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The Open Championship tee-times: Tommy Fleetwood and Rory McIlroy start times confirmed

The 2026 Open Championship will provide one last major championship stage for the best golfers in the world, and the groupings and tee times for the opening round have been confirmed

[Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood ]

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Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood (Image: (Christian Petersen/Getty Images))

Royal Birkdale member Matt Baldwin has been given the honour of hitting the opening tee shot at The 154th Open on Thursday. Baldwin secured his place in his fourth Open by coming through final qualifying at Dundonald and has the honour of hitting the first shot at 6.35am.

And the 40-year-old admitted playing in an Open at Royal Birkdale will be a dream fulfilled. He said: "Everything, really, Im a Southport lad through and through.

"I have played The Open at Lytham and Hoylake so it would complete the set [of appearances at Open rota venues on the northwest coast of England].

"Thats the ultimate for me. I am 40 years old, so realistically this is my last chance to play at Birkdale [in The Open]. Whatever happens, it is going to be exciting.

"It will be the dream, amazing. I can imagine it will be nerve-wracking, but it will be incredible. To have all my best friends, my family, my wife, everyone who means something to me there will be amazing.

While another Southport local, Tommy Fleetwood, will tee off at 10:09, and he will be joined by Jordan Spieth and Jon Rahm.

But Rory McIlroy faces a long wait to get his Open Championship under way after being handed a late draw.

[Rory McIlroy during a preview day ahead of The 154th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale ]

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Rory McIlroy during a preview day ahead of The 154th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale (Image: (David Davies/PA Wire))

The reigning Masters champion and world number two will not go out until 3.15pm alongside 2024 winner Xander Schauffele and Ryder Cup team-mate Matt Fitzpatrick in the marquee afternoon group.

World number one and defending champion Scottie Scheffler is in the other half of the draw, teeing off alongside fellow American Bryson DeChambeau and England's Tyrrell Hatton on Thursday at 09:58.

Justin Rose, who shot to fame when he finished fourth as a 17-year-old amateur at Royal Birkdale in 1998, is alongside Ryder Cup team-mate Viktor Hovland and Russell Henley at 9.36am, while US PGA champion Aaron Rai is grouped with 2019 winner Shane Lowry and five-time major champion Brooks Koepka at 2.53pm.

[Brooks Koepka during the recent Genesis Scottish Open ]

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Brooks Koepka during the recent Genesis Scottish Open (Image: (Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images))

Round one: Thursday, 16 July

06:35 Matthew Baldwin (Eng), Thomas Detry (Bel), James Nicholas (US)

06:46 Michael Kim (US), David Hillier (NZ), Andy Sullivan (Eng)

06:57 Ryan Fox (NZ), Andrew Novak (US), Matthew Jordan (Eng)

07:08 Henrik Stenson (Swe), Max Homa (US), Joe Dean (Eng)

07:19 Robert MacIntyre (Sco), Rickie Fowler (US), Alex Fitzpatrick (Eng)

07:30 David Duval (US), Martin Couvra (Fra), Matthew Southgate (Eng)

07:41 Sungjae Im (Kor), Daniel Brown (Eng), Fifa Laopakdee (Tha)*

07:52 Gary Woodland (US), Jake Knapp (US), Jordan Smith (Eng)

08:03 Francesco Molinari (Ita), Tom McKibbin (NI), Lev Grinberg (Fra)*

08:14 Hennie du Plessis (SA), Jose Luis Ballester (Spa), Dan Bradbury (Eng)

08:25 Angel Ayora (Spa), Victor Perez (Fra), Mateo Pulcini (Arg)*

08:36 Stewart Cink (US), Scott Vincent (Zim), Joakim Lagergren (Swe)

08:47 Michael Thorbjornsen (Den), Kota Kaneko (Jpn), Travis Smyth (Aus)

09:03 Alex Smalley (US), Sam Stevens (US), Ryo Hisastune (Jpn)

