PGA Pro Omar Uresti Joins McIlroy Featured Group After Major Champion Withdraws

PGA pro Omar Uresti finds himself in a pretty special threeball this week, following the withdrawal of former US Open champion Webb Simpson.

Simpson has been forced out through illness, but Uresti will be relishing the opportunity to go and perform alongside Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose, also previous US Open champions.

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Uresti, 54, has played on the PGA Tour nearly 400 times, and although he has yet to taste victory on the ‘big tour’, he is unlikely to be overawed in Major company.

With nearly $4m in prize money to his name, the former University of Texas All-American knows what he’s capable of. A two-time winner of the PGA of America’s PGA Professional Championship, he boasts a lot of experience.

Still, it's quite the group to join. As a reserve, you're just hopeful of playing, but Uresti has landed himself a dream group.

Not only is the man from Austin, Texas, going to have a fair bit of television time, he'll also have the opportunity to discuss all things PGA Tour and LIV Golf with world number three McIlroy, who's been one of the most vocal on the controversial merger this week.

Whether or not this affects Uresti's game or not remains to be seen. The trio teed off at 07.33am (12.33pm GMT), and the journeyman made a solid par on the 10th, his first hole.

McIlroy, meanwhile, showed no early signs of being worn out by all the pre tournament merger discussions, the defending champion opening his account with a birdie.

After two missed cuts in his only two appearances on the PGA Tour this season, Uresti, whose niece is married to fellow professional and Tour player, Nick Watney, will be hoping that he can at least stick around for the weekend.

For inspiration, he need only think about Michael Block's incredible accomplishment at the PGA Championship last month, where the 46-year-old club pro finished in a tie for 15th.

That, of course, was only part of the story. He also made a remarkable hole-in-one. Talking of aces, according to the PGA Tour's website, Uresti says a hole-in-one, that he made at the age of eight, ranks as one of his biggest thrills.

A decent weekend in Toronto would surely rank fairly highly, too.