Richard Heathcote/R&A
Rory McIlroy walks out to play his opening tee shot on the first tee during the first round of the 2019 Open Championship.
By Ryan Herrington
All the signage at Royal St. George’s says this is The Open Championship, but the leaderboards hint this isn’t the Open of old. Red numbers are everywhere at the English course known previous for its cruelty and quirkiness. Meanwhile, a mild weather forecast for the weekend hints that there are more low scores to come over the final 36 holes.
So who will take advantage? Well, why not the twosome that played the best over the opening 36 holes. Eleven years after his Open triumph at St. Andrews, Louis Oosthuizen will try to reclaim the claret jug and add a second major title. He’ll do so with the positive knowledge that he just set the Open’s 36-hole scoring record with his 12-under 128 performance. Whenever you can hold the record in an event that’s more than 150 years ago, you’re doing something right.
Still, Oosthuizen has the mental baggage of having painfully finished second in the last two majors, and having six runners-up in the game’s four biggest events.
Meanwhile, Collin Morikawa is trying to set a unique record of his own. When he won the PGA Championship in 2020, he did so playing in the event for the first time. It’s an accomplishment matched by a handful of pros, but no golfer has two different majors in their debuts, and this is Morikawa’s first Open. The 24-year-old shot a 64 to jump into an early Friday lead, despite putting some new irons in his back just this week, and now sits just two back.
All told, 77 players made the cut at one over par. Below are the tee times for Saturday’s third round.
SATURDAY/Third round (local time/ET).
The UAE is 3 hours ahead of UK time.
9:20 a.m./4:20 a.m. — Yuxin Lin (A)
9:30 a.m./4:30 a.m. — Talor Gooch, Bryson DeChambeau
9:40 a.m./4:40 a.m. — Richard Mansell, Bernd Wiesberger
9:50 a.m./4:50 a.m. — Marcus Armitage, JC Ritchie
10 a.m./5 a.m. — Ryosuke Kinoshita, Poom Saksansin
10:10 a.m./5:10 a.m. — Rickie Fowler, Antoine Rozner
10:20 a.m./5:30 a.m. — Brendan Steele, Robert MacIntyre
10:30 a.m./5:30 a.m. — Sam Burns, Harris English
10:40 a.m./5:40 a.m. — Abraham Ancer, Jason Kokrak
10:50 a.m./5:50 a.m. — Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Sam Horsfeld
11:05 a.m./6:05 a.m. — Rory McIlroy, Richard Bland
11:15 a.m./6:15 a.m. — Benjamin Hebert, Xander Schaufele
11:25 a.m./6:25 a.m. — Padraig Harrington, Matthew Fitzpatrick
11:35 a.m./6:35 a.m. — Kevin Streelman, Lanto Grifin
11:45 a.m./6:45 a.m. — Viktor Hovland, Joaquin Niemann
11:55 a.m./6:55 a.m. — Max Homa, Chan Kim
12:05 p.m./7:05 a.m. — Justin Thomas, Adam Scott
12:15 p.m./7:05 a.m. — Billy Horschel, Kevin Kisner
12:25 p.m./7:05 a.m. — Jazz Janewattananond, Matthias Schmid (A)
12:35 p.m./7:05 a.m. — Chez Reavie, Aaron Rai
12:50 p.m./7:05 a.m. — Jonathan Thomson, Lee Westwood
1 p.m./8 a.m. — Ian Poulter, Jack Senior
1:10 p.m./8:10 a.m. — Webb Simpson, Tommy Fleetwood
1:20 p.m./8:20 a.m. — Johannes Veerman, Matt Wallace
1:30 p.m./8:30 a.m. — Sergio Garcia, Byeong Hun An
1:40 p.m./8:40 a.m. — Joel Dahmen, Justin Rose
1:50 p.m./8:50 a.m. — Dean Burmester, Daniel Berger
2 p.m./9 a.m. — Shane Lowry, Brandt Snedeker
2:10 p.m./9:10 a.m. — Danny Willett, Brian Harman
2:20 p.m./9:20 a.m. — Corey Conners, Cameron Smith
2:35 p.m./9:35 a.m. — Tony Finau, Ryan Fox
2:45 p.m./9:45 a.m. — Jon Rahm, Cameron Tringale
2:55 p.m./9:55 a.m. — Brooks Koepka, Mackenzie Hughes
3:05 p.m./10:05 a.m. — Justin Harding, Paul Casey
3:15 p.m./10:15 a.m. — Marcel Siem, Andy Sullivan
3:25 p.m./10:25 a.m. — Daniel Van Tonder, Emiliano Grillo
3:35 p.m./10:35 a.m. — Dustin Johnson, Scottie Schefler
3:45 p.m./10:45 a.m. — Jordan Spieth, Dylan Frittelli
3:55 p.m./10:55 a.m. — Louis Oosthuizen, Collin Morikawa