bensel |
| 12:40 p.m.: Brendon de Jonge, Danny Balin, Hiroyuki Fujita |
| 12:50 p.m.: John Rollins, Kyle Stanley, Francesco Molinari |
| 1 p.m.: Charl Schwartzel, Rickie Fowler, Nicolas Colsaerts |
| 1:10 p.m.: Hunter Mahan, Adam Scott, Sergio Garcia |
| 1:20 p.m.: Bubba Watson, Webb Simpson, Ernie Els |
| 1:30 p.m.: Luke Donald, Brandt Snedeker, Zach Johnson |
| 1:40 p.m.: Padraig Harrington, Phil Mickelson, Davis Love III |
| 1:50 p.m.: Scott Piercy, Graeme McDowell, Matt Kuchar |
| 2 p.m.: Justin Rose, Paul Lawrie, Nick Watney |
| 2:10 p.m.: K.J. Choi, Simon Dyson, Scott Verplank |
| 2:20 p.m.: Mitch Lowe, Jeff Overton, Blake Adams |
| 2:30 p.m.: Bridgestone Winner, Paul Scaletta, Robert Allenby |
Afternoon wave off No. 10:
| 12:30 p.m.: Bryce Molder, Matt Every, Bob Sowards |
| 12:40 p.m.: Sang Moon Bae, Darrell Kestner, David Lynn |
| 12:50 p.m.: Marcus Fraser, Jamie Donaldson, Doug Wade |
| 1 p.m.: Jonathan Byrd, Anders Hansen, Aaron Baddeley |
| 1:10 p.m.: Thorbjorn Olesen, Fredrik Jacobson, Jimmy Walker |
| 1:20 p.m.: Miguel Angel Jimenez, K.T. Kim, Bo Van Pelt |
| 1:30 p.m.: Y.E. Yang, Rich Beem, Vijay Singh |
| 1:40 p.m.: Charlie Wi, Pablo Larrazabal, Chez Reavie |
| 1:50 p.m.: Retief Goosen, Mark Brooks, Roger Chapman |
| 2 p.m.: Alexander Noren, Mark Wilson, George Coetzee |
| 2:10 p.m.: Marc Leishman, Ted Potter Jr., Brian Gaffney |
| 2:20 p.m.: Michael Hoey, Kevin Na, Rod Perry |
| 2:30 p.m.: Brendan Jones, Bill Murchison, Reno-Tahoe Winner |
For more from Kiawah throughout the week, stay with SB Nation Cleveland's StoryStream. For all your news and updates on the season's final major, visit SB Nation's Golf hub.