The Open Championship released its first and second round tee times on Monday, with the R&A ensuring golf’s two biggest stars appeared in two marquee groups.
Defending champion golfer of the year Scottie Scheffler will play alongside two-time US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau and Tyrrell Hatton during the first two rounds at Royal Birkdale.
Six-time major champion and world No. 2 Rory McIlroy was paired with a pair of former major winners: Xander Schauffele, who won the PGA Championship and the 2024 Open Championship, and England’s Matt Fitzpatrick, winner of the 2022 US Open.
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Rory McIlroy leads one of the standout groups at the 154th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale in Southport, England. (Warren Little/Getty Images)
Talk about loading two groups with big names. The R&A also decided to split the groups between the morning and afternoon waves, ensuring Scheffler and McIlroy were on the course at different times.
Scheffler, the world No. 1, begins the week looking to defend the Claret Jug after his dominant victory at Royal Portrush last year. He will be joined by DeChambeau, one of the game’s biggest draws. The interesting subplot here is the current form of both players. Scheffler missed the cut at the Scottish Open last week, breaking a streak of 78 consecutive cuts.
DeChambeau has struggled at the 2026 Majors and missed the cut at the Masters, PGA Championship and US Open. He had never missed the cut in three consecutive majors before this year. Questions are starting to arise as to whether he is still in the conversation as one of the best golfers on the planet, and his performance at Royal Birkdale will be under a microscope. Add to that the pressure of playing with Scheffler, and you have the recipe for one of the most intriguing pairings of the entire year.
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The trio of Scheffler, DeChambeau and Hatton will tee off at 9:58 a.m. local time (4:58 a.m. ET) on Thursday before starting in the afternoon on Friday.
But don’t sleep on Thursday’s afternoon wave.
Scottie Scheffler leads one of the featured groups at the 154th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale in Southport, England. (Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
McIlroy, who completed his career Grand Slam at the 2025 Masters, will begin his quest for a second Open Championship alongside major champions Schauffele and Fitzpatrick.
McIlroy finished tied for seventh at the Scottish Open and continues in good form this week. He has made the cut in all 10 events he has played this season, including a victory at the Masters and four top-10 finishes.
While McIlroy has won the Masters in consecutive years, he has not won any of the other three Majors since 2014, when he won both the Open and the PGA Championship. As a native of Northern Ireland, McIlroy surely wants to add at least one more jug of claret to his trophy cabinet.
Playing alongside Fitzpatrick, who is tied for the PGA Tour lead with three wins in 2026, adds pressure on McIlroy. While the crowd supports McIlroy, Fitzpatrick gives the group a home country perspective as an Englishman.
That trio is scheduled to begin at 3:15 p.m. local time (10:15 a.m. ET) on Thursday.
Those aren’t the only notable couples at Royal Birkdale, either.
Chris Gotterup, who is tied with Fitzpatrick for the PGA Tour lead with three victories in 2026, will play with Sam Burns and Adam Scott in one of the most intriguing afternoon groups. Five-time major champion Brooks Koepka also earns an important tie alongside former Open champion Shane Lowry and Aaron Rai, the reigning PGA Championship winner.
Chris Gotterup is one of two three-time PGA Tour winners in 2026, along with Matt Fitzpatrick. (Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Jon Rahm, Tommy Fleetwood and Jordan Spieth are together in another loaded trio, while Justin Thomas, Alex Noren and Jason Day bring plenty of experience to the group immediately before Scheffler’s tee time. Cameron Young, Wyndham Clark and Ludvig Aberg give the latest wave another strong group, with Clark fresh off his second US Open title.
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Royal Birkdale will host the Open for the first time since Jordan Spieth’s dramatic victory in 2017, and with favorable weather expected for the early rounds, fans should be able to immediately see many of the tournament favourites.