09:14 Akshay Bhatia (US), Harris English (US), Rasmus Hojgaard (Den)

09:25 Ben Griffin (US), Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn), Min Woo Lee (Aus)

09:36 Russell Henley (US), Justin Rose (Eng), Viktor Hovland (Nor)

09:47 Justin Thomas (US), Alex Noren (Swe), Jason Day (Aus)

09:58 Scottie Scheffler (US), Tyrrell Hatton (Eng), Bryson Dechambeau (US)

10:09 Jordan Spieth (US), Tommy Fleetwood (Eng), Jon Rahm (Spa)

10:20 Brian Harman (US), Si Woo Kim (Kor), Nick Taylor (Can)

10:31 Ryan Gerard (US), Maverick McNealy (US), David Puig (Spa)

10:42 Kazuma Kobori (NZ), Tom Sloman (Eng), David Howard (Ire)*

10:53 Antoine Rozner (Fra), Ren Yonezawa (Jpn), Caleb Surratt (US)

11:04 MJ Daffue (SA), Frederic Lacroix (Fra), Jack McDonald (Sco)

11:15: Jeongwoo Ham (Kor), Ryutaro Nagamo (Jpn), Alejandro De Castro Piera (Spa)*

11:41 John Parry (Eng), Eric Cole (US), Tiger Christensen (Ger)

11:52 Eugenio Chacarra (Spa), Matt Wallace (Eng), Max Greyserman (US)

12:03 Michael Brennan (US), Sahith Theegala (US), Laurie Canter (Eng)

12:14 Cameron Smith (Aus), Keith Mitchell (US), Stuart Grehan (Ire)*

12:25 Sepp Straka (Aut), Joaquin Niemann (Chi), Kurt Kitayama (US)

12:36 Sami Valimaki (Fin), Shaun Norris (SA), Jackson Suber (US)

12:47 Darren Clarke (NI), Adrien Saddier (Fra), Bernd Wiesberger (Aut)

12:58 Keegan Bradley (US), Corey Conners (Can), Casey Jarvis (SA)

13:09 Matt McCarty (US), Harry Hall (Eng), Haotong Li (Chn)

13:20 Padraig Harrington (Ire), Marco Penge (Eng), Michael Hollick (SA)

13:31 Tom Kim (Kor), Billy Horschel (US), Mason Howell (US)*

13:42 Johnny Keefer (US), Pierceson Coody (US), Keita Nakajima (Jpn)

13:53 Louis Oosthuizen (SA), Jesper Svensson (Swe), Jack Buchanan (SA)

14:09 Bud Cauley (US), Jayden Schaper (SA), Lucas Herbert (Aus)

14:20 Kristoffer Reitan (Den), Patrick Reed (US), JT Poston (US)

14:31 Chris Gotterup (US), Sam Burns (US), Adam Scott (Aus)

14:42 Collin Morikawa (US), JJ Spaun (US), Nicolai Hojgaard (Den)

14:53 Shane Lowry (Ire), Aaron Rai (Eng), Brooks Koepka (US)

15:04 Cameron Young (US), Wyndham Clark (US), Ludvig Aberg (Swe)

15:15 Rory McIlroy (NI), Xander Schauffele (US), Matt Fitzpatrick (Eng)

15:26 Jacob Bridgeman (US), Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen (Den), Tim Wiedmeyer (Ger)*

15:37 Patrick Cantlay (US), Daniel Berger (US), Nico Echevarria (Col)

15:48 Peter Uihlein (US), Alistair Docherty (US), Francesco Laporta (Ita)

15:59 Cameron John (Aus), Austen Truslow (US), Sam Bairstow (Eng)

16:10 Naoyuki Kataoka (Jpn), Marcus Plunkett (US), Baard Bjoernevik (Den)

16:21 Kazuki Higa (Jpn), Jiho Yang (Kor), Nevill Ruiter (Ned)*

* denotes amateur

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