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Mark Schlabach, ESPN Senior Writer
HOYLAKE, England — Rory McIlroy will play the first two rounds of the 151st Open Championship at Royal Liverpool Golf Club with Masters champion Jon Rahm and former world No. 1 golfer Justin Rose.
McIlroy, who won the third of his four major championship victories the last time The Open was played at Royal Liverpool in 2014, will tee off at 9:59 a.m. ET Thursday in the late-early wave. The trio will start at 4:58 a.m. in Friday’s second round.
McIlroy will attempt to end a nearly nine-year drought without a major championship victory.
Defending Open Championship winner Cameron Smith is in the opposite early-late wave. He’ll tee off with U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark and Xander Schauffele at 4:58 a.m. ET Thursday and 9:59 a.m. ET Friday.
World No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler is playing with England’s Tommy Fleetwood and Australia’s Adam Scott. They’ll go off at 4:47 a.m. ET Thursday and 9:48 a.m. ET Friday.
Other featured groups include Jordan Spieth, Matt Fitzpatrick and Jason Day (4:03 a.m. ET Thursday/9:04 a.m. ET Friday); Patrick Cantlay, PGA Championship winner Brooks Koepka and Hideki Matsuyama (4:36 a.m. ET Thursday/9:37 a.m. ET Friday); Viktor Hovland, Tony Finau and Justin Thomas (9:48 a.m. ET Thursday/4:47 a.m. ET Friday); and Collin Morikawa, Max Homa and Tyrrell Hatton (10:10 a.m. ET Thursday/5:09 a.m. Friday).
With rain in the weather forecast for northwest England this week, getting on the right side of the draw could once again be a factor in The Open. “[The rough] is spotty,” Morikawa said. “Some places are really bad. Some places you can get a really good lie. Obviously, if it’s wet, it changes a lot. There’s some spots out there where you might be chipping out sideways. but also a foot away the ball might be sitting up and you might be able to go for the green. Things got to go your way.”