Ryan Fox has been paired with two major winners for the opening two rounds of the Open Championship at Royal Portrush starting tomorrow night.
Fox, who has won two PGA Tour events this year, will begin his first round at 9.25am (8.25pm NZT tomorrow) alongside Hideki Matsuyama of Japan andEnglishman Matt Fitzpatrick.
Matsuyama won the Masters in 2021 while Fitzpatrick claimed his only major win at the US Open a year later. They tee off at 2.26pm (1.26am Saturday) in the second round.
Fox is playing in his ninth Open Championship having made the cut six times, including two top 25 finishes, with his best performance in 2019 when Royal Portrush last hosted the major.
Fellow Kiwi Daniel Hillier is also paired with a Masters winner, in former US Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson, along with Englishman Daniel Brown who he plays with on the DP World Tour. The trio will tee off at 11.58am (10.58pm NZT) in the first round and are out early on day two at 5.57pm NZT.
Hillier is playing in his fourth Open Championship and had his best finish of tied 19th at last year’s event at Royal Troon.
New Zealand Open winner Ryan Peake is playing with six-time major winner Phil Mickelson, who lifted the Claret Jug in 2013. Peake, who earned his spot in his maiden major after victory at Millbrook in March played a practice round with fellow Aussies Cameron Smith, Marc Leishman and Elvis Smylie.
Defending champion Xander Schauffele is paired with US Open winner JJ Spaun and two-time major winner Jon Rahm, teeing off at 8.58pm NZT.
World No 1 Scottie Scheffler is in the next group at 9.09pm with Irishman Shane Lowry, who won at Royal Portrush in 2019, and 2021 Open champion Collin Morikawa.
The other featured groups go out later in the day, including Bryson DeChambeau, Robert MacIntyre and Justin Rose at 1.48am NZT Friday, followed by Jordan Spieth, Ludvig Aberg and Viktor Hovland at 1.59am and then Masters champion Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas and Tommy Fleetwood at 2.10am.
Two-time winner Padraig Harrington, the first Irishman to lift the Claret Jug, will play the opening tee shot at 6.35am local time, 5.35pm tomorrow NZT.
