Liam Allan/R&A

Like just about everything else with the British Open, 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 so it will be again this week when the 151st Open takes place at Royal Liverpool.

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, when 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 realise 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 local time. It’s a wider separation than anything on the PGA Tour (which employs split tees at almost all its events).
Players will be competing in threesomes on Thursday and Friday.

First-round pairings (ranking)
Matthew Jordan (329), Richie Ramsay (142), Branden Grace (405)
Russell Henley (31), Jazz Janewattananond (247), Graeme Robertson
Ryan Fox (42), Lucas Herbert (56), Byeong Hun An (85)
Rikuya Hoshino (130), Charl Schwartzel (322), Alex Maguire (A
Adrian Meronk (49), Pablo Larrazabal (58), Hiroshi Iwata (189)
Patrick Reed (51), Connor Syme (209), Jose Luis Ballester Barrio (A)
Darren Clarke (3808), Victor Perez (66, Thomas Pieters (73)
Louis Oosthuizen (394), Joost Luiten (146, Christo Lamprecht (A)
Stewart Cink (299), JT Poston (52), Trey Mullinax (114)
Henrik Stenson (269), Harris English (37), Andrew Putnam (61)
Scott Stallings (82), Jordan Smith (89), Thorbjorn Olesen (92)
Ernie Els (1286), Kurt Kitayama (25), Takumi Kanaya (121)
Sam Burns (17), Sepp Straka (28), Chris Kirk (40)
Jordan Spieth (11), Matt Fitzpatrick (9), Jason Day (27)
Padraig Harrington (183), Seamus Power (50), Talor Gooch (101)
KH Lee (53), Davis Riley (78), Taiga Semikawa (163)
Patrick Cantlay (4), Brooks Koepka (12), Hideki Matsuyama (34)

Scottie Scheffler (1), Tommy Fleetwood (21), Adam Scott (39)
Cameron Smith (7), Xander Schauffele (6) , Wyndham Clark (10)
Shane Lowry (29) , Rickie Fowler (22), Robert MacIntyre (54)
Cameron Young (18), Si Woo Kim (36), Bryson DeChambeau (105)
Nicolai Højgaard (106), Bio Kim (202), Kazuki Yasumori (944)
Dan Bradbury (331), Oliver Farr (690), Haydn Barron (937)
Marcel Siem (200), Martin Rohwer (786), Tiger Christensen (A)
Lee Hodges (108), Antoine Rozner (139), Richard Bland (187)
Yannik Paul (100) , Sami Välimäki (220), Laurie Canter (330)
Rasmus Højgaard (84), Matthew Southgate (285), Alex Fitzpatrick (561)
Daniel Hillier (137), Kyung Nam Kang (402), Kensei Hirata (434)
Callum Shinkwin (119), Kazuki Higa (122), Michael Kim (134)
Zack Fischer (408), Taichi Kho (619), Kyle Barker (736)
Brendon Todd (63), Romain Langasque (136), Travis Smyth (310)
Gary Woodland (72), Adrian Otaegui (95), Alexander Bjork (96)
Min Woo Lee (47), Christiaan Bezuidenhout (93), Harrison Crowe (A)
Corey Conners (30), Billy Horschel (45), Alex Noren (67)
Tom Kim (24), Tom Hoge (38), Abraham Ancer (68)
Zach Johnson (221), Matt Wallace (134), David Micheluzzi (363)
Sahith Theegala (35), Emiliano Grillo (41), Dustin Johnson (79)
Francesco Molinari (157), Denny McCarthy (33), Mateo Fernandez De Oliveira (A)
Brian Harman (26), Thriston Lawrence (80), Thomas Detry (98)
John Daly (3808), Taylor Moore (48),Danny Willett (125)
David Lingmerth (97), Ben Griffin (109), Ockie Strydom (161)
Adri Arnaus (113), Ewen Ferguson (118), Keita Nakajima (151)
Keegan Bradley (15), Sungjae Im (23), Joaquin Niemann (43)
Viktor Hovland (5),Tony Finau (16), Justin Thomas (20)
Rory McIlroy (2), Jon Rahm (3), Justin Rose (32)
Collin Morikawa (19,Max Homa (8), Tyrrell Hatton (13)
Phil Mickelson (90), Nick Taylor (44), Adam Schenk (46)
Nacho Elvira (361), Marc Warren (382), Alejandro Cañizares (579)
Guido Migliozzi (224), Oliver Wilson (266), Connor McKinney (1140)
Kalle Samooja (256), Shubhankar Sharma (276), Gunner Wiebe (479)
Jorge Campillo (131), Brandon Robinson Thompson (812), Michael Stewart (868)
Hurly Long (249), Seungsu Han (470), Marco Penge (539)