Frys.com Tee Times, Groups, and Odds: McIlroy, Rose and Snedker

For some the golf off-season was only a mere 10 hours on a plane, at least that’s what it was for Steven Bowditch, who left Incheon City, South Korea and headed to Silverado Country Club in Napa, California for the Frys.com Open. Bowditch was on the International team for the Presidents Cup that ended on Sunday.

"“It was a 10-hour flight from Korea,” Bowditch said of his offseason. “I figured if I’m at home playing golf, I might as well be out here trying to play for $1 million,” he said. “I find if I have more than a week off, if I have probably 10 days, any more than — basically every week off I had it’ll take me about two to three weeks to get back to the stage where I feel comfortable. “That’s sort of a big reason why I don’t take that much time off.”"

Joining Bowditch at the Frys.com Open will be: Justin Rose, Brandt Snedeker, Hunter Mahan, Justin Thomas, Rory McIlroy and Chris Kirk, Hideki Matsuyama and Charl Schwartzel, who also had a plane ride between their seasons.

McIlroy’s 2014-2015 season was split in two after he injured himself playing soccer.

"“I guess coming back at the PGA (Championship) for me was a start of a new season in a way,” McIlroy said Wednesday. “So sort of been like two mini-seasons a little bit. “Even though it’s the new PGA TOUR Season, I feel like I’m in the middle of a nice little run to the end of the year.”"

McIlroy’s three-weeks off is an exception though, others have had less time. Justin Rose played in the TOUR Championship and then hosted his annual charity event.

"“I felt like I had a four-day offseason,” Rose said. “It doesn’t feel like a new season. I guess you need to flip the switch (Thursday) morning. As of (Thursday) it is. We’re playing for the 2016 FedExCup. “Any time you get off to a good start it takes off a lot of pressure, and then you can kind of build your schedule a little more conservatively. If you kind of put yourself behind the 8-ball in the FedExCup, you feel like you’re trying to add events to do well in the FedExCup and you have all the other commitments. I think it’s going to be a tight year. The stronger of a start you can get off to is really going to ease things in the summer quite a bit.”"

Notably absent is defending Frys.com Open champion Sang-moon Bae. He is leaving golf to fulfill a two-year military obligation in his home country of South Korea, where he will earn around $130 per month. Bae has earned over $6 million dollars in his PGA Tour career, with $2.6 million of that coming during the 2014-2015 season. He collected $1080000.00 for winning the Frys.com Open last season.

NOTABLE GROUPINGS – Leaderstrongoard.

10 7:50 AM – Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, Brandt Snedeker
10 8:00 AM – Hunter Mahan, Geoff Ogilvy, Webb Simpson
10 8:10 AM – Chris Kirk, Camilo Villegas, Seung-Yul Noh
1 8:30 AM – Justin Thomas, Erik Compton, Shane Bertsch
1 12:40 PM – Steven Bowditch, Hideki Matsuyama, Charl Schwartzel
1 12:50 PM – James Hahn, Brooks Koepka, Ryan Moore
10 – 1:00 PM – Troy Merritt, Nick Watney, Kevin Na

ODDS via Golfodds.com

Rory McIlroy 9/2
Justin Rose 8/1
Brooks Koepka 15/1
Hideki Matsuyama 15/1
Justin Thomas 30/1
Tony Finau 30/1
Robert Streb 30/1
Daniel Berger 40/1
Emiliano Grillo 40/1
Kevin Na 40/1
Brandt Snedeker 40/1
Charl Schwartzel 40/1
Ryan Palmer 40/1
Hunter Mahan 50/1
Webb Simpson 50/1
Ryan Moore 50/1
Brendan Steele 50/1
Steven Bowditch 50/1