Branden Grace and Louis Oosthuizen were handed big name groupings after the tee times for the opening round of The Open were announced on Monday.
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Erik van Rooyen will be the first of the South Africans on the course on Thursday after being out in the second group of the day at 7:46am. The Joburg Open runner-up is joined by Brady Schnell (USA) and Matt Southgate (England) for the opening two rounds.
At 8:08am, Shaun Norris, who booked his place like Van Rooyen booked his spot at Randpark, is off together with Mark Calcavecchia and Thailand’s Danthai Boonma.
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Stewart Cink, who denied Tom Watson a famous Open victory in 2009 at Turnberry, and Japan’s Hideto Tanihara provide Brandon Stone – winner of last week’s Scottish Open – company at 9:36am. Less than half an hour later, American Chesson Hadley and Canadian Adam Hadwin peg it up with Ernie Els off the 1st. The 2012 Open champion missed the cut last week, extending his streak to seven weekends off in a row.
George Coetzee, playing by virtue of leading the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit at the time of qualifying, follows directly after The Big Easy at 10:14am with American duo Julian Suri and Pat Perez in group 15.
At 10:36am, Retief Goosen tees up at The Open for just the second time in six years after coming through sectional qualifying. Berhard Langer and Darren Clarke join Goosen in an all-Major winning veteran group.
After missing last week due to a neck injury, Louis Oosthuizen will look to add a second Claret Jug to his trophy cabinet. Paul Casey and Masters champion Patrick Reed join Oosthuizen – still SA’s highest ranked player in the field – on the tee at 11:20am.
Haraldur Magnus and James Robinson join Zander Lombard, who qualified after a good showing at the Irish Open, at 11:53am.
Charl Schwartzel, Tom Lewis and Daniel Berger are off two minutes before 1pm. Schwartzel has traditionally not fared well at The Open with just a single top 10 to show in 13 appearances and has not played since missing the cut at the US Open.
British hope Matt Fitzpatrick and PGA Tour campaigner Russell Henley play alongside top South African amateur Jovan Rebula. The trio starts their journey for the Claret Jug at 1:42pm ahead of Rory McIlroy’s group. That sequence of tee times also sees world No 1 Dustin Johnson and in-form Swede Alex Noren off in the group directly after the Northern Irishman.
Branden Grace is likely to have plenty of TV time after being handed a marquee group – off at 2:26pm – that includes Justin Thomas and Francesco Molinari. Grace looks to be a form player this week and enters having made the cut in each of his last six Open starts including last year’s memorable T6 finish after he fired a Major record low round 62 on Saturday.
The last South African out is Dylan Frittelli at 3:26pm in a low-key group that includes Tom Lehmann and Grant Forrest. Frittelli is making his second Open appearance after failing to make the weekend during his debut last year.
For the full tee times, click HERE!
Photo: Drew Hallowell/Getty Images
