Open Championship: All the Round 1 tee-times for the 13 SA golfers

Defending Open champion Shane Lowry will go out in the marquee group alongside golf’s newest major winner Jon Rahm and former champion Louis Oosthuizen at Royal St George’s on Thursday.

CLICK FOR ALL THE ROUND 1 TEE TIMES

The Irishman won at Royal Portrush in 2019 but last year’s postponement due to Covid-19 restrictions mean Lowry will be in the 726th day of his reign as the holder of the Claret Jug when he tees off.

As befitting the defending champion, he will have for company world number two Rahm, who made his major breakthrough at last month’s US Open, and Oosthuizen – a winner in 2010 at St Andrews.

READ | SA GOLFER SHOOTS 56 AT POTCHEFSTROOM CC – HERE’S THE SCORECARD!

The honour of hitting the first tee shot will go to the veteran Richard Bland, who became the oldest first-time winner of a European Tour event with victory at the Betfred British Masters on his 478th start.

He tees off at 06.35 local time (07:35 SA time) with fellow Englishmen Andy Sullivan and Marcus Armitage, another maiden winner in June with his victory at the Porsche European Open.

“Truly an honour that I’ve been given the opening tee shot @TheOpen something I’ll remember for the rest of my life,” Bland wrote on Twitter.

READ | FORMER MASTERS WINNER ANGEL CABRERA JAILED FOR ASSAULT

Four-time major champion Rory McIlroy, the 2014 winner, goes out at 15:21 with American Ryder Cup rival Patrick Reed and Australian Cameron Smith.

Crowd favourite Phil Mickelson, the reigning PGA champion and 2013 Claret Jug winner, is off just before at 14:48 with fellow American Kevin Kisner and England’s Tyrell Hatton.

Jordan Spieth, who won the Open in 2017, is in the 09:25 group with big-hitting compatriot and last year’s US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau and South Africa’s Branden Grace.

ROUND 1 TEE-TIMES (ALL TIME SA):

07:35 – Richard Bland, Andy Sullivan, Marcus Armitage
07:46 – Chan Kim, Justin Harding, Haotong Li
07:57 – Mike Lorenzo-Vera, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, Abel Gallegos
08:08 – Alex Noren, J.C. Ritchie, Richard Mansell
08:19 – Dean Burmester, Danny Willett, Laird Shepherd
08:30 – Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Sam Horsfield, Min Woo Lee
08:41 – Viktor Hovland, Ryan Palmer, Thomas Detry
08:52 – Paul Casey, Abraham Ancer, Ian Poulter
09:03 – Brooks Koepka, Jason Kokrak, Garrick Higgo
09:14 – Daniel Berger, Joaquin Niemann, Joel Dahmen
09:25 – Darren Clarke, Bernd Wiesberger, Joe Long
09:36 – Chris Kirk, Marcus Kinhult, Jack Senior
09:47 – Talor Gooch, C.T. Pan, Jonathan Thomson
10:03 – Ernie Els, Gary Woodland, Cole Hammer
10:14 – Sam Burns, Lucas Herbert, Jorge Campillo
10:25 – Jordan Spieth, Bryson DeChambeau, Branden Grace
10:36 – Brian Harman, Mackenzie Hughes, Dylan Frittelli
10:47 – Victor Perez, Kevin Streelman, Guido Migliozzi
10:58 – Shane Lowry, Jon Rahm, Louis Oosthuizen
11:09 – Stewart Cink, Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer
11:20 – Dustin Johnson, Will Zalatoris, Justin Rose
11:31 – Scottie Scheffler, Sergio Garcia, Yuxin Lin
11:42 – Harris English, Erik van Rooyen, Chez Reavie
11:53 – Lucas Glover, Ben An, Brandt Snedeker
12:04 – Cameron Tringale, Takumi Kanaya, Marcel Schneider
12:15 – Lanto Griffin, Rikuya Hoshino, Connor Worsdall
12:36 – Aaron Rai, Paul Waring, Daniel Craft
12:47 – Daniel van Tonder, Jazz Janewattananond, Christoffer Bring
12:58 – Harold Varner III, Brendan Steele, Matthias Schmid
13:09 – Troy Merritt, Adam Long, Jaco Ahlers
13:20 – Jason Day, Joost Luiten, Johannes Veerman
13:31 – John Catlin, Romain Langasque, Aaron Pike
13:42 – Padraig Harrington, Brad Kennedy, Sam Forgan
13:53 – Tony Finau, Billy Horschel, Adam Hadwin
14:04 – Patrick Cantlay, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Ryan Fox
14:15 – Francesco Molinari, Marc Leishman, Matt Wallace
14:26 – Collin Morikawa, Corey Conners, Sebastian Munoz
14:37 – Jason Scrivener, Keith Mitchell, Sam Bairstow
14:48 – Charley Hoffman, Emiliano Grillo, Benjamin Herbert
15:04 – Keegan Bradley, Richard T. Lee, Rafa Cabrera Bello
15:15 – Carlos Ortiz, Brendon Todd, Matthias Schwab
15:26 – Webb Simpson, Russell Henley, Shaun Norris
15:37 – Matt Jones, Daniel Hillier, Marcel Siem
15:48 – Phil Mickelson, Tyrrell Hatton, Kevin Kisner
15:59 – Xander Schauffele, Robert MacIntyre, Rickie Fowler
16:10 – Justin Thomas, Tommy Fleetwood, Adam Scott
16:21 – Rory McIlroy, Patrick Reed, Cameron Smith
16:32 – Henrik Stenson, Max Homa, Matt Kuchar
16:43 – Antoine Rozner, Ryosuke Kinoshita, Ben Hutchinson
16:54 – Kurt Kitayama, Deyen Lawson, Poom Saksansin
17:05 – Yuki Inamori, Jimmy Walker, Ricardo Celia
17:16 – Rikard Karlberg, Ryutaro Nagano, Nicholas Poppleton