Tee times: Shane Lowry paired with world No.1 Scottie Scheffler at 2025 Open

McIlroy goes out with two-time US PGA champion Justin Thomas and England’s Tommy Fleetwood completing the trio.

Shane Lowry on the 4th hole. Pic: Ben Brady/Inpho

Rory McIlroy may be the best shot of an Irish winner at this week’s Open Championship but Shane Lowry has been handed the more eye-catching group for the opening two days at the Antrim coast venue.

Lowry will tee off at 10.09am on Thursday and he will have world No.1 and three-time major winner Scottie Scheffler and two-time major champion Collin Morikawa for company as he attempts to repeat his Open success here six years ago.

McIlroy goes out much later in the day with two-time US PGA champion Justin Thomas and England’s Tommy Fleetwood completing the trio. There isn’t any doubt but that this will attract the most footfall on the first day, not least given McIlroy’s struggles here in 2019.

Padraig Harrington will hit the first shot of this 153rd Open at 6.35 in the morning. 

Northern Ireland’s Tom McKibbin, a Royal Portrush club member, and Nicolas Hojgaard will be rubbing the sleep from their eyes at the same time.

Darren Clarke, the 2011 champion who lives just down the road, gets underway at 7.52 am with David Riley of the USA and Australia’s Lucas Herbert.

The other main group of note is the 9.58 collective of reigning champion Xander Schauffele, US PGA champion JJ Spaun and two-time major champion Jon Rahm.

Thursday tee times:

6:35am Padraig Harrington, Nicolai Hojgaard, Tom McKibbin 

6:46am Louis Oosthuizen, Guido Migliozzi, KJ Choi 

6:57am Cameron Smith, Marco Penge, Justin Hastings 

7:08am Jason Day, Taylor Pendrith, Jacob Skov Olesen 

7:19am Phil Mickelson, Daniel Van Tonder, Ryan Peake 

7:30am Max Greyserman, Byeong Hun An, Niklas Norgaard 

7:41am Jordan Smith, Haotong Li, Dustin Johnson 

7:52am Darren Clarke, Davis Riley, Lucas Herbert 

8:03am Kevin Yu, Julien Guerrier, Mikiya Akutsu 

8:14am Thomas Detry, Chris Gotterup, Lee Westwood 

8:25am Patrick Cantlay, Cameron Young, Mackenzie Hughes 

8:36am Thorbjorn Olesen, Matthew Jordan, Filip Jakubik 

8:47am Henrik Stenson, Stephan Jaeger, Sebastian Soderberg 

9:03am Kristoffer Reitan, Martin Couvra, Adrien Saddier 

9:14am Takumi Kanaya, Justin Walters, Bryan Newman 

9:25am Hideki Matsuyama, Ryan Fox, Matt Fitzpatrick 

9:36am Sepp Straka, Ben Griffin, Akshay Bhatia 

9:47am Sam Burns, Aldrich Potgieter, Brooks Koepka 

9:58am Xander Schauffele, JJ Spaun, Jon Rahm 

10:09am Shane Lowry, Collin Morikawa, Scottie Scheffler 

10:20am Corey Conners, Wyndham Clark, Tom Hoge 

10:31am Denny McCarthy, Nico Echavarria, Patrick Reed 

10:42am Matti Schmid, Ryggs Johnston, Richard Teder 

10:53am Dylan Naidoo, Darren Fichardt, John Axelsen 

11:04am John Suh, Oliver Lindell, Jesper Sandborg 

11:15am Sadom Kaewkanjana, Riki Kawamoto, Sampson Zheng 

11:26am Stewart Cink, Matteo Manassero, Marc Leishman 

11:47am Francesco Molinari, Jesper Svensson, Connor Graham 

11:58am Zach Johnson, Dan Brown, Daniel Hillier 

12:09pm Adam Scott, Rickie Fowler, Ethan Fang 

12:20pm Laurie Canter, Elvis Smylie, Sergio Garcia 

12:31pm Andrew Novak, Matthieu Pavon, Matt Wallace 

12:42pm Davis Thompson, Dean Burmester, Rikuya Hoshino 

12:53pm Si Woo Kim, Shugo Imahira, Sebastian Cave 

1:04pm Michael Kim, Bud Cauley, John Parry 

1:15pm Matt McCarty, Shaun Norris, Angel Hidalgo 

1:26pm Keegan Bradley, Sungjae Im, Daniel Berger 

1:37pm Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Rasmus Hojgaard, Romain Langasque 

1:48pm Aaron Rai, Sahith Theegala, Harry Hall 

2:04pm Justin Leonard, Thriston Lawrence, Antoine Rozner 

2:15pm JT Poston, Chris Kirk, Carlos Ortiz 

2:26pm Brian Harman, Maverick McNealy, Joaquin Niemann 

2:37pm Russell Henley, Tyrrell Hatton, Min Woo Lee 

2:48pm Bob MacIntyre, Bryson DeChambeau, Justin Rose 

2:59pm Jordan Spieth, Ludvig Åberg, Viktor Hovland 

3:10pm Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas, Tommy Fleetwood 

3:21pm Harris English, Nick Taylor, Tony Finau 

3:32pm Lucas Glover, Jhonattan Vegas, Tom Kim 

3:43pm Brian Campbell, John Catlin, Frazer Jones 

3:54pm Nathan Kimsey, Jason Kokrak, Cameron Adam 

4:05pm Daniel Young, Curtis Luck, Curtis Knipes 

4:16pm Young Han Song, George Bloor, OJ Farrell