The 2026 Open Championship will provide one last major championship stage for the best golfers in the world this season. Royal Birkdale will host the 156-man field vying for the iconic Claret Jug and the coveted title of Champion Golfer of the Year.
On Monday, the R&A put out the tee times and pairings for the first round on Thursday, providing fans with a chance to plan out their viewing schedule -- particularly for those stateside who will have determine exactly how early to wake up to watch their favorites. The first notable group in the first round will tee off at 2:19 a.m. ET, as Robert MacIntyre, Rickie Fowler and Alex Fitzpatrick serve as the main attraction in the extremely early window -- or for those stateside who opt to just stay up for the start.
The big groups in the early wave start in the 4 a.m. ET hour, with the headliner being the 4:58 a.m. tee time with reigning champion Scottie Scheffler alongside Bryson DeChambeau and Tyrrell Hatton in a group that has could produce fireworks -- both positive and negative. The group behind them will feature Jordan Spieth, Tommy Fleetwood and Jon Rahm at 5:09 a.m., as golf fans stateside can pencil in a 5 a.m. alarm for Thursday to catch some of the top stars in action.
In the late wave, action picks up around 9 a.m. ET with Chris Gotterup, Sam Burns and Adam Scott at 9:31 a.m. and then heavy hitters Cameron Young, Wyndham Clark and Ludivg Åberg at 10:04 a.m. They'll be followed by the marquee group of the later tee times when Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele and Matt Fitzpatrick tee off at 10:15 a.m.
Below you can find the complete schedule of tee times and groupings for Thursday's first round at Royal Birkdale.
2026 Open Championship tee times, Thursday pairings
All times Eastern
1:35 a.m. -- Matthew Baldwin, Thomas Detry, James Nicholas
1:46 a.m. -- Michael Kim, Daniel Hillier, Andy Sullivan
1:57 a.m. -- Ryan Fox, Andrew Novak, Matthew Jordan
2:08 a.m. -- Henrik Stenson, Max Homa, Joe Dean
2:19 a.m. -- Robert MacIntyre, Rickie Fowler, Alex Fitzpatrick
2:30 a.m. -- David Duval, Martin Couvra, Matthew Southgate
2:41 a.m. -- Sungjae Im, Daniel Brown, Fifa Laopakdee (a)
2:52 a.m. -- Gary Woodland, Jake Knapp, Jordan Smith
3:03 a.m. -- Francesco Molinari, Tom McKibbin, Lev Grinberg (a)
3:14 a.m. -- Hennie Du Plessis, Jose Luis Ballester, Dan Bradbury
3:25 a.m. -- Angel Ayora, Victor Perez, Mateo Pulcini (a)
3:36 a.m. -- Stewart Cink, Scott Vincent, Joakim Lagergren
3:47 a.m. -- Michael Thorbjornsen, Kota Kaneko, Travis Smyth
4:03 a.m. -- Alex Smalley, Sam Stevens, Ryo Hisatsune
4:14 a.m. -- Akshay Bhatia, Harris English, Rasmus Højgaard
4:25 a.m. -- Ben Griffin, Hideki Matsuyama, Min Woo Lee
4:36 a.m. -- Russell Henley, Justin Rose, Viktor Hovland
4:47 a.m. -- Justin Thomas, Alex Noren, Jason Day
4:58 a.m. -- Scottie Scheffler, Tyrrell Hatton, Bryson DeChambeau
5:09 a.m. -- Jordan Spieth, Tommy Fleetwood, Jon Rahm
5:20 a.m. -- Brian Harman, Si Woo Kim, Nick Taylor
5:31 a.m. -- Ryan Gerard, Maverick McNealy, David Puig
5:42 a.m. -- Kazuma Kobori, Tom Sloman, David Howard (a)
5:53 a.m. -- Antoine Rozner, Ren Yonexawa, Caleb Surratt
6:04 a.m. -- M.J. Daffue, Frederic Lacroix, Jack McDonald
6:15 a.m. -- Jeongwoo Ham, Ryutaro Nagano, Alejandro De Castro Piera (a)
6:41 a.m. -- John Parry, Eric Cole, Tiger Christensen
6:52 a.m. -- Eugenio Chacarra, Matt Wallace, Max Greyserman
7:03 a.m. -- Michael Brennan, Sahith Theegala, Laurie Canter
7:14 a.m. -- Cameron Smith, Keith Mitchell, Stuart Grehan (a)
7:25 a.m. -- Sepp Straka Joaquin Niemann, Kurt Kitayama
7:36 a.m. -- Sami Valimaki, Shaun Norris, Jackson Suber
7:47 a.m. -- Darren Clarke, Adrien Saddier, Bernd Wiesberger
7:58 a.m. -- Keegan Bradley, Corey Conners, Casey Jarvis
8:09 a.m. -- Matt McCarty, Harry Hall, Haotong Li
8:20 a.m. -- Padraig Harrington, Marco Penge, Michael Hollick
8:31 a.m. -- Tom Kim, Billy Horschel, Mason Howell (a)
8:42 a.m. -- Johnny Keefer, Pierceson Coody, Keita Nakajima
8:53 a.m. -- Louis Oosthuizen, Jesper Svensson, Jack Buchanan (a)
9:09 a.m. -- Bud Cauley, Jayden Schaper, Lucas Herbert
9:20 a.m. -- Kristoffer Reitan, Patrick Reed, J.T. Poston
9:31 a.m. -- Chris Gotterup, Sam Burns, Adam Scott
9:42 a.m. -- Collin Morikawa, J.J. Spaun, Nicolai Højgaard
9:53 a.m. -- Shane Lowry, Aaron Rai, Brooks Koepka
10:04 a.m. -- Cameron Young, Wyndham Clark, Ludivg Åberg
10:15 a.m. -- Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Matt Fitzpatrick
10:26 a.m. -- Jacob Bridgeman, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, Tim Wiedemeyer (a)
10:37 a.m. -- Patrick Cantlay, Daniel Berger, Nico Echavarria
10:48 a.m. -- Peter Uihlein, Alistair Docherty, Francesco LaPorta
10:59 a.m. -- Cameron John, Austen Truslow, Sam Bairstow
11:10 a.m. -- Naoyuki Kataoka, Marcus Plunkett, Baard Skogen
11:21 a.m. -- Kazuki Higa, Jiho Yang, Nevill Ruiter (a)
