The 150th Open Championship over the Old Course at St Andrews gets underway tomorrow. 1999 Open champion Paul Lawrie will hit the first tee shot at 6.35, playing alongside fellow Major champion Webb Simpson and 2021 Scottish Open winner Min Woo Lee. That will be an interesting group to get the action started and there are some great looking three balls throughout the morning. It will be interesting to watch how Phil Mickelson gets on when he starts his tournament at 7.30am and the 7.52 grouping of John Daly, Byrson DeChambeau and Cameron Tringale is sure to be entertaining. Let’s be honest, it’s The Open, the whole thing is exciting and thrilling moments could come from any of the 156 players starting the event. But, if you want to focus your attentions, here are 5 of the best tee times to look out for on Thursday.
9.58: Morikawa, McIlroy, Schauffele
Defending champion Collin Morikawa is playing with 2014 Open winner Rory McIlroy and Scottish Open champion Xander Schauffele. That group will attract a huge gallery and a significant amount of support. McIlroy is a strong favourite with most bookmakers and both Schauffele and Morikawa are also being heavily backed. If you want to see an exhibition of pure ball striking then this group is the one to watch.
10.09: Lowry, Thomas, Hovland
There should be a display of shot-making and ball control from Shane Lowry, Justin Thomas and Viktor Hovland. The Irishman, the 2019 Open champion, is known for his ability to control his flight and to hit a low ball – that could be key to success if the wind gets up. Thomas is also known for playing well in the wind – see his incredible second round 69 at The Players Championship in extremely stormy conditions. Hovland may not have been on the best of form recently but he has the talent to switch it on for this historic championship.
1.26: Scheffler, Hatton, Niemann
World Number 1 Scottie Scheffler feels he’s flying under the radar coming into the week but he has the big event game and Masters champions tend to do well at St Andrews – think Nicklaus, Woods, Faldo, Seve and the last Open winner at St Andrews, Zach Johnson. He’s playing with fiery Englishman Tyrrell Hatton who has been a Dunhill winner at St Andrews and the exciting Chilean Joaquin Niemann.
2.59: Woods, Fitzpatrick, Homa
It’s Tiger… Need we say more? He’s teeing it up with Matthew Fitzpatrick who has a very realistic chance of winning back-to-back Major titles. And Max Homa makes up the three – The four-time PGA Tour winner is up into the top-20 on the Official World Golf Ranking.
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3.10: Spieth, Rahm, Varner III
2017 champ Jordan Spieth will have a very good chance around a course on which he narrowly missed out back in 2015. The American is joined by his countryman Harold Varner III and 2021 US Open winner Jon Rahm. The Spaniard is another player receiving a good deal of support this week and he looks to be full of confidence and on top of his game.
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