The tee times for the first two rounds of the Northern Trust Open have been released ( click here for the tee times ). Here's an early look at some of the intriguing groups that you can follow on Thursday and Friday during Golf Channel’s coverage: STEVE STRICKER, DUSTIN JOHNSON, D.A. POINTS Rd. 1- 10:32 a.m. ET (1st tee); Rd. 2 – 3:12 p.m. ET (10th tee) Stricker is the defending champion after posting the first West Coast win of his lengthy career last year; Johnson, a four-time winner on TOUR, led for the first two days here last year; Points comes off the first TOUR win of his career last week at Pebble Beach. PHIL MICKELSON, PAUL CASEY, LUKE DONALD Rd. 1 – 3:12 p.m. ET (10th tee); Rd. 2 – 10:32 p.m. ET (1st tee) An American vs. two elite English players. Mickelson is a two-time winner at Riviera; Donald finished solo second here last year; Casey is coming off his most consistent season on TOUR. LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN, ZACH JOHNSON, GEOFF OGILVY Rd. 1 – 10:21 a.m. ET (10th tee); Rd. 2 - 3:01 p.m. ET (1st tee) Call it a majors three-pack. Oosthuizen, making his season debut as a new TOUR member, won the British Open last year. Johnson won the Masters in 2007; Ogilvy won the U.S. Open in 2006. FRED COUPLES, BUBBA WATSON, ANTHONY KIM Rd. 1 – 3:01 p.m. ET (10th tee): Rd. 2 – 10:21 p.m. ET (1st tee) Couples is this year’s U.S. captain for The Presidents Cup. He’ll get a chance to watch up-close two U.S. hopefuls in Watson and Kim. (NOTE: Check out PGATOUR.COM’s coverage of this featured group on Wednesday). JIM FURYK, MATT KUCHAR, MARK WILSON Rd. 1 – 10:21 a.m. ET (1st tee); Rd. 2 – 3:01 p.m. ET (10th tee) It’s a FedExCup trio. Furyk won the FedExCup title last year. Kuchar finished second; Wilson leads in FedExCup points this year. RYO ISHIKAWA, RYUJI IMADA, YUTA IKEDA Rd. 1 – 11:14 a.m. ET (1st tee); Rd. 2 – 3:54 p.m. ET (10th tee) Hmmm, you think the Japanese media might send a few reporters and photographers to cover this threesome for the first two days? COREY PAVIN, JEFF OVERTON, RICKIE FOWLER Rd. 1 – 3:54 p.m. ET (10th tee); Rd. 2 – 11:15 a.m. ET (1st tee) A Ryder Cup reunion -- Pavin was the U.S. captain last year in the loss at Wales, while Overton and Fowler were on the U.S. squad.

For most of the afternoon, the leaderboard of the 139th British Open has a distinctly European feel. OK. OK. So Louis Oosthuizen is from South Africa, but he plays the European Tour and has a second home in Manchester, England. Besides, two shots behind the 27-year-old is England’s Paul Casey while Martin Kaymer of Germany and Alejandro Canizares of Spain are five back and Sweden’s Henrik Stenson is six off the pace. And let’s not forget world No. 3 Lee Westwood, the hardy Englishman who is 6 under with three holes remaining. Several young Americans, though, are making their presence known. Dustin Johnson has just polished off a 69 to finish at 6 under while Nick Watney, Sean O’Hair and Ricky Barnes are another stroke behind. And Barnes has two holes remaining. Think American Ryder Cup Captain Corey Pavin isn’t paying attention? And Europe’s Colin Montgomerie has got to be feeling pretty good. – Helen Ross

Corey Pavin somehow willed in a 20-footer for birdie on the 17th, putting at 14 under, one shot behind Bubba Watson. Since his bogey on the 14th, Pavin has gone 3, 3, 3 to get to 4 under on the day.

You might have noticed that Corey Pavin, 50, still putts with a 1980s-era Bulls-Eye putter with a narrow shaft, in sharp contrast to Justin Rose's space-age Taylor Made Ghost putter.

Pavin has always been one of the best putters on TOUR, and when he was in his prime, he employed a wrap-around grip style that kept his forearms perfectly locked.

Pavin probably lost his shot to win this week when he ran through 30 putts in the third round -- he shot 69 to lose a lot of ground -- but he's still putted well enough to stick around the PGA TOUR even after his 50th birthday.

