British Open tee-times: Spieth begins defence alongside Rose

McIlroy grouped with Olesen and Leishman, Harrington tees off with Bubba Watson

Jordan Spieth will begin his British Open defence alongside Justin Rose and Thailand's Kiradech Aphibarnrat at 9.58am on Thursday.

Spieth earned his third Major at Royal Birkdale last year, winning by three shots from compatriot Matt Kuchar.

Amd he is relishing the challenge posed by hard and fast conditions as he looks to become the first back-to-back winner of the Open for a decade.

Spieth gave his pre-event press conference before getting a first-hand look at Carnoustie, but has already heard plenty about the shape of the course from fellow competitors and caddie Michael Greller.

READ MORE

“I haven’t played one hole yet,” Spieth said. “I talked to a couple of my friends and they said it’s extremely baked out. Michael said you might wear out your four or five irons off the tee, a couple of longer hitters might take driver more because I don’t think the rough is that bad.”

Asked if he relished the challenge, Spieth added: “Absolutely. I love links golf, I very much enjoy coming over here.

“The firmest might have been the Open at Muirfield [in 2013], the weather was perfect that week and it baked out but there wasn’t much wind.

“Hopefully we get a pretty even draw; that’s the one thing the Open can bring, you can eliminate half the field with one afternoon of bad weather which is disappointing if you are on the wrong side.”

Rory McIlroy meanwhile heads to Carnoustie looking to end a four-year Major drought - he tees off alongside Marc Leishman and Thorbjørn Olesen (12.35pm).

Tiger Woods is making his first British appearance since 2015, when he missed the cut. The three-time winner has been grouped with home favourite Russell Knox and Japan's Hideki Matsuyama (3.21pm).

Elsewhere Paul Dunne tees off alongside Ross Fisher and the USA's Austin Cook (7.30am), with Shane Lowry in the following group along with Patrick Cantlay and Tyrrell Hatton (7.41am).

Darren Clarke will be looking to roll back the years with Bernhard Langer and Retief Goosen (9.36am), while two-time winner Padraig Harrington is joined by Bubba Watson and Matt Wallace (2.48pm).

British Open first round tee-times:

