The British Open is back at Carnoustie for the first time since 2007 and the eighth time in the event’s history. It’s arguably the toughest venue on the rota, and has produced some incredible finishes in the past, none more famous than the wild ending to the 1999 Open, when Jean van de Velde collapsed at the 72nd hole, blowing a three-stroke lead and losing in a playoff to Paul Lawrie.
This year’s event should be a special one once again, thanks to an always-stout field ready to face the unique challenges links golf presents. The way-too-early forecast calls for temperatures about 20 degrees Celsius and rain on all four days, plus 15-25km/h winds. That could obviously change, but chances are the weather will come into play at some point in all four rounds.
The 2018 Open Championship is certainly not short on storylines, starting with Tiger Woods, who returns to the event for the first time since he missed the cut at St Andrews in 2015. The three-time Open champion continues to get closer to an 80th career victory, and there’d be few better places to do it than Carnoustie for what could be his 15th Major title. According to our latest ranking, Woods is 25/1 to end his decade-long Major drought. In his two Open appearances at Carnoustie, he’s finished T-7 and T-12.
Then there’s Jordan Spieth, the reigning Champion Golfer of the Year whose struggles on the greens have been well-documented this season. He’ll need a Birkdale back nine-like turnaround at Carnoustie to win back-to-back. Dustin Johnson will also need a similar turnaround coming off his rough weekend in the US Open at Shinnecock, an event he appeared to have wrapped up on Friday. Brooks Koepka, who claimed his second straight US Open title, will be making his second start since Shinnecock, and looks to continue to build on his impressive résumé in The Open. In his past two starts in the event, he’s finished T-6 and T-10.
Here are the tee-times for Thursday’s opening round and Friday’s second round.
All times local, add 9 hours for AEST or 7 hours for AWST; Australians shown in CAPITALS
6:35 a.m./11:36 a.m.
Sandy Lyle
Martin Kaymer
Andy Sullivan
6:46 a.m./11:47 a.m.
Erik Van Rooyen
Brady Schnell
Matthew Southgate
6:57 a.m./11:58 a.m.
Danny Willett
Emiliano Grillo
Luke List
7:08 a.m./12:09 p.m.
Mark Calcavecchia
Danthai Boonma
Shaun Norris
7:19 a.m./12:20 p.m.
Kevin Chappell
Oliver Wilson
Eddie Pepperell
7:30 a.m./12:31 p.m.
Ross Fisher
Paul Dunne
Austin Cook
7:41 a.m./12:42 p.m.
Tyrrell Hatton
Patrick Cantlay
Shane Lowry
7:52 a.m./12:53 p.m.
Thomas Pieters
Kevin Kisner
Marcus Kinhult
8:03 a.m./1:04 p.m.
Phil Mickelson
Satoshi Kodaira
Rafa Cabrera Bello
8:14 a.m./1:15 p.m.
Brian Harman
Yuta Ikeda
Andrew Landry
8:25 a.m./1:26 p.m.
Si Woo Kim
Webb Simpson
(a) Nicolai Hojgaard
8:36 a.m./1:37 p.m.
Stewart Cink
Brandon Stone
Hideto Tanihara
8:47 a.m./1:48 p.m.
Gary Woodland
Yusaki Miyazato
Sung Kang
9:03 a.m./2:04 p.m.
Ernie Els
Adam Hadwin
Chesson Hadley
9:14 a.m./2:15 p.m.
Pat Perez
Julian Suri
George Coetzee
9:25 a.m./2:26 p.m.
David Duval
Scott Jamieson
Kevin Na
9:36 a.m./2:37 p.m.
Darren Clarke
Bernhard Langer
Retief Goosen
9:47 a.m./2:48 p.m.
Matt Kuchar
Anirban Lahiri
Peter Uihlein
9:58 a.m./2:59 p.m.
Jordan Spieth
Justin Rose
Kiradech Aphibarnrat
10:09 a.m./3:10 p.m.
Jon Rahm
Rickie Fowler
Chris Wood
10:20 a.m./3:21 p.m.
Louis Oosthuizen
Paul Casey
Patrick Reed
10:31 a.m./3:32 p.m.
Tony Finau
Xander Schauffele
Jhonattan Vegas
10:42 a.m./3:43 p.m.
(a) Yuxin Lin
Alexander Bjork
Sang Hyun Park
10:53 a.m./3:54 p.m.
James Robinson
Haraldur Magnus
Zander Lombard
11:04 a.m./4:05 p.m.
Kodai Ichihara
Rhys Enoch
Marcus Armitage
11:15 a.m./4:16 p.m.
Sean Crocker
Gavin Green
Ash Turner
11:36 a.m./6:35 a.m.
Brandt Snedeker
(a) Sam Locke
CAMERON DAVIS
11:47 a.m./6:46 a.m.
Patton Kizzire
Jonas Blixt
Charles Howell III
11:58 a.m./6:57 a.m.
Charl Schwartzel
Daniel Berger
Tom Lewis
12:09 p.m./7:08 a.m.
Alex Levy
Ryan Moore
Byeong Hun An
12:20 p.m./7:19 a.m.
Michael Hendry
Kelly Kraft
Lee Westwood
12:31 p.m./7:30 a.m.
Henrik Stenson
Tommy Fleetwood
Jimmy Walker
12:42 p.m./7:41 a.m.
Matthew Fitzpatrick
Russell Henley
(a) Jovan Rebula
12:53 p.m/7:52 a.m.
Rory McIlroy
MARC LEISHMAN
Thorbjorn Olesen
1:04 p.m./8:03 a.m.
Dustin Johnson
Alex Noren
Charley Hoffman
1:15 p.m./8:14 a.m.
Zach Johnson
ADAM SCOTT
Brendan Steele
1:26 p.m./8:25 a.m.
Justin Thomas
Francesco Molinari
Branden Grace
1:37 p.m./8:36 a.m.
JASON DAY
Shota Akiyoshi
Haotong Li
1:48 p.m./8:47 a.m.
Todd Hamilton
Beau Hossler
Jorge Campillo
2:04 p.m./9:03 a.m.
Ryuko Tokimatsu
Chez Reavie
Michael Kim
2:15 p.m./9:14 a.m.
Kyle Stanley
Nicolas Colsaerts
Jens Dantorp
2:26 p.m./9:25 a.m.
Tom Lehman
Dylan Frittelli
Grant Forrest
2:37 p.m./9:36 a.m.
LUCAS HERBERT
Min Chel Choi
Jason Kokrak
2:48 p.m./9:47 a.m.
Padraig Harrington
Bubba Watson
Matt Wallace
2:59 p.m./9:58 a.m.
Ian Poulter
CAMERON SMITH
Brooks Koepka
3:10 p.m/10:09 a.m.
Sergio Garcia
Bryson DeChambeau
Shubhankar Sharma
3:21 p.m./10:20 a.m.
Tiger Woods
Hideki Matsuyama
Russell Knox
3:32 p.m./10:31 a.m.
Jason Dufner
Ryan Fox
Keegan Bradley
3:43 p.m./10:42 a.m.
Ryan Armour
Abraham Ancer
Masahiro Kawamura
3:54 p.m./10:53 a.m.
Jazz Janewattananond
Fabrizio Zanotti
Jordan Smith
4:05 p.m./11:04 a.m.
BRETT RUMFORD
Masanori Kobayashi
Jack Senior
4:16 p.m./11:15 a.m.
MATT JONES
Thomas Curtis
Bronson Burgoon
