Featured group: Hunter Mahan and Graeme McDowell

text size

At each PGA TOUR event this season, a featured pairing will be highlighted prior to the first round. Here is the featured pairing for the Hyundai Tournament of Champions.

This new breed pairing at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions is a sequel to one of the more memorable golf moments of 2010, as McDowell's birdie on the 16th hole of the final day of the Ryder Cup all but clinched a victory for the Europeans in the last match in October.

The U.S. Open champion from Northern Ireland won his match with Mahan on the next hole, giving the Europeans the 14-1/2 points they needed to grab the Cup back at rainy Celtic Manor in Wales.

The three-time winner Mahan is one of five players in his 20s -- Dustin Johnson (4), Anthony Kim (3), Sean O'Hair (3), Camilo Villegas (3) -- with three or more PGA TOUR wins. Mahan's notched two wins in 2010 at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational.

McDowell, the reigning U.S. Open champion, is No. 5 in the Official World Golf Ranking after winning the Chevron World Challenge in a playoff over Tiger Woods in December. The former University of Alabama-Birmingham star from Northern Ireland re-joins the TOUR in 2011 for the second time, his rookie season having been 2006.

PAIRINGS HISTORY: This will be the first time the two have been paired together in a PGA TOUR event.

McDOWELL ON MAHAN: "Since the Ryder Cup, we've gained much more of a mutual respect for each other. He handled it very well. In some ways, that has brought up closer together. I'm looking forward to playing with him."

EXPERT PREDICTIONS: We asked some of our PGATOUR.COM experts to predict which player will fare better this week at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions.

Stan Awtrey, PGATOUR.COM columnist: Hunter Mahan: He's played at Kapalua before, finishing tied for fifth in 2008. He experienced a career breakthrough a year ago with two wins. A good start will set the pace for another strong season.

Melanie Hauser, PGATOUR.COM columnist: Graeme McDowell. He's still flying high from an incredible season and it will show in his 2011 debut at Kapalua. Mahan has power off the tee but McDowell has the top-10 attitude.

Craig Dolch, PGATOUR.COM columnist: Golf, perhaps more than any other sport, is a game of momentum. And no player in golf has mroe positive mo-jo now than Graeme McDowell. Fresh off his breakthrough season that was punctuated by a comeback victory over Tiger Woods, McDowell starts 2011 with his confidence soaring.

TRACK RECORD: Here is how each player has fared in previous starts at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions.

FANTASY ADVICE: Rob Bolton, PGATOUR.COM's fantasy columnist, has both McDowell and Mahan ranked in the top 10 of this week's Power Rankings. Here is what Bolton said about each one:

No. 3. Graeme McDowell -- Again a PGA TOUR member, he's the highest-ranked here of the 13 first-timers. First start since his (latest) epic triumph at the Chevron World Challenge, his fourth win in seven months (not including Ryder Cup).

No. 9 Hunter Mahan -- Should thrive on the massive greens. Finished T5 in his only other appearance (2008), when he hit all of his fairways and greens in the final round. Coming off a solo fifth at the Chevron World Challenge.

For Bolton's complete Power Rankings, please click here.