Tiger Woods among late starters as tee times for The Open announced
American made to wait as he looks to add to his 14 Major titles, the last of which came more than a decade ago
TIGER WOODS is among the late starters at Carnoustie in the 147th Open first round as he makes his first appearance in the event since 2015.
The 14-time Major-winner, 42, is due to tee off at 3:21pm on Tuesday, alongside Hideki Matsuyama of Japan and Scotland’s Russell Knox.
It is now more than a decade since the last of Woods’ Major triumphs, the 2008 US Open, but despite missing every Major in 2016 and 2017, he has climbed back to 71st in the world.
Woods and his course partners are the 46th of 52 trios to begin their rounds.
Defending Open champion Jordan Spieth will take his first swing in anger more than five hours before Woods at 9:58am, flanked by world No 3 Justin Rose and Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat.
First to hit the tee is Sandy Lyle, a Claret Jug winner in 1985, playing alongside Martin Kaymer and Andy Sullivan and getting underway at 6:35am.
The 147th Open first round tee times in full:
* indicates amateur
0635 Sandy Lyle (Sco), Martin Kaymer (Ger), Andy Sullivan (Eng)
0646 Erik Van Rooyen (Rsa), Brady Schnell (USA), Matthew Southgate (Eng)
0657 Danny Willett (Eng), Emiliano Grillo (Arg), Luke List (USA)
0708 Mark Calcavecchia (USA), Danthai Boonma (Tha), Shaun Norris (Rsa)
0719 Kevin Chappell (USA), Oliver Wilson (Eng), Eddie Pepperell (Eng)
0730 Ross Fisher (Eng), Paul Dunne (Ire), Austin Cook (USA)
0741 Tyrrell Hatton (Eng), Patrick Cantlay (USA), Shane Lowry (Ire)
0752 Thomas Pieters (Bel), Kevin Kisner (USA), Marcus Kinhult (Swe)
0803 Phil Mickelson (USA), Satoshi Kodaira (Jpn), Rafa Cabrera Bello (Esp)
0814 Brian Harman (USA), Yuta Ikeda (Jpn), Andrew Landry (USA)
0825 Si Woo Kim (Kor), Webb Simpson (USA), *Nicolai Hojgaard (Den)
0836 Stewart Cink (USA), Brandon Stone (Rsa), Hideto Tanihara (Jpn)
0847 Gary Woodland (USA), Yusaku Miyazato (Jpn), Sung Kang (Kor)
0903 Ernie Els (Rsa), Adam Hadwin (Can), Chesson Hadley (USA)
0914 Pat Perez (USA), Julian Suri (USA), George Coetzee (Rsa)
0925 David Duval (USA), Scott Jamieson (Sco), Kevin Na (USA)
0936 Darren Clarke (NIr), Bernhard Langer (Ger), Retief Goosen (Rsa)
0947 Matt Kuchar (USA), Anirban Lahiri (Ind), Peter Uihlein (USA)
0958 Jordan Spieth (USA), Justin Rose (Eng), Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha)
1009 Jon Rahm (Esp), Rickie Fowler (USA), Chris Wood (Eng)
1020 Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa), Paul Casey (Eng), Patrick Reed (USA)
1031 Tony Finau (USA), Xander Schauffele (USA), Jhonattan Vegas (Ven)
1042 *Yuxin Lin (Chn), Alexander Bjork (Swe), Hyun Sang (Kor)
1053 James Robinson (Eng), Haraldur Magnus (Icl), Zander Lombard (Rsa)
1104 Kodai Ichihara (Jpn), Rhys Enoch (Wal), Marcus Armitage (Eng)
1115 Sean Crocker (USA), Gavin Green (Mal), Ash Turner (Eng)
1136 Brandt Snedeker (USA), *Sam Locke (Sco), Cameron Davis (Aus)
1147 Patton Kizzire (USA), Jonas Blixt (Swe), Charles Howell III (USA)
1158 Charl Schwartzel (Rsa), Daniel Berger (USA), Tom Lewis (Eng)
1209 Alex Levy (Fra), Ryan Moore (USA), Byeong Hun An (Kor)
1220 Michael Hendry (Nzl), Kelly Kraft (USA), Lee Westwood (Eng)
