The Open begins Thursday morning at Royal Portrush as the best golfers in the world vie for the final major of the season in Northern Ireland. This 2025 Open Championship will result in some early mornings -- or late nights, depending on your vantage point -- for fans stateside if they hope to keep up with their favorite players.

As is always the case at the four majors, many of the biggest stars will be paired together in the first two rounds. There are storylines abound in the marquee groups for Thursday and Friday.

The first big group is  the 4:58 a.m. ET tee time of Xander Schauffele, J.J. Spaun and Jon Rahm, as the 2024 Open champion will begin his title defense alongside the U.S. Open champion and one of the favorites to win this year's Claret Jug. In the next group out at 5:09 a.m., world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler will begin his quest for a first Open title alongside two men who have won one already in Collin Morikawa and Shane Lowry. Of course, it was Lowry who won The Open the last time it was held at Royal Portrush.

In the afternoon wave, there are three notable featured groups that will go off in succession, starting with Robert MacIntyre, Bryson DeChambeau and Justin Rose at 9:48 a.m.; followed by Jordan Spieth, Ludvig Åberg and Viktor Hovland at 9:59 a.m.; with Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas and Tommy Fleetwood bringing up the rear at 10:10 a.m. McIlroy is looking for his second major title of the season and his first Open win in his home country of Northern Ireland in what may be his best chance to win on that soil.

Below you can find the complete schedule of tee times for Thursday's first round as the 153rd Open Championship begins play at Royal Portrush. 

All times Eastern

2025 Open Championship tee times, Thursday pairings

1:35 a.m. — Padraig Harrington, Nicolai Højgaard, Tom McKibbin
1:46 a.m. — Louis Oosthuizen, Guido Migliozzi, K.J. Choi
1:57 a.m. — Cameron Smith, Marco Penge, Justin Hastings (a)
2:08 a.m. — Jason Day, Taylor Pendrith, Jacob Skov Olesen
2:19 a.m. — Phil Mickelson, Daniel van Tonder, Ryan Peake
2:30 a.m. — Max Greyserman, Byeong Hun An, Niklas Norgaard
2:41 a.m. — Jordan Smith, Haotong Li, Dustin Johnson
2:52 a.m. — Darren Clarke, Davis Riley, Lucas Herbert
3:03 a.m. — Kevin Yu, Julien Guerrier, Mikiya Akutsu
3:14 a.m. — Thomas Detry, Chris Gotterup, Lee Westwood
3:25 a.m. — Patrick Cantlay, Cameron Young, Mackenzie Hughes
3:36 a.m. — Thorbjorn Olesen, Matthew Jordan, Filip Jakubcik (a)
3:47 a.m. — Henrik Stenson, Stephan Jaeger, Sebastian Soderberg
4:03 a.m. — Kristoffer Reitan, Martin Couvra, Adrien Saddier
4:14 a.m. — Takumi Kanaya, Justin Walters, Bryan Newman (a)
4:25 a.m. — Hideki Matsuyama, Ryan Fox, Matt Fitzpatrick
4:36 a.m. — Sepp Straka, Ben Griffin, Akshay Bhatia
4:47 a.m. — Sam Burns, Aldrich Potgieter, Brooks Koepka
4:58 a.m. — Xander Schauffele, J.J. Spaun, Jon Rahm
5:09 a.m. — Shane Lowry, Collin Morikawa, Scottie Scheffler
5:20 a.m. — Corey Conners, Wyndham Clark, Tom Hoge
5:31 a.m. — Denny McCarthy, Nico Echavarria, Patrick Reed
5:42 a.m. — Matti Schmid, Ryggs Johnston, Richard Teder (a)
5:53 a.m. — Dylan Naidoo, Darren Fichardt, John Axelsen
6:04 a.m — Justin Suh, Oliver Lindell, Jesper Sandborg
6:15 a.m. — Sadom Kaewkanjana, Riki Kawamoto, Sampson Zheng
6:26 a.m. — Stewart Cink, Matteo Manassero, Marc Leishman
6:47 a.m. — Francesco Molinari, Jesper Svensson, Connor Graham (a)
6:58 a.m. — Zach Johnson, Daniel Hillier, Daniel Brown
7:09 a.m. — Adam Scott, Rickie Fowler, Ethan Fang (a)
7:20 a.m. — Laurie Canter, Elvis Smylie, Sergio Garcia
7:31 a.m. — Andrew Novak, Matthieu Pavon, Matt Wallace
7:42 a.m. — Davis Thomopson, Dean Burmester, Rikuya Hoshino
7:53 a.m. — Si Woo Kim, Shugo Imahira, Sebastian Cave (a)
8:04 a.m. — Michael Kim, Bud Cauley, John Parry
8:15 a.m. — Matt McCarty, Shaun Norris, Angel Hidalgo
8:26 a.m. — Keegan Bradley, Sungjae Im, Daniel Berger
8:37 a.m. — Rasmus Højgaard, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Romain Lagasque
8:48 a.m. — Aaron Rai, Sahith Theegala, Harry Hall
9:04 a.m. — Justin Leonard, Thriston Lawrence, Antoine Rozner
9:15 a.m. — J.T. Poston, Chris Kirk, Carlos Ortiz
9:26 a.m. — Brian Harman, Maverick McNealy, Joaquin Niemann
9:37 a.m. — Russell Henley, Tyrrell Hatton, Min Woo Lee
9:48 a.m. — Robert MacIntyre, Bryson DeChambeau, Justin Rose
9:59 a.m. — Jordan Spieth, Ludvig Åberg, Viktor Hovland
10:10 a.m. — Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas, Tommy Fleetwood
10:21 a.m. — Harris English, Nick Taylor, Tony Finau
10:32 a.m. — Lucas Glover, Jhonattan Vegas, Tom Kim
10:43 a.m. — Brian Campbell, John Catlin, Frazer Jones (a)
10:54 a.m. — Nathan Kimsey, Jason Kokrak, Cameron Adam (a)
11:05 a.m. — Daniel Young, Curtis Luck, Curtis Knipes
11:16 a.m. — Younghan Song, George Bloor, O.J. Farrell