Open Championship 2025 Tee Times: McIlroy paired with Fleetwood, Lowry gets Scheffler at Portrush

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McIlroy paired with Fleetwood, Lowry draws World No.1 Scheffler

Defending Open champion Xander Schauffele will play alongside recent US Open champion JJ Spaun and Jon Rahm (09:58) in the first two rounds at Royal Portrush, with Rory McIlroy in a star-stuuded group alongside Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Thomas (14:48).

With the tee times for the first two rounds of the 153rd Open Championship released on Tuesday, there were some huge groups that are sure to attract plenty of attention from fans flocking to the glorious Nothern Ireland links.

Shane Lowry brought the house down when he won here in 2019, and he'll no doubt take a huge following with him not just because of that but also because he's been paired with World No.1 Scottie Scheffler and two-time major champion Collin Morikawa (10:09).

Scotsman Robert MacIntyre will be another popular figure here, and he's in a very popular group as he'll play alongside American fan favourite Bryson DeChambeau and Englishman Justin Rose (14:48).

The other big group in the draw sees new father and former Open champion Jordan Spieth playing alonsige talented Scandinavians Ludvig Aberg and Viktor Hovland (14:59).

Two-time Open champon Padraig Harrington, the last man to successfully defend the Claret Jug in 2007-08, has the honour of hitting the first tee shot at 6.35am - and there'll be plenty of alarm clock going off to watch him as he's joined by Nicolai Hojgaard and local youngster Tom McKibbin.

Open Championship winner

• 9/25.50 - Scottie Scheffler
• 7/18.00 - Rory McIlroy
• 12/113.00 - Jon Rahm
• 20/121.00 - Bryson DeChambeau
• 25/126.00 - Tommy Fleetwood, Xander Schauffele
• 28/129.00 - Ludvig Aberg
• 30/131.00 - Shane Lowry, Viktor Hovland, Tyrrell Hatton, Collin Morikawa

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Featured Groups for the Open Championship

Some great pairings as always with 156 of the best players in the world fighting it out for the Claret Jug, but five of them in particular stand out.

9:58am: Xander Schauffele, JJ Spaun, Jon Rahm

The defending champion is always worth a follow, but when you pair him with the current US Open champion and a former US Open and Masters champion then you're in business.

JJ Spaun missed the cut in Scotland at the weekend so may need more time to figure out links golf, but Jon Rahm is already a master of golf by the seaside - especially in Ireland as he finished T11 at Portrush in 2019 and is also a two-time Irish Open champion on links course Lahinch and Portstewart, which is right next door to Portrush so he'll fancy his chances this week.

10:09am: Shane Lowry, Collin Morikawa, Scottie Scheffler

Shane Lowry has a mural in Portrush depicting his incredible 2019 success here so expect a bumper crowd with this one - and he'll even have a huge edge over both two-time major winner Collin Morikawa and World No.1 Scottie Scheffler in terms of crowd support.

Scheffler has only played in four Opens but has been in with a shout three times and had two top 10s and he's so good he'll win a Claret Jug at some point, although he'll need to putt better than he did in Scotland last week.

2:48pm: Robert MacIntyre, Bryson DeChambeau, Justin Rose

Robert MacIntyre will have a Scottish army of fans coming over to Portrush - where he finished sixth on his Open debut, and with a Scottish Open win under his belt the left-hander will be a danger this week.

Bryson DeChambeau has struggled to get to grips with links golf and he'll hate the weather this week, but Justin Rose looks a lively outsider at 66/167.00 given he played so well here in 2019 for three rounds before struggling on Sunday.

He played wonderfully at Troon last year in awful conditions with only Xander Schauffele able to beat him and after losing a playoff to Rory McIlroy at the Masters he's still surely got another major in him - with his love of the course and conditions he could go close here, and a 63 on Sunday in Scotland showed he's in great current form.

2:59pm: Jordan Spieth, Ludvig Aberg, Viktor Hovland

Jordan Spieth won the Open at Birkdale and has the 'nappy factor' of just having his second child on his side, while Ludvig Aberg missed the cut in his Open debut last year but has the game to win anywhere in any conditions.

Viktor Hovland had every chance at St Andrews a few years ago and after his struggles was back challenging at the US Open this year.

3.10pm: Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas, Tommy Fleetwood

Rory McIlroy has a score to settle with Royal Portrush after he missed the cut in 2019 following a horror first round, but he did enjoy an enthralling Friday when a huge crowd roared him on in a bid to make the weekend - he fell just short but that day will live long in the memory.

As a Grand Slam winner now he'll get a huge ovation so will need to control his emotions as he goes around with two-time US PGA champion Justin Thomas and also Tommy Fleetwood - who chased Shane Lowry home here in 2019.

