Woods, Mickelson to play alongside each other at next week's US PGA Championship

Former world number one Tiger Woods and American golf ace Phil Mickelson will play alongside each other for the first two rounds of the US PGA Championship at Valhalla next week.

Woods has won the tournament four times while fellow American Mickelson clinched the title in 2005. Ireland's Padraig Harrington, the 2008 winner, completes the trio, which gets under way on Thursday.

Open champion Rory McIlroy will join US Open winner Martin Kaymer and Masters champion Bubba Watson later on the same day, The BBC reported.

The par-71 course at the 2008 Ryder Cup venue in Kentucky, which also hosted the season's final major in 2000 and 1996, is set to be the longest in the tournament's history at 7,458 yards.

Woods was the winner in 2000 while compatriot Mark Brooks, who would be playing with fellow past champions John Daly (1991) and Rich Beem (2002), was victorious in 1996, the first major tournament at the Jack Nicklaus-designed course.

Defending champion Jason Dufner will tee off with 2011 winner Keegan Bradley and 2009 victor YE Yang of South Korea, the report added.