2023 British Open: Round 1 Thursday tee times, pairings and featured groups

Golf goes back to its roots as the PGA heads to Royal Liverpool for the 151st British Open. The biggest names in the sport will be aiming to lift the Claret Jug at the end of the weekend and etch their names in the history books of the legendary club as the major championship season wraps up in England.

Merseyside takes the stage

Thursday’s tee times have been announced and there are just juicy pairings in the morning and afternoon. For fans, seeing big names paired up in threesomes is exciting, but for players they are more concerned with when they are teeing off rather then who they are teeing of with.

So often in The Open, success can depend on the luck of the draw. Weather conditions can go from still, to severe in northwest England and in no time and that can have a drastic effect on scores depending on tee times.

There will be no split tee tee offs at The Open, since the sunrises just before 5 a.m. in Merseyside and the sun doesn’t set until around 10 p.m. That means all players will be starting the final major of the season at the first hole at Royal Liverpool.

Cameron Smith defending title

Matthew Jordan, Richie Ramsay and Branden Grace are paired in the first group to tee off on Thursday morning. They will get the tournament underway at 6:36 a.m. local time, 1:35 a.m ET.

Cameron Smith will be eyeing a second straight Claret Jug after winning his first career major last year at St. Andrews. He will be in one of the most mouthwatering groups in the opening days of the tournament, teeing off at 9:59 a.m. in Merseyside, 4:59 a.m. ET along side Xander Schauffele and U.S. Open champion Whydham Clark.

Rory McIlroy knows what it’s like to win on this course, and he will be hoping to break his spell of almost a decade without a win at a major championship. McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Justin Rose will be teeing off at 2:59 p.m. local time, and 9:59 a.m. ET.

Here is a look at all of the tee times for Thursday’s first round from Royal Liverpool. (All times in ET)

1:35 a.m. Matthew Jordan, Richie Ramsay, Branden Grace

1:46 a.m. Russell Henley, Jazz Janewattananond, Graeme Robertson

1:57 a.m. Ryan Fox, Lucas Herbert, Ben An

2:08 a.m. Rikuya Hoshino, Charl Schwartzel, Alex Maguire (a)

2:19 a.m. Adrian Meronk, Pablo Larrazabal, Hiroshi Iwata

2:30 a.m. Patrick Reed, Connor Syme, Jose Luis Ballester (a)

2:41 a.m. Darren Clarke, Victor Perez, Thomas Pieters

2:52 a.m. Louis Oosthuizen, Joost Luiten, Christo Lamprecht (a)

3:03 a.m. Stewart Cink, JT Poston, Trey Mullinax

3:14 a.m. Henrik Stenson, Harris English, Andrew Putnam

3:25 a.m. Scott Stallings, Jordan Smith, Thorbjorn Olesen

3:36 a.m. Ernie Els, Kurt Kitayama, Takumi Kanaya

3:47 a.m. Sam Burns, Sepp Straka, Chris Kirk

4:03 a.m. Jordan Spieth, Matt Fitzpatrick, Jason Day

4:14 a.m. Padraig Harrington, Seamus Power, Talor Gooch

4:25 a.m. K.H. Lee, Davis Riley, Taiga Semikawa

4:36 a.m. Patrick Cantlay, Brooks Koepka, Hideki Matsuyama

4:47 a.m. Scottie Scheffler, Tommy Fleetwood, Adam Scott

4:58 a.m. Cameron Smith, Xander Schauffele, Wyndham Clark

5:09 a.m. Shane Lowry, Rickie Fowler, Robert MacIntyre

5:20 a.m. Cameron Young, Si Woo Kim, Bryson DeChambeau

5:31 a.m. Nicolai Hojgaard, Bio Kim, Kazuki Yasumori

5:42 a.m. Dan Bradbury, Oliver Farr, Haydn Barron

5:53 a.m. Marcel Siem, Martin Rohwer, Tiger Christensen (a)

5:04 a.m. Lee Hodges, Antoine Rozner, Richard Bland

6:15 a.m. Yannik Paul, Sami Valimaki, Laurie Canter

6:36 a.m. Rasmus Hojgaard, Matthew Southgate, Alex Fitzpatrick

6:47 a.m. Daniel Hillier, Kyung Nam Kang, Kensei Hirata

6:58 a.m. Callum Shinkwin, Kazuki Higa, Michael Kim

7:09 a.m. Zack Fischer, Taichi Kho, Kyle Barker

7:20 a.m. Brendon Todd, Romain Langasque, Travis Smyth

7:31 a.m. Gary Woodland, Adrian Otaegui, Alexander Bjork

7:42 a.m. Min Woo Lee, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Harrison Crowe (a)

7:53 a.m. Corey Conners, Billy Horschel, Alex Noren

8:04 a.m. Tom Kim, Tom Hoge, Abraham Ancer

8:15 a.m. Zach Johnson, Matt Wallace, David Micheluzzi

8:26 a.m. Sahith Theegala, Emiliano Grillo, Dustin Johnson

8:37 a.m. Francesco Molinari, Denny McCarthy, Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira (a)

8:48 a.m. Brian Harman, Thriston Lawrence, Thomas Detry

9:04 a.m. John Daly, Taylor Moore, Danny Willett

9:15 a.m. David Lingmerth, Ben Griffin, Ockie Strydom

9:26 a.m. Adri Arnaus, Ewen Ferguson, Keita Nakajima

9:37 a.m. Keegan Bradley, Sungjae Im, Joaquin Niemann

9:48 a.m. Viktor Hovland, Tony Finau, Justin Thomas

9:59 a.m. Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Justin Rose

10:10 a.m. Collin Morikawa, Max Homa, Tyrrell Hatton

10:21 a.m. Phil Mickelson, Nick Taylor, Adam Schenk

10:32 a.m. Nacho Elvira, Marc Warren, Alejandro Canizares

10:43 a.m. Guido Migliozzi, Oliver Wilson, Connor McKinney

10:54 a.m. Kalle Samooja, Shubhankar Sharma, Gunner Wiebe

11:05 a.m. Jorge Campillo, Brandon Robinson Thompson, Michael Stewart

11:16 a.m. Hurly Long, Seungsu Han, Marco Penge