R&A

By Ryan Herrington
Like just about everything else with the Open Championship, there is something singularly distinct regarding tee times at golf’s oldest major. It’s not so much who the R&A pairs with whom that holds people’s curiosities, as is the case with the cheeky-themed threesomes the USGA often puts together at the US Open. Rather, it’s the anticipation of when your name appears on the starter’s sheet and whether that means you’re on the “good” or “bad” side of the draw. And there will be a particular curiosity this week given the R&A is celebration the 150th Open back at the Home of Golf, the Old Course at St Andrews.

Indeed, unlike any other men’s major, where you’re placed in order of things at the Open — and how that fits into mother nature’s divine plans — plays an overly large role in a players’ chances of having a successful week, or seeing themselves packing their backs a few days early.

Case in point. 2010, one of the recent previous times the R&A visited St Andrews. The golfers who teed off in the morning during Friday’s second round at the Old Course played in calm conditions, eventual winner Louis Oosthuizen shooting a 67. Those who teed off in the afternoon, however, played in blustery winds and rain squalls. Rory McIlroy, after an opening-round 63, shot a second-round 80 to all but end his hopes of victory just 36 holes into the championship.

“When you feel like you’re playing well and you get the wrong side of the draw and you feel like the best you can finish is 10th, it’s a bitter pill to swallow,” McIlroy said in 2017. “But you have to realize in a 25- or 30-year career, you’re going to get some years that you’re on the good side of the draw.”

Indeed, the reason this is so central to how things play out at the Open is because of the mechanics of tee times themselves in the major. With sunrise at around 4.40am and sunset not until just shy of 10pm, the lengthy daylight allows all groups to tee off on the first hole, with tee times spread from as early as 6.30am to as late as 4.15pm. It’s a wider separation than anything on the PGA Tour (which employs split tees at almost all its events).

First-round tee times

(All times BST)
6.35am — Paul Lawrie, Webb Simpson, Min Woo Lee
6.46am — Sadom Kaewkanjana, Ben Campbell, Barclay Brown (A)
6.57am — Dean Burmester, Chan Kim, Brandon Wu
7.08am — Ian Poulter, Jamie Donaldson, Guido Migliozzi
7.19am — Garrick Higgo, MinKyu Kim, Ashley Chesters
7.30am — Phil Mickelson, Lucas Herbert, Kurt Kitayama
7.41am — Patrick Reed, Tom Hoge, JooHyung Kim
7.52am — John Daly, Bryson DeChambeau, Cameron Tringale
8.03am — Cameron Smith, Brooks Koepka, Seamus Power
8.14am — Francesco Molinari, Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose
8.25am — Cameron Young, Kyoung-Hoon Lee, Robert MacIntyre
8.36am — Zach Johnson, Billy Horschel, Corey Conners
8.47am — Brian Harman, Pablo Larrazabal, Danny Willett
9.03am — Stephen Dodd, JT Poston, Lee Westwood
9.14am — Sepp Straka, Luke List, Justin De Los Santos
9.25am — Ernie Els, Adri Arnaus, Brad Kennedy
9.36am — Mackenzie Hughes, Scott Vincent, Victor Perez
9.47am — Jason Kokrak, Nicolai Højgaard, Sihwan Kim
9.58am — Collin Morikawa, Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele

MORE: The top 100 players at St Andrews rated
Final four Open spots decided
A poignant return to St Andrews

10.09am — Shane Lowry, Justin Thomas, Viktor Hovland
10.20am — Will Zalatoris, Hideki Matsuyama, Tony Finau
10.31am — Kevin Kisner, Chris Kirk, Takumi Kanaya
10.42am — Dylan Frittelli, Trey Mullinax, Matthew Jordan
10.53am — Anthony Quayle, Zander Lombard, John Parry
11.04am — Thomas Detry, Richard Mansell, Marco Penge
11.15am — Alexander Björk, Oliver Farr, Matt Ford
11.36am — Mark Calcavecchia, Ryan Fox, Jediah Morgan
11.47am — Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Bernd Wiesberger, Sam Bairstow (A)
11.58am — Adrian Meronk, Haotong Li, Marcus Armitage
12.09pm — Thriston Lawrence, Fabrizio Zanotti, Alex Wrigley
12.20pm — Aaron Wise, Si Woo Kim, Sam Horsfield
12.31pm — Talor Gooch, Shaun Norris, Wyndham Clark
12.42pm — Henrik Stenson, Russell Henley, Aldrich Potgieter (A)
12.53pm — Stewart Cink, Sergio Garcia, Aaron Jarvis (A)

1.04pm — Sungjae Im, Paul Casey, Gary Woodland
1.15pm — Dustin Johnson, Adam Scott, Marc Leishman
1.26pm — Scottie Scheffler, Joaquin Niemann, Tyrrell Hatton
1.37pm — Darren Clarke, Richard Bland, Filippo Celli (A)
1.48pm — Kevin Na, Kazuki Higa, Erik Van Rooyen
2.04pm — David Duval, Justin Harding, Jordan Smith
2.15pm — Shugo Imahira, Jason Scrivener, David Law
2.26pm — Abraham Ancer, Yuto Katsuragawa, Emiliano Grillo
2.37pm — Louis Oosthuizen, Harris English, Keita Nakajima (A)
2.48pm — Padraig Harrington, Thomas Pieters, Keith Mitchell
2.59pm — Tiger Woods, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Max Homa
3.10pm — Jordan Spieth, Jon Rahm, Harold Varner III
3.21pm — Patrick Cantlay, Sam Burns, Mito Pereira
3.32pm — Keegan Bradley, Sebastián Muñoz, Sahith Theegala
3.43pm — Laurie Canter, Dimitrios Papadatos, Matthew Griffn
3.54pm — John Catlin, Jamie Rutherford, David Carey
4.05pm — Mingyu Cho, Jorge Fernández Valdés, Robert Dinwiddie
4.16pm — Lars Van Meijel, Jack Floydd, Ronan Mullarney

You may also like:
Tiger hits JT where it hurts
Jack Nicklaus unconcerned about low scores at St Andrews
PGA Tour under investigation over LIV Golf
The top 100 players at St Andrews rated
Final four Open spots decided
A poignant return to St Andrews
Rahm ready for some good breaks at St Andrews
R&A snubs Greg Norman for Open Championship celebrations
Tiger takes a stroll around St Andrews
Xander the man to watch ahead of Open Championship at St Andrews
Scots quartet ready for Trust Golf Women’s Scottish Open
Ciganda prevails on Ladies European Tour in Spain
Watch: Highlights from the Estrella Damm Ladies Open
De Roey triumphs at ATS Bangkok
Xander on his way to three in a row in Scotland
Spieth shoots down LIV Golf rumours
Ciganda on brink of wire-to-wire win in Spain
Tringale holds onto Scottish Open lead
Fitzpatrick enjoying ‘best form of his life’
Hovland reassures all weekend golfers with horrendous shank
Record prize money at 150th Open Championship