0635 Martin Kaymer (Ger), Sandy Lyle, Andy Sullivan
0646 Erik Van Rooyen (Rsa), Brady Schnell (USA), Matthew Southgate
0657 Danny Willett, Emiliano Grillo (Arg), Luke List (USA)
0708 Danthai Boonma (Tha), Mark Calcavecchia (USA), Shaun Norris (Rsa)
0719 Kevin Chappell (USA), Oliver Wilson, Eddie Pepperell
0730 Paul Dunne, Ross Fisher, Austin Cook (USA)
0741 Patrick Cantlay (USA), Tyrrell Hatton, Shane Lowry
0752 Thomas Pieters (Bel), Kevin Kisner (USA), Marcus Kinhult (Swe)
0803 Satoshi Kodaira (Jpn), Phil Mickelson (USA), Rafael Cabrera-Bello (Esp)
0814 Brian Harman (USA), Yuta Ikeda (Jpn), Andrew Landry (USA)
0825 Si Woo Kim (Kor), Webb Simpson (USA), Nicolai Hojgaard (a) (Den)
0836 Stewart Cink (USA), Brandon Stone (Rsa), Hideto Tanihara (Jpn)
0847 Gary Woodland (USA), Yusaku Miyazato (Jpn), Sung Kang (Kor)
0903 Adam Hadwin (Can), Ernie Els (Rsa), Chesson Hadley (USA)
0914 Pat Perez (USA), Julian Suri (USA), George Coetzee (Rsa)
0925 David Duval (USA), Scott Jamieson, Kevin Na (USA)
0936 Bernhard Langer (Ger), Darren Clarke, Retief Goosen (Rsa)
0947 Matt Kuchar (USA), Anirban Lahiri (Ind), Peter Uihlein (USA)
0958 Justin Rose, Jordan Spieth (USA), Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha)
1009 Rickie Fowler (USA), Jon Rahm (Esp), Chris Wood
1020 Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa), Paul Casey, Patrick Reed (USA)
1031 Xander Schauffele (USA), Tony Finau (USA), Jhonattan Vegas (Ven)
1042 Yuxin Lin (a) (Chn), Alexander Bjork (Swe), Sang Hyun Park (Kor)
1053 James Robinson, Haraldur Magnus (Isl), Zander Lombard (Rsa)
1104 Kodai Ichihara (Jpn), Rhys Enoch, Marcus Armitage
1115 Gavin Green (Mal), Sean Crocker (USA), Ash Turner
1136 Sam Locke (a), Brandt Snedeker (USA), Cameron Davis (Aus)
1147 Patton Kizzire (USA), Jonas Blixt (Swe), Charles Howell III (USA)
1158 Charl Schwartzel (Rsa), Daniel Berger (USA), Tom Lewis
1209 Ryan Moore (USA), Alexander Levy (Fra), Byeong-Hun An (Kor)
1220 Michael Hendry (Nzl), Kelly Kraft (USA), Lee Westwood
1231 Tommy Fleetwood, Henrik Stenson (Swe), Jimmy Walker (USA)
1242 Russell Henley (USA), Matthew Fitzpatrick, (a) Jovan Rebula (Rsa)
1253 Rory McIlroy, Marc Leishman (Aus), Thorbjorn Olesen (Den)
1304 Alex Noren (Swe), Dustin Johnson (USA), Charley Hoffman (USA)
1315 Zach Johnson (USA), Adam Scott (Aus), Brendan Steele (USA)
1326 Justin Thomas (USA), Francesco Molinari (Ita), Branden Grace (Rsa)
1337 Jason Day (Aus), Shota Akiyoshi (Jpn), Haotong Li (Chn)
1348 Beau Hossler (USA), Todd Hamilton (USA), Jorge Campillo (Esp)
1404 Chez Reavie (USA), Ryuko Tokimatsu (Jpn), Michael Kim (USA)
1415 Kyle Stanley (USA), Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel), Jens Dantorp (Swe)
1426 Dylan Frittelli (Rsa), Tom Lehman (USA), Grant Forrest
1437 Lucas Herbert (Aus), Jason Kokrak (USA), Min Chel Choi (Kor)
1448 Pádraig Harrington, Matt Wallace, Bubba Watson (USA)
1459 Cameron Smith (Aus), Brooks Koepka (USA), Ian Poulter
1510 Sergio Garcia (Esp), Shubhankar Sharma (Ind), Bryson DeChambeau (USA)
1521 Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn), Russell Knox, Tiger Woods (USA)
1532 Jason Dufner (USA), Keegan Bradley (USA), Ryan Fox (Nzl)
1543 Abraham Ancer (Mex), Masahiro Kawamura (Jpn), Ryan Armour (USA)
1554 Jazz Janewattananond (Tha), Fabrizio Zanotti (Pry), Jordan Smith
1605 Masanori Kobayashi (Jpn), Jack Senior, Brett Rumford (Aus)
1616 Thomas Curtis, Bronson Burgoon (USA), Matt Jones (Aus)

Second round tee-times:

