Tiger Woods will tee it up with 2010 U.S. Open winner Graeme McDowell and the 2010 British Open champ Louis Oosthuizen Thursday and Friday at Muirfield when the world No. 1 puts his wounded elbow back in play for yet another attempt to win that elusive 15th major title.
British Open 2013: Tee times and pairings for rounds 1 and 2
Rory and Phil, Rose and Els, and Bubba and DJ are among the heavy hitters who’ll play together in the first two rounds of the British Open.
Mike Ehrmann
Woods and McDowell will be forever inextricably connected beyond their grouping on the links at Muirfied. G-Mac kick-started his superstar career when he filled in for Tiger at the 2009 Chevron World Challenge following the latter’s Thanksgiving night car crash.
The marquee threesome has a prime East Coast start time on Thursday at 14:45 local time (9:45 a.m. ET), and McDowell was quick to react to the news of the pairing with the game’s most high profile star:
Paired with 2 of my favourite swings in golf @TigerWoods and @Louis57TM 1445h Thursday and 0944h Friday. Can't wait for #TheOpen to begin!
— Graeme McDowell (@Graeme_McDowell) July 15, 2013
Newly crowned Scottish Open winner Phil Mickelson draws his apparent doppelganger (according to Padraig Harrington), the world’s second-ranked but struggling Rory McIlroy, as well as Hideki Matsuyama. They’ll begin their Open Championship at 4:44 a.m.
A sprinkling of other talent-laden trios include (in order of tee times):
Sluggers Bubba Watson, Nicolas Colsaerts, and Dustin Johnson (3:44 a.m.)
Old guys Nick Faldo, Tom Watson, and Fred Couples (4 a.m.)
Your reigning U.S. Open titleholder Justin Rose, defending British champion Ernie Els, and Brandt Snedeker (4:11 a.m.)
Masters champ Adam Scott, Matt Kuchar, and former No. 1 Luke Donald (9:12 a.m.)
Those are just some of the marquee groups playing in the field of 156 at Muirfield. Here’s a full list of pairings for the first two rounds, and tee times for Thursday:
| Tee Time (ET) | Players | ||
| 1:32 a.m. | Peter Senior | Lloyd Saltman | Oliver Fisher |
| 1:43 a.m. | Robert Karlsson | Todd Hamilton | Ben Stow |
| 1:54 a.m. | Thomas Aiken | Kiradech Aphibarnrat | Bud Cauley |
| 2:05 a.m. | Mikko Ilonen | Brooks Koepka | Ashun Wu |
| 2:16 a.m. | David Duval | Bernd Wiesberger | Chris Wood |
| 2:27 a.m. | Scott Stallings | Stewart Cink | Richard McEvoy |
| 2:38 a.m. | K.J. Choi | Miguel Angel Jimenez | Jimmy Walker |
| 2:49 a.m. | Ben Curtis | Shane Lowry | Rafael Cabrera-Bello |
| 3:00 a.m. | Jonas Blixt | Brian Davis | Graham DeLaet |
| 3:11 a.m. | Robert Garrigus | John Senden | Marc Warren |
| 3:22 a.m. | Martin Kaymer | Garrick Porteous | Jason Day |
| 3:33 a.m. | Carl Pettersson | Jason Dufner | David Lynn |
| 3:44 a.m. | Bubba Watson | Nicolas Colsaerts | Dustin Johnson |
| 4:00 a.m. | Nick Faldo | Tom Watson | Fred Couples |
| 4:11 a.m. | Justin Rose | Ernie Els | Brandt Snedeker |
| 4:22 a.m. | Ian Poulter | Keegan Bradley | Billy Horschel |
| 4:33 a.m. | Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano | Richard Sterne | Nick Watney |
| 4:44 a.m. | Rory McIlroy | Hideki Matsuyama | Phil Mickelson |
| 4:55 a.m. | Scott Piercy | Tim Clark | Kevin Streelman |
| 5:06 a.m. | Zach Johnson | Shingo Katayama | Thomas Bjorn |
| 5:17 a.m. | Angel Cabrera | Camilo Villegas | Tano Goya |
| 5:28 a.m. | George Coetzee | Ken Duke | Mark Calcavecchia |
| 5:39 a.m. | John Huh | Brendan Jones | Hyuang-Sung Kim |
| 5:50 a.m. | Josh Teater | Steven Tiley | Jimmy Mullen |
| 6:01 a.m. | K.T. Kim | Steven Jeffress | Luke Guthrie |
| 6:12 a.m. | John Wade | Gareth Wright | Makoto Inque |
| 6:33 a.m. | Danny Willett | Y.E. Yang | Johnson Wagner |
| 6:44 a.m. | Thaworn Wiratchant | Lucas Glover | Oscar Floren |
| 6:55 a.m. | Boo Weekley | Sandy Lyle | Niclas Fasth |
| 7:06 a.m. | Marcus Fraser | Grant Forrest | Mark O'Meara |
| 7:17 a.m. | Tom Lehman | Thongchai Jaidee | Fredrik Jacobson |
| 7:28 a.m. | Justin Leonard | Rhys Pugh | Marc Leishman |
| 7:39 a.m. | Alvaro Quiros | Kyle Stanley | Alexander Noren |
| 7:50 a.m. | Russell Henley | Jordan Spieth | Matthew Fitzpatrick |
| 8:01 a.m. | Padraig Harrington | Michael Thompson | Richie Ramsay |
| 8:12 a.m. | Vijay Singh | Darren Clarke | Martin Laird |
| 8:23 a.m. | Ryan Moore | Henrik Stenson | Steven Fox |
| 8:34 a.m. | Thorbjorn Olesen | Jim Furyk | Paul Lawrie |
| 8:45 a.m. | Geoff Ogilvy | Harris English | Stephen Gallacher |
| 9:01 a.m. | Lee Westwood | Charl Schwartzel | Sergio Garcia |
| 9:12 a.m. | Adam Scott | Matt Kuchar | Luke Donald |
| 9:23 a.m. | Rickie Fowler | Matteo Manassero | Hunter Mahan |
| 9:34 a.m. | Peter Hanson | Hiroyuki Fujita | Bill Haas |
| 9:45 a.m. | Tiger Woods | Graeme McDowell | Louis Oosthuizen |
| 9:56 a.m. | Webb Simpson | Branden Grace | Jamie Donaldson |
| 10:07 a.m. | Francesco Molinari | Toru Taniguchi | Bo Van Pelt |
| 10:18 a.m. | D.A. Points | Brett Rumford | Marcel Siem |
| 10:29 a.m. | George Murray | Mark Brown | Justin Harding |
| 10:40 a.m. | Gregory Bourdy | Scott Jamieson | Shiv Kapur |
| 10:51 a.m. | Scott Brown | Satoshi Kodaira | Gareth Maybin |
| 11:02 a.m. | Tyrrell Hatton | Eduardo De la Riva | Kenichi Kuboya |
| 11:13 a.m. | Stephen Dartnall | Darryn Lloyd | Daisuke Maruyama |
More golf from SB Nation:
See More:
