The Open schedule: First Round tee times at Royal Portrush

Former champion Darren Clarke will hit the opening tee shot in the 148th Open Championship at Royal Portrush.

Clarke, who owns a house overlooking the Dunluce Links, is scheduled to get play under way at 6.35am on Thursday alongside Amateur Championship winner James Sugrue from Ireland and American Charley Hoffman.

The 50-year-old lifted the Claret Jug at Royal St George's in 2011 but has missed the cut in three of the last four years and had mixed feelings about his position as "honorary" starter, a role filled by Sandy Lyle, Mark O'Meara and Colin Montgomerie in recent years.

"The question is are they going to put me off on the first tee shot at 6.30am?" Clarke said earlier this month. "That means you're not really supposed to do any good in the tournament. We'll see.

"The bottom line is that in 10 days or so, I am going to tee it up on one of my favourite golf courses in the world in Portrush in The Open as a past champion. It doesn't get much better than that."

Rory McIlroy, who set the course record of 61 at Portrush as a 16-year-old, will get his quest for a first major title in five years under way at 10.09am alongside US Open champion Gary Woodland and Paul Casey.

McIlroy admits it would "mean the world" to win a second Open title on home soil as Northern Ireland hosts the event for just the second time and the first since Max Faulkner's victory in 1951.

Portrush native Graeme McDowell is off at 09.14am in the company of 2016 winner Henrik Stenson and American Xander Schauffele, who finished joint second at Carnoustie last year.

Three-time winner Tiger Woods has a lengthy wait before getting his bid for a 16th major title under way, the 43-year-old teeing off at 3.10pm with his Ryder Cup team-mate Patrick Reed and England's Matt Wallace.

World number one Brooks Koepka, who has finished second, first and second in the year's majors to date, tees off at 1.04pm in the same group as 2010 champion Louis Oosthuizen and India's Shubhankar Sharma.

Like many players in the field Koepka has never played Royal Portrush before, but his caddie Ricky Elliott was born and raised in the town and was a talented golfer in his own right, often competing against good friend McDowell in local and national tournaments.

The final group of Thailand's Gunn Charoenkul, Japan's Yosuke Asaji and England's Ashton Turner tee off at 4.16pm.

Here are first round tee times in full

Tee times

6.35am | Group 1

• Darren Clarke

• James Sugrue (a)

• Charley Hoffmann

6.46am | Group 2

• Emiliano Grillo

• Sung Kang

• Thomas Thurloway (a)

6.57am | Group 3

• Andy Sullivan

• Christian Bezuidenhout

• Alexander Levy

7.08am | Group 4

• Chan Kim

• Zander Lombard

• Brandon Wu (a)

7.19am | Group 5

• Richard Sterne

• Romain Langasque

• Matthias Schmid (a)

7.30am | Group 6

• Padraig Harrington

• Matthew Fitzpatrick

• Andrew Putman

7.41am | Group 7

• Bubba Watson

• Eddie Pepperell

• Rafa Cabrera-Bello

7.52am | Group 9

• Phil Mickelson

• Shane Lowry

• Branden Grace

8.03am | Group 9

• Alex Noren

• Mike Lorenzo-Vera

• Sam Locke

8.14am | Group 10

• Webb Simpson

• Sergio Garcia

• CT Pan

8.25am | Group 11

• Ryan Palmer

• Andrea Pavan

• Dylan Frittelli

8.36am | Group 12

• Kyle Stanley

• Robert MacIntyre

• Andrew Johnston

8.47am | Group 13

• Mikko Korhonen

• Oliver Wilson

• Curtis Knipes (a)

9.03am | Group 14

• Ian Poulter

• Sungjae Im

• Kiradech Aphibarnrat

9.14am | Group 15

• Henrik Stenson

• Xander Schauffele

• Graeme McDowell

9.25am | Group 16

• Haotong LI

• Russell Knox

• Bernd Wiesberger

9.36am | Group 17

• Jason Kokrak

• Connor Syme

• Austin Connelly

9.47am | Group 18

• Zach Johnson

• David Duval

• Corey Conners

9:58am | Group 19

• Francesco Molinari

• Bryson Dechambeau

• Adam Scott

10.09am | Group 20

• Rory McIlroy

• Gary Woodland

• Paul Casey

10.20am | Group 21

• Rickie Fowler

• Kevin Kisner

• Hideki Matsuyama

10.31am | Group 22

• Jim Furyk

• Si-Woo Kim

• Jimmy Walker

10.42am | Group 23

• Luke List

• Alexander Bjork

• Paul Waring

10.53am | Group 24

• Shugo Imahira

• Nate Lashley

• Benjamin Hebert

11.04am | Group 25

• Mikumu Horikawa

• Callum Shinkwin

• Garrick Porteous

11.15am | Group 26

• Prom Meesawat

• Matthew Baldwin

• Jack Senior

11.36am | Group 27

• Tom Lehman

• Joaquin Niemann

• Miguel Angel Jimenez

11.47am | Group 28

• Byeong Hun An

• Jorge Campillo

• Chris Wood

11.58am | Group 29

• Joel Dahmen

• Adri Arnaus

• Dimitrios Papadatos

12.09pm | Group 30

• Stewart Cink

• Rory Sabbatini

• Innchoon Hwang

12.20pm | Group 31

• Erik Van Rooyen

• Kurt Kitayama

• Jake McLeod

12.31pm | Group 32

• Ryan Fox

• Shaun Norris

• Dongkyu Jang

12.42pm | Group 33

• Tyrrell Hatton

• Keith Mitchell

• Thomas Pieters

12.53pm | Group 34

• Justin Thomas

• Tommy Fleetwood

• Thorbjorn Olesen

1.04pm | Group 35

• Brooks Koepka

• Louis Oosthuizen

• Shubhankar Sharma

1.15pm | Group 36

• Billy Horschel

• Jazz Janewattananond

• Aaron Wise

1.26pm | Group 37

• Jordan Spieth

• Marc Leishman

• Danny Willett

1.37pm | Group 38

• Cameron Smith

• Adam Hadwin

• David Lipsky

1.48pm | Group 39

• Paul Lawrie

• Chez Reavie

• Justin Harding

2.04pm | Group 40

• Takumi Kanaya (a)

• Tom Lewis

• Brandon Stone

2.15pm | Group 41

• Lucas Glover

• Joost Luiten

• Nino Bertasio

2.26pm | Group 42

• Ernie Els

• JB Holmes

• Abraham Ancer

2.37pm | Group 43

• Brandt Snedeker

• Lee Westwood

• Brian Harman

2.48pm | Group 44

• Justin Rose

• Tony Finau

• Lucas Bjerregard

2.59pm | Group 45

• Dustin Johnson

• Jason Day

• Keegan Bradley

3.10pm | Group 46

• Tiger Woods

• Matt Wallace

• Patrick Reed

3.21pm | Group 47

• Jon Rahm

• Patrick Cantlay

• Matt Kuchar

3.32pm | Group 48

• Kevin Streelman

• Doc Redman

• Robert Rock

3.43pm | Group 49

• Adrian Otaegui

• Yuta Ikeda

• Isidro Benitez

3.54pm | Group 50

• Patton Kizzire

• Sang Hyun Park

• Yuki Inamori

4.05pm | Group 51

• Yoshinori Fujimoto

• Doyeob Mun

• Andrew Wilson

4.16pm | Group 52

• Gunn Charornkul

• Yosuke Asaji

• Ashton Turner

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