0635 Sam Locke (a), Brandt Snedeker (USA), Cameron Davis (Aus)
0646 Patton Kizzire (USA), Jonas Blixt (Swe), Charles Howell III (USA)
0657 Charl Schwartzel (Rsa), Daniel Berger (USA), Tom Lewis
0708 Ryan Moore (USA), Alexander Levy (Fra), Byeong-Hun An (Kor)
0719 Michael Hendry (Nzl), Kelly Kraft (USA), Lee Westwood
0730 Tommy Fleetwood, Henrik Stenson (Swe), Jimmy Walker (USA)
0741 Russell Henley (USA), Matthew Fitzpatrick, (a) Jovan Rebula (Rsa)
0752 Rory McIlroy, Marc Leishman (Aus), Thorbjorn Olesen (Den)
0803 Alex Noren (Swe), Dustin Johnson (USA), Charley Hoffman (USA)
0814 Zach Johnson (USA), Adam Scott (Aus), Brendan Steele (USA)
0825 Justin Thomas (USA), Francesco Molinari (Ita), Branden Grace (Rsa)
0836 Jason Day (Aus), Shota Akiyoshi (Jpn), Haotong Li (Chn)
0847 Todd Hamilton (USA), Beau Hossler (USA), Jorge Campillo (Esp)
0903 Chez Reavie (USA), Ryuko Tokimatsu (Jpn), Michael Kim (USA)
0914 Kyle Stanley (USA), Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel), Jens Dantorp (Swe)
0925 Tom Lehman (USA), Dylan Frittelli (Rsa), Grant Forrest
0936 Min Chel Choi (Kor), Lucas Herbert (Aus), Jason Kokrak (USA)
0947 Pádraig Harrington, Bubba Watson (USA), Matt Wallace
0958 Cameron Smith (Aus), Ian Poulter, Brooks Koepka (USA)
1009 Bryson DeChambeau (USA), Sergio Garcia (Esp), Shubhankar Sharma (Ind)
1020 Tiger Woods (USA), Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn), Russell Knox
1031 Ryan Fox (Nzl), Jason Dufner (USA), Keegan Bradley (USA)
1042 Ryan Armour (USA), Abraham Ancer (Mex), Masahiro Kawamura (Jpn)
1053 Jazz Janewattananond (Tha), Fabrizio Zanotti (Pry), Jordan Smith
1104 Brett Rumford (Aus), Masanori Kobayashi (Jpn), Jack Senior
1115 Thomas Curtis, Matt Jones (Aus), Bronson Burgoon (USA)
1136 Martin Kaymer (Ger), Sandy Lyle, Andy Sullivan
1147 Erik Van Rooyen (Rsa), Brady Schnell (USA), Matthew Southgate
1158 Danny Willett, Emiliano Grillo (Arg), Luke List (USA)
1209 Danthai Boonma (Tha), Mark Calcavecchia (USA), Shaun Norris (Rsa)
1220 Kevin Chappell (USA), Oliver Wilson, Eddie Pepperell
1231 Paul Dunne, Ross Fisher, Austin Cook (USA)
1242 Patrick Cantlay (USA), Tyrrell Hatton, Shane Lowry
1253 Thomas Pieters (Bel), Kevin Kisner (USA), Marcus Kinhult (Swe)
1304 Satoshi Kodaira (Jpn), Phil Mickelson (USA), Rafael Cabrera-Bello (Esp)
1315 Brian Harman (USA), Yuta Ikeda (Jpn), Andrew Landry (USA)
1326 Si Woo Kim (Kor), Webb Simpson (USA), Nicolai Hojgaard (a) (Den)
1337 Stewart Cink (USA), Brandon Stone (Rsa), Hideto Tanihara (Jpn)
1348 Yusaku Miyazato (Jpn), Gary Woodland (USA), Sung Kang (Kor)
1404 Adam Hadwin (Can), Ernie Els (Rsa), Chesson Hadley (USA)
1415 Pat Perez (USA), Julian Suri (USA), George Coetzee (Rsa)
1426 Scott Jamieson, David Duval (USA), Kevin Na (USA)
1437 Darren Clarke, Bernhard Langer (Ger), Retief Goosen (Rsa)
1448 Matt Kuchar (USA), Anirban Lahiri (Ind), Peter Uihlein (USA)
1459 Jordan Spieth (USA), Justin Rose, Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha)
1510 Jon Rahm (Esp), Rickie Fowler (USA), Chris Wood
1521 Paul Casey, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa), Patrick Reed (USA)
1532 Tony Finau (USA), Xander Schauffele (USA), Jhonattan Vegas (Ven)
1543 Alexander Bjork (Swe), Yuxin Lin (a) (Chn), Sang Hyun Park (Kor)
1554 James Robinson, Haraldur Magnus (Isl), Zander Lombard (Rsa)
1605 Kodai Ichihara (Jpn), Rhys Enoch, Marcus Armitage
1616 Sean Crocker (USA), Gavin Green (Mal), Ash Turner