The Open 2023 tee times: Feature groupings for rounds 1 & 2

Thursday 20 July 2023 by Jonathan Victoria  Features

The flag at the new 17th hole at Royal Liverpool during The 151st Open.

The golfing world has descended upon Royal Liverpool Golf Club for the final major of the year, with this year's Open Championship set to be an exciting affair.

Many of the top players are in great form right now, which will no doubt make for a brilliant final round on Sunday to see who will claim the Claret Jug.

But before they get there, they have to get through the first round. Find out the best Open tee times on day one of the championship, including who tournament favourite Rory McIlroy will be playing with.

The Open tee times: Round one

Play began at 6:35am this morning with long-time Royal Liverpool club member Matthew Jordan starting things off.

The 2018 Masters Champion Patrick Reed got underway at 7:30am in the sixth group of the day, while 2010 Open Championship winner Louis Oosthuizen was two groups back, teeing off at 7:52am.

The first notable ‘supergroup,’ as we will call it, got going at 9:03am, with Jordan Spieth being joined by Jason Day and England’s very own Matt Fitzpatrick.

That will also be the first feature group of the morning, with the second coming at 9:47am. There will be another two feature groups in the afternoon as well.

From then on the more prominent names have started to come out to play more frequently. Here are some more ‘supergroups’ and their tee times:

• 9:03am - Jordan Spieth, Jason Day & Matt Fitzpatrick
• 9:36am - Patrick Cantlay, Brooks Koepka & Hideki Matsuyama
• 9:47am - Scottie Scheffler, Tommy Fleetwood & Adam Scott (AM feature group 2)
• 9:58am - Cameron Smith (RC*), Xander Schauffele & Wyndham Clark
• 10:09am - Shane Lowry, Rickie Fowler & Robert MacIntyre
• 10:20am - Cameron Young, Si Woo Kim & Bryson DeChambeau
• 13:26pm - Sahith Theegala, Emiliano Grillo & Dustin Johnson
• 14:48pm - Viktor Hovland, Tony Finau & Justin Thomas (PM feature group 1)
• 14:59pm - Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm & Justin Rose (PM feature group 2)
• 15:10pm - Collin Morikawa, Max Homa & Tyrrell Hatton

*RC denotes the reigning champion, Australia’s Cameron Smith, who won last year's Open Championship at the legendary St Andrews.

The Open tee times: Round two

Round two will see the same groups from round one, only with opposite tee times. So the groups who teed off early on Thursday will tee off later on Friday and vice versa.

Lefty legend himself Phil Mickelson returns for a shot at another title after winning at the Open in 2013. He tees off at 15:21pm on Thursday and as such will get underway on Friday at 10:20am.

Another legend of the game in John Daly continues to play. He is with Taylor Moore and England’s Danny Willett, who won the 2016 Masters. That group will start at 14:04pm in round one and will tee off at 9:03am.

Two-time Open champion Padraig Harrington will want to add to his collection, as well. He teed of at 9:14am on Thursday and tees off at 14:15pm on Friday.

Here are the tee times for the ‘supergroups’ listed above:

• 8:25am - Sahith Theegala, Emiliano Grillo & Dustin Johnson
• 9:47am - Viktor Hovland, Tony Finau & Justin Thomas
• 9:58am - Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm & Justin Rose
• 10:09am - Collin Morikawa, Max Homa & Tyrrell Hatton
• 14:04pm - Jordan Spieth, Matt Fitzpatrick & Jason Day
• 14:37pm - Patrick Cantlay, Brooks Koepka & Hideki Matsuyama
• 14:48pm - Scottie Scheffler, Tommy Fleetwood & Adam Scott
• 14:59pm - Cameron Smith (RC), Xander Schauffele & Wyndham Clark
• 15:10pm - Shane Lowry, Rickie Fowler & Robert MacIntyre
• 15:21pm - Cameron Young, Si Woo Kim & Bryson DeChambeau

The Open at Royal Liverpool

A beautiful view of Royal Liverpool.

Royal Liverpool Golf Club is not unfamiliar with hosting the Open. The 154-year-old course has hosted the championship 12 times, with its first time in 1897 and the last in 2014, where this year’s favourite Rory McIlroy claimed his first and to date only Open Championship victory.

The (disputed) greatest of all time Tiger Woods has the best winning score under par there during the 2006 Open Championship, claiming the Claret Jug with a score of -18, two better than second place.

The prize winnings this year is vastly improved on the last time they were here. McIlroy took home a respectable £975,000 for his win in 2014. This year, the winner’s share is a whopping £3.6 million.

Royal Liverpool can be a tricky course that requires a lot of strategic play, as Woods showed in his 2006 win. The beach links will provide a tough challenge for the field.

A new par-3 hole has been installed as the 17th hole, and PGA Tour player Michael Kim commented that it is a “Tiny green with runoffs on every side leading to bad bunkers.”

This is the theme for the course, with many holes featuring brutal greens with runoffs that seem to feed into small yet dangerous bunkers.

The course isn’t firm like it was in 2006 or 2014, and the weather is certain to play a part this weekend. While Thursday has been nice so far and is expected to stay so, the next three rounds aren’t looking as lucky.

Windy and rainy is looking likely, particularly on Sunday. Friday may feature some showers in the morning but hopefully a more sunny afternoon; however, strong winds may come during the middle part of the day.

Light to moderate rain is expected on Saturday and winds will still take effect.

But we will keep optimistic - this is England, after all. The weather forecasts are rarely correct.

The Open favourites

As previously mentioned, Rory McIlroy is the favourite to win this weekend. He is in good form again, having won last weekend at the Scottish Open. He is also the reigning Open champion here, so all eyes will be on him.

World number one Scottie Scheffler is the second favourite to win just his second major title, while this year’s Masters winner Jon Rahm, who is playing with McIlroy for the first two rounds, is the third favourite.

Cameron Smith is also being given a good chance at retaining the Claret Jug as the fourth favourite to win.

Other top players who are in good form and thus in with a chance are: 

• Rickie Fowler
• Brooks Koepka (2023 PGA Championship winner)
• Viktor Hovland
• Patrick Cantlay
• Xander Schuaffelle

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