McIlroy paired with rising stars

Rory McIlroy will get his Open Championship bid under way at Royal Liverpool on Thursday as the elder statesman in group containing rising stars Jordan Spieth and Hideki Matsuyama.

Yesterday’s draw for the opening two rounds has thrown together 25-year-old McIlroy, Ireland’s two-time Major winner, with younger guns Matsuyama, 22, and 20-year-old Spieth, their combined age just two years older than five-time champion Tom Watson, whose most recent win came in 1983, almost six years before McIlroy was born.

Japan’s Matsuyama, who won the Memorial Tournament in May, and American Spieth, this year’s Masters runner-up, will tee off their first round with McIlroy at 9.26am on Thursday, with a 2.27pm second round tee time when the Irishman will hope to have banished his Friday horrors following a 78 on day two of the Scottish Open last week.