The season’s final major gets underway on Thursday morning tomorrow morning (British Time Zone) with the 151st Open Championship at Royal Liverpool in Hoylake.
Teeing it up this week will be a field of 156 players, headlined by superstars such as Scottie Scheffler, Brooks Koepka, Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Cam Smith, among others.
The Open’s headline group will be the trio of Rahm, McIlroy, and Justin Rose, who all appear to be locks for the 2024 European Ryder Cup team.
World No. 2 McIlroy, who won the third of his four major championship victories at Royal Liverpool in 2014, will attempt to end a nearly nine-year drought without a major title, while No. 3 Rahm seeks to become the first player in history to win the Masters and British Open in the same season. Rose, a much longer betting shot, hopes to add a second major to go along with his 2013 U.S. Open trophy. The trio will tee off at 9:59 a.m. ET Thursday in the late-early wave. They will go off at 4:58 a.m. (ET) on Friday.
Defending champion Cam Smith is in the opposite wave (early-late). He’ll play with reigning U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark and Xander Schauffele. Their tee times are: 4:58 am ET (Thu) and 9:59 am ET (Fri).
Finally, five-time major winner Koepka, a fierce critic of slow play, will be joined by two of the slowest players on tour: Hideki Matsuyama and Patrick Cantlay. Was it a purposeful placement by the R&A? Some think so.
The following marquee groups will be featured as part of the Open’s broadcast and streams:
1: Brooks Koepka, Hideki Matsuyama, Patrick Cantlay
Thursday – 4:36 a.m.
Friday – 9:37 a.m.
2: Matt Fitzpatrick, Jordan Spieth, Jason Day
Thursday – 4:03 a.m.
Friday – 9:04 a.m.
3: Cameron Smith, Wyndham Clark, Xander Schauffele
Thursday – 4:58 a.m.
Friday – 9:59 a.m.
4: Scottie Scheffler, Tommy Fleetwood, Adam Scott
Thursday – 4:47 p.m.
Friday – 9:48 a.m.
5: Jon Rahm, Justin Rose, Rory McIlroy
Thursday – 9:59 a.m.
Friday – 4:58 a.m.
6: Tony Finau, Viktor Hovland, Justin Thomas
Thursday – 9:48 a.m.
Friday – 4:47 a.m.
7: Collin Morikawa, Max Homa, Tyrrell Hatton
Thursday – 10:10 a.m.
Friday – 5:09 a.m.
8: Shane Lowry, Rickie Fowler, Robert MacIntyre
Thursday – 5:09 a.m.
Friday – 10:10 a.m.
9: Bryson DeChambeau, Cam Young, Si Woo Kim
Thursday – 5:20 a.m.
Friday – 10:21 a.m.
10: Phil Mickelson, Nick Taylor, Adam Schenk
Thursday – 10:21 a.m.
Friday – 5:20 a.m.
11: Dustin Johnson, Sahith Theegala, Emiliano Grillo
Thursday – 8:26 a.m.
Friday – 5:20 a.m.
