The season's final major gets underway Thursday from a softened Ocean Course on Thursday morning. Some of the biggest superstars in the world will tee it up bright and early in what is usually the deepest field of the year. Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy, and JIm Furyk head off No. 10 at 8:10 a.m. ET, with the two Americans looking for a strong showing to seal up a Ryder Cup spot. Johnson is on the outside-looking-in, but with the wet paspalum surface, Kiawah, which is already playing as the longest PGA setup in history, could favor the bomber like Johnson.
Jason Dufner will go off ten minutes after that powerhouse group. The Cleveland native is one of the favorites this week, ranked second on Tour in the all-around statistics behind only Keegan Bradley. He had a solid performance at Firestone last week and maybe Tiger Woods is the only player more heavily favored to win it. Speaking of Woods, he'll stripe his first drive in the very next group, playing alongside the past two PGA Championship winners -- Bradley and Martin Kaymer.
It should be an amazing first day at Pete Dye's seaside masterpiece. It looks like your traditional links, but the paspalum plays nothing like the bump-and-run of European links. Players will be forced to play through the air, which should make for dramatic action if the wind is up. Here's your complete schedule of tee times for the first round:
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 a complete live leaderboard form the The Ocean Course, visit Golf.com.
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.