Pavin just birdied the 13th hole to get to 13 under as he chases his second top-10 in a row against the kids.

Even though he’s trailing by five entering the weekend, Corey Pavin knows better than to try to chase down Justin Rose. That’s not his game, even if he opened with rounds of 65-66 to sit in a tie for second.

“I stopped fighting that a long time ago,” Pavin said. “I’m too old to fight that kind of fight. I’ll just go out and let the birdies come where they come and try to stay away from the bogey-man.”

Four of those birdies – and no bogeys – came on Friday, when Pavin missed just one fairway. He only hit 10 greens in regulation, but the former U.S. Open champion made up for it with a terrific short game, getting up-and-down a ton while taking only 24 putts. Not surprisingly, Pavin is tied for the lead in fairways hit through two rounds having missed just one all week. -- Brian Wacker

If this is indeed Corey Pavin’s last Travelers Championship, as he said it might be earlier in the week, he’ll not only be sticking around for the weekend, he could be contending. Pavin is 3 under on his round through 12 holes today and 8 under for the tournament, which puts him within six shots of the lead.

Pavin nearly won this event in 1991, when he sank a long putt on the final hole Sunday to reach a playoff with Billy Ray Brown and Rick Fehr. Brown went on to win the playoff and Pavin hasn’t contended since. -- Brian Wacker

One of the reasons Corey Pavin is playing at the Travelers Championship is to keep in contact with potential Ryder Cup team members. Though the captain is admittedly early in the process of formulating who he thinks will and won’t make the team, the process has begun.

“Obviously Phil [Mickelson] is going to be on the team,” Pavin said. “I’m guessing that Jim [Furyk] and A.K. are probably on the team as well.

“I’ve liked the way it’s shaping up, the way the first 20 guys are. There’s people I want to see there. Part of watching the top eight is trying to figure out who’s not going to be in the top eight. Ideas are forming, but they’re small ideas at the moment.”

One of those who just climbed into that top eight is Tiger Woods, who is seventh in the Ryder Cup standings after his tie for fourth at the U.S. Open.

“I think he’s going to make the team on points and I know he wants to,” Pavin said. “I want him to be on the team. He’s the best player in the world.”

As for how Pavin will go about deciding who his four captains picks will be, he said that he’ll get “plenty of input” from his four assistant captains and the top eight players on the team. -- Brian Wacker

Make no mistake about it: Corey Pavin has no plans to play on the Ryder Cup team, even if he’s playing pretty well right now.

“Next question,” joked Pavin, who shot a 65 Thursday at the Travelers Championship. “That' won’t happen. I’ve got enough things to deal with without dealing myself.”

One of those things could be playing in his final Travelers Championship.

“It’s possible,” said Pavin, who admitted that if he weren’t captaining the U.S. Ryder Cup team he’d play only two PGA TOUR events. Pavin feels it’s important, however, to keep in contact with the players.

He’s also playing here because he feels like he can compete on a golf course that’s puts more of a premium on accuracy than length. That’s one of the reasons he chose to play at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, too. His result that week? A tie for seventh. -- Brian Wacker

To say that players are happy to be at the Travelers Championship and on greens that roll smooth is an understatement.

“The greens were great,” said defending champion Kenny Perry. “It was nice to know from 3 feet you know if you hit a good putt, it was going in, it wasn't going to bounce off line.”

Perry was talking about Pebble Beach and last week’s U.S. Open, where the normally bumpy poa annua greens were pushed to the edge, as some players put it.

“I don't know about poa annua when it's stressed out like it was there,” Perry added. “That was some tough putting last week, but it's always great to be back to a place you've won.”

Perry hasn’t been able to take advantage of good scoring conditions so far, though. He’s even par through 13 holes with two birdies, two bogeys and already has 23 putts.

Ryder Cup Captain Corey Pavin? He has 23 putts, too, only he’s through 15 holes and has six birdies and just one bogey for an early share of the lead. -- Brian Wacker

Corey Pavin just made a 9-foot birdie putt at the 10th hole to move within a stroke of the lead at 16 under.

The 50-year-old Ryder Cup captain is 4 under for the day and hot on the heels of Zach Johnson, Brian Davis and Bryce Molder. Pavin is tied with Jeff Overton, Scott Verplank and Ben Crane.

Pavin won at Colonial in 1985 and ‘96.