Open Championship full round one tee times & groups

(Times are BST, nationality USA unless stated; x = amateurs)

• 0635 Padraig Harrington (Irl), Nicolai Hojgaard (Den), Tom McKibbin (NIrl)
• 0646 Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) Guido Migliozzi (Ita), KJ Choi (Kor)
• 0657 Cameron Smith (Aus), Marco Penge (Eng), Justin Hastings (x) (Cym)
• 0708 Jason Day (Aus), Taylor Pendrith (Can) Jacob Skov Olesen (Den)
• 0719 Phil Mickelson, Daniel Van Tonder (Rsa) Ryan Peake (Aus)
• 0730 Max Greyserman, Byeong Hun An (Kor), Niklas Norgaard (Den)
• 0752 Darren Clarke (NIrl), Davis Riley, Lucas Herbert (Aus)
• 0803 Kevin Yu (Tpe), Julien Guerrier (Fra), Mikiya Akutsu (Jpn)
• 0814 Thomas Detry (Bel), Chris Gotterup, Lee Westwood (Eng)
• 0825 Patrick Cantlay, Cameron Young, Mackenzie Hughes (Can)
• 0836 Thorbjorn Olesen (Den), Matthew Jordan (Eng), Filip Jakubik (x) (Cze)
• 0903 Kristoffer Reitan (Nor), Martin Couvra (Fra), Adrien Saddier (Fra)
• 0914 Takumi Kanaya (Jpn), Justin Walters (Rsa), Bryan Newman (x) (Rsa)
• 0925 Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn), Ryan Fox (Nzl), Matt Fitzpatrick (Eng)
• 0936 Sepp Straka (Aut), Ben Griffin, Akshay Bhatia
• 0947 Sam Burns, Aldrich Potgieter (Rsa), Brooks Koepka
• 0958 Xander Schauffele, JJ Spaun, Jon Rahm (Esp)
• 1009 Shane Lowry (Irl), Collin Morikawa, Scottie Scheffler
• 1031 Denny McCarthy, Nico Echavarria (Col), Patrick Reed
• 1042 Matti Schmid (Ger), Ryggs Johnston, Richard Teder (x) (Est)
• 1053 Dylan Naidoo (Rsa), Darren Fichardt (Rsa), John Axelsen (Den)
• 1104 John Suh, Oliver Lindell (Fin), Jesper Sandborg (Swe)
• 1115 Sadom Kaewkanjana (Tha), Riki Kawamoto (Jpn), Sampson Zheng (Chn)
• 1126 Stewart Cink, Matteo Manassero (Ita), Marc Leishman (Aus)
• 1147 Francesco Molinari (Ita), Jesper Svensson (Swe), Connor Graham (x) (Sco)
• 1158 Zach Johnson, Dan Brown (Eng), Daniel Hillier (Nzl)
• 1220 Laurie Canter (Eng), Elvis Smylie (Aus), Sergio Garcia (Esp)
• 1231 Andrew Novak, Matthieu Pavon (Fra), Matt Wallace (Eng)
• 1242 Davis Thompson, Dean Burmester (Rsa), Rikuya Hoshino (Jpn)
• 1253 Si Woo Kim (Kor), Shugo Imahira (Jpn), Sebastian Cave (x) (Eng)
• 1304 Michael Kim (Kor), Bud Cauley, John Parry (Eng)
• 1315 Matt McCarty, Shaun Norris (Rsa), Angel Hidalgo (Esp)
• 1326 Keegan Bradley, Sungjae Im (Kor), Daniel Berger
• 1348 Aaron Rai (Eng), Sahith Theegala, Harry Hall (Eng)
• 1404 Justin Leonard, Thriston Lawrence (Rsa), Antoine Rozner (Fra)
• 1415 JT Poston, Chris Kirk, Carlos Ortiz (Mex)
• 1426 Brian Harman, Maverick McNealy, Joaquin Niemann (Chi)
• 1437 Russell Henley, Tyrrell Hatton (Eng), Min Woo Lee (Aus)
• 1448 Bob MacIntyre (Sco), Bryson DeChambeau, Justin Rose (Eng)
• 1459 Jordan Spieth, Ludvig Åberg (Swe), Viktor Hovland (Nor)
• 1510 Rory McIlroy (NIrl), Justin Thomas, Tommy Fleetwood (Eng)
• 1532 Lucas Glover, Jhonattan Vegas (Ven), Tom Kim (Kor)
• 1543 Brian Campbell, John Catlin, Frazer Jones (x) (Eng)
• 1554 Nathan Kimsey (Eng), Jason Kokrak, Cameron Adam (x) (Sco)
• 1605 Daniel Young (Sco), Curtis Luck (Aus), Curtis Knipes (Eng)
• 1616 Young han Song (Kor), George Bloor (Eng), OJ Farrell (Eng)

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