1231 Henrik Stenson (Swe), Tommy Fleetwood (Eng), Jimmy Walker (USA)
1242 Matt Fitzpatrick (Eng), Russell Henley (USA), *Jovan Rebula (Rsa)
1253 Rory McIlroy (NIr), Marc Leishman (Aus), Thorbjorn Olesen (Den)
1304 Dustin Johnson (USA), Alex Noren (Swe), 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), Li Haotong (Chn)
1348 Todd Hamilton (USA), Beau Hossler (USA), Jorge Campillo (Esp)
1404 Ryuko Tokimatsu (Jpn), Chez Reavie (USA), Michael Kim (USA)
1415 Kyle Stanley (USA), Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel), Jens Dantorp (Swe)
1426 Tom Lehman (USA), Dylan Frittelli (Rsa), Grant Forrest (Sco)
1437 Lucas Herbert (Aus), Min Chel Choi (Kor), Jason Kokrak (USA)
1438 Padraig Harrington (Ire), Bubba Watson (USA), Matt Wallace (Eng)
1459 Ian Poulter (Eng), Cameron Smith (Aus), Brooks Koepka (USA)
1510 Sergio Garcia (Esp), Bryson DeChambeau (USA), Shubhankar Sharma (Ind)
1521 Tiger Woods (USA), Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn), Russell Knox (Sco)
1532 Jason Dufner (USA), Ryan Fox (Nzl), Keegan Bradley (USA)
1543 Ryan Armour (USA), Abraham Ancer (Mex), Masahiro Kawamura (Jpn)
1554 Jazz Janewattananond (Tha), Fabrizio Zanotti (Par), Jordan Smith (Eng)
1605 Brett Rumford (Aus), Masanori Kobayashi (Jpn), Jack Senior (Eng)
1616 Matt Jones (Aus), Thomas Curtis (Eng), Bronson Burgoon (USA)
Rory McIlroy is set to go at 12:53pm, as he looks for a first Major since the 2014 PGA Championship, while world No 1 Dustin Johnson will go in the next trio 11 minutes later.
Elsewhere, world No 2 Justin Thomas finds himself paired with Francesco Molinari, with the Italian fresh off two wins and two second-place finishes in his last five events.
Brooks Koepka, last month’s US Open winner, lines up alongside English Ryder Cup hero Ian Poulter and Australia’s Cameron Smith at 2:59pm.
Golfing history will be made shortly before 11am when Haraldur Magnus, who is still yet to make his European Tour debut, becomes the first Icelandic man to play in a Major.
The Open is making its seventh appearance at Carnoustie and first since 2007, with that day’s winner Padraig Harrington going out at 2:38pm alongside Bubba Watson and Englishman Matt Wallace.
Speaking ahead of the tournament, Woods, a three-time Open champion, said: “Coming here to Carnoustie, it is special.
“This is my fourth time playing it as a tournament. From my first time coming here as an amateur to being back now, it’s just amazing how this course doesn’t change.
“It is right in front of you, it is hard, it’s probably the most difficult one we play in the whole rotation.”
World No 6 Spieth, 24, raised the prospect of a wide open tournament before heading out onto the greens, which have taken the brunt of the recent heatwave.
He said: “I talked to a couple of my friends and they said it’s extremely baked out. I’m not sure what my strategy will be yet, I’m sure it will be up there with the firmest conditions I’ve ever seen.
“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 Thursday or Friday, which is always disappointing.
“But it looks to be a normal one this year and you’ll see guys playing this golf course very differently. You’ll see a lot of different strategies.”