Some of the notable tee times from the first round include:
Morning wave:
- 9:47 a.m. local (4:47 a.m. ET): Justin Thomas, Alex Noren, Jason Day
- 9:58 a.m. local (4:58 a.m. ET): Scottie Scheffler, Tyrrell Hatton, Bryson DeChambeau
- 10:09 a.m. local (5:09 a.m. ET): Jordan Spieth, Tommy Fleetwood, Jon Rahm
Afternoon wave:
- 2:31 p.m. local (9:31 a.m. ET): Chris Gotterup, Sam Burns, Adam Scott
- 2:53 p.m. local (9:53 a.m. ET): Shane Lowry, Aaron Rai, Brooks Koepka
- 3:04 p.m. local (10:04 a.m. ET): Cameron Young, Wyndham Clark, Ludvig Aberg
- 3:15 p.m. local (10:15 a.m. ET): Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Matt Fitzpatrick
Full list of first and second round tee times (Thursday/Friday, all times ET):
1:35am / 6:41am: Matthew Baldwin, Thomas Detry, James Nicholas
1:46 am / 6:52 am: Michael Kim, Daniel Hillier, Andy Sullivan
1:57am / 7:03am: Ryan Fox, Andrew Novak, Matthew Jordan
2:08 am / 7:14 am: Henrik Stenson, Max Homa, Joe Dean
2:19 am / 7:25 am: Robert MacIntyre, Rickie Fowler, Alex Fitzpatrick
2:30 am / 7:36 am: David Duval, Martin Couvra, Matthew Southgate
2:41 am / 7:47 am: Sungjae Im, Dan Brown, FIFA Laopakdee (a)
2:52 am / 7:58 am: Gary Woodland, Jake Knapp, Jordan Smith
3:03 am / 8:09 am: Francesco Molinari, Tom McKibbin, Lev Grinberg (a)
3:14 am / 8:20 am: Hennie du Plessis, José Luis Ballester Barrio, Dan Bradbury
3:25 am / 8:31 am: Ángel Ayora, Víctor Pérez, Mateo Pulcini (a)
3:36 am / 8:42 am: Stewart Cink, Scott Vincent, Joakim Lagergren
3:47 am / 8:53 am: Michael Thorbjornsen, Kota Kaneko, Travis Smyth
4:03 am / 9:09 am: Alex Smalley, Sam Stevens, Ryo Hisatsune
4:14 am / 9:20 am: Akshay Bhatia, Harris English, Rasmus Højgaard
4:25 am / 9:31 am: Ben Griffin, Hideki Matsuyama, Min Woo Lee
4:36 am / 9:42 am: Russell Henley, Justin Rose, Viktor Hovland
4:47 am / 9:53 am: Justin Thomas, Alex Noren, Jason Day
4:58 am / 10:04 am: Scottie Scheffler, Tyrrell Hatton, Bryson DeChambeau
5:09 am / 10:15 am: Jordan Spieth, Tommy Fleetwood, Jon Rahm
5:20 am / 10:26 am: Brian Harman, Si Woo Kim, Nick Taylor
5:31 am / 10:37 am: Ryan Gerard, Maverick McNealy, David Puig
5:42 am / 10:48 am: Kazuma Kobori, Tom Sloman, David Howard (a)
5:53 am / 10:59 am: Antoine Rozner, Ren Yonezawa, Caleb Surratt
6:04 am / 11:10 am: MJ Daffue, Frédéric Lacroix, Jack McDonald
6:15 am / 11:21 am: Jeongwoo Ham, Ryutaro Nagano, Alejandro de Castro Piera (a)
6:41 am / 1:35 am: John Parry, Eric Cole, Tiger Christensen
6:52 am / 1:46 am: Eugenio Chacarra, Matt Wallace, Max Greyserman
7:03 am / 1:57 am: Michael Brennan, Sahith Theegala, Laurie Canter
7:14am / 2:08am: Cameron Smith, Keith Mitchell, Stuart Grehan (a)
7:25 / 2:19: Sepp Straka, Joaquín Niemann, Kurt Kitayama
7:36 am / 2:30 am: Sami Valimaki, Shaun Norris, Jackson Suber
7:47 / 2:41: Darren Clarke, Adrien Saddier, Bernd Wiesberger
7:58 am / 2:52 am: Keegan Bradley, Corey Conners, Casey Jarvis
8:09 am / 3:03 am: Matt McCarty, Harry Hall, Haotong Li
8:20 am / 3:14 am: Padraig Harrington, Marco Penge, Michael Hollick
8:31 am / 3:25 am: Tom Kim, Billy Horschel, Mason Howell (a)
8:42 am / 3:36 am: Johnny Keefer, Pierceson Coody, Keita Nakajima
8:53 / 3:47: Louis Oosthuizen, Jesper Svensson, Jack Buchanan (a)
9:09 am / 4:03 am: Bud Cauley, Jayden Schaper, Lucas Herbert
9:20 am / 4:14 am: Kristoffer Reitan, Patrick Reed, JT Poston
9:31am / 4:25am: Chris Gotterup, Sam Burns, Adam Scott
09:42 / 04:36: Collin Morikawa, JJ Spaun, Nicolai Højgaard
9:53 am / 4:47 am: Shane Lowry, Aaron Rai, Brooks Koepka
10:04 am / 4:58 am: Cameron Young, Wyndham Clark, Ludvig Aberg
10:15 am / 5:09 am: Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Matt Fitzpatrick
10:26 / 5:20: Jacob Bridgeman, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, Tim Wiedemeyer (a)
10:37 am / 5:31 am: Patrick Cantlay, Daniel Berger, Nicolás Echavarría
10:48 / 5:42: Peter Uihlein, Alistair Docherty, Francesco Laporta
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10:59 am / 5:53 am: Cameron John, Austen Truslow, Samuel Bairstow
11:10 / 6:04: Naoyuki Kataoka, Marcus Plunkett, Baard Bjoernevik Skogen
11:21 am / 6:15 am: Kazuki Higa, Jiho Yang, Nevill Ruiter (a)
