The 2026 Open Championship is set to take place at the prestigious Royal Birkdale course in England, marking one of the final major championships for the world’s top golfers this season. A total of 156 golfers will compete for the coveted title of Champion Golfer of the Year and the iconic Claret Jug.

Tee Times and Pairings for Round 1

The first group to tee off at 1:35 a.m. ET will feature Matthew Baldwin, Thomas Detry, and James Nicholas, setting the stage for an exciting week of golf. The early morning hours will see a series of groups tee off, including notable pairings such as Robert MacIntyre, Rickie Fowler, and Alex Fitzpatrick at 2:19 a.m. ET, and Scottie Scheffler, Tyrrell Hatton, and Bryson DeChambeau at 4:58 a.m. ET.

Other notable groups will include Jordan Spieth, Tommy Fleetwood, and Jon Rahm, who will tee off at 5:09 a.m. ET, and Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, and Matt Fitzpatrick, who will start at 10:15 a.m. ET.

The complete schedule of tee times and pairings for Round 1 at Royal Birkdale can be found below.

2026 Open Championship Tee Times, Thursday Pairings

All times Eastern

• 1:35 a.m. — Matthew Baldwin, Thomas Detry, James Nicholas
• 1:46 a.m. — Michael Kim, Daniel Hillier, Andy Sullivan
• 1:57 a.m. — Ryan Fox, Andrew Novak, Matthew Jordan
• 2:08 a.m. — Henrik Stenson, Max Homa, Joe Dean
• 2:19 a.m. — Robert MacIntyre, Rickie Fowler, Alex Fitzpatrick
• 2:30 a.m. — David Duval, Martin Couvra, Matthew Southgate
• 2:41 a.m. — Sungjae Im, Daniel Brown, Fifa Laopakdee (a)
• 2:52 a.m. — Gary Woodland, Jake Knapp, Jordan Smith
• 3:03 a.m. — Francesco Molinari, Tom McKibbin, Lev Grinberg (a)
• 3:14 a.m. — Hennie Du Plessis, Jose Luis Ballester, Dan Bradbury
• 3:25 a.m. — Angel Ayora, Victor Perez, Mateo Pulcini (a)
• 3:36 a.m. — Stewart Cink, Scott Vincent, Joakim Lagergren
• 3:47 a.m. — Michael Thorbjornsen, Kota Kaneko, Travis Smyth
• 4:03 a.m. — Alex Smalley, Sam Stevens, Ryo Hisatsune
• 4:14 a.m. — Akshay Bhatia, Harris English, Rasmus Højgaard
• 4:25 a.m. — Ben Griffin, Hideki Matsuyama, Min Woo Lee
• 4:36 a.m. — Russell Henley, Justin Rose, Viktor Hovland
• 4:47 a.m. — Justin Thomas, Alex Noren, Jason Day
• 4:58 a.m. — Scottie Scheffler, Tyrrell Hatton, Bryson DeChambeau
• 5:09 a.m. — Jordan Spieth, Tommy Fleetwood, Jon Rahm
• 5:20 a.m. — Brian Harman, Si Woo Kim, Nick Taylor
• 5:31 a.m. — Ryan Gerard, Maverick McNealy, David Puig
• 5:42 a.m. — Kazuma Kobori, Tom Sloman, David Howard (a)
• 5:53 a.m. — Antoine Rozner, Ren Yonexawa, Caleb Surratt
• 6:04 a.m. — M.J. Daffue, Frederic Lacroix, Jack McDonald
• 6:15 a.m. — Jeongwoo Ham, Ryutaro Nagano, Alejandro De Castro Piera (a)
• 6:41 a.m. — John Parry, Eric Cole, Tiger Christensen
• 6:52 a.m. — Eugenio Chacarra, Matt Wallace, Max Greyserman
• 7:03 a.m. — Michael Brennan, Sahith Theegala, Laurie Canter
• 7:14 a.m. — Cameron Smith, Keith Mitchell, Stuart Grehan (a)
• 7:25 a.m. — Sepp Straka Joaquin Niemann, Kurt Kitayama
• 7:36 a.m. — Sami Valimaki, Shaun Norris, Jackson Suber
• 7:47 a.m. — Darren Clarke, Adrien Saddier, Bernd Wiesberger
• 7:58 a.m. — Keegan Bradley, Corey Conners, Casey Jarvis
• 8:09 a.m. — Matt McCarty, Harry Hall, Haotong Li
• 8:20 a.m. — Padraig Harrington, Marco Penge, Michael Hollick
• 8:31 a.m. — Tom Kim, Billy Horschel, Mason Howell (a)
• 8:42 a.m. — Johnny Keefer, Pierceson Coody, Keita Nakajima
• 8:53 a.m. — Louis Oosthuizen, Jesper Svensson, Jack Buchanan (a)
• 9:09 a.m. — Bud Cauley, Jayden Schaper, Lucas Herbert
• 9:20 a.m. — Kristoffer Reitan, Patrick Reed, J.T. Poston
• 9:31 a.m. — Chris Gotterup, Sam Burns, Adam Scott
• 9:42 a.m. — Collin Morikawa, J.J. Spaun, Nicolai Højgaard
• 9:53 a.m. — Shane Lowry, Aaron Rai, Brooks Koepka
• 10:04 a.m. — Cameron Young, Wyndham Clark, Ludivg Åberg
• 10:15 a.m. — Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Matt Fitzpatrick
• 10:26 a.m. — Jacob Bridgeman, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, Tim Wiedemeyer (a)
• 10:37 a.m. — Patrick Cantlay, Daniel Berger, Nico Echavarria
• 10:48 a.m. — Peter Uihlein, Alistair Docherty, Francesco LaPorta
• 10:59 a.m. — Cameron John, Austen Truslow, Sam Bairstow
• 11:10 a.m. — Naoyuki Kataoka, Marcus Plunkett, Baard Skogen
• 11:21 a.m. — Kazuki Higa, Jiho Yang, Nevill Ruiter (a)

The 2026 Open Championship promises to be an exciting and unpredictable tournament, with many top golfers competing for the coveted title. As the action unfolds at Royal Birkdale, fans around the world will be glued to their screens, following every shot and every move of their favorite players.

The complete schedule of tee times and pairings for Round 1 at Royal Birkdale is available above, providing fans with a comprehensive guide to the tournament.

Expert Analysis and Predictions

CBS Sports’ experts have come together to provide a full slate of 2026 Open picks and predictions, along with a narrowing of the 156-man field to the nine golfers most likely to raise the Claret Jug come Sunday.