The Open: Tiger Woods handed early tee-time for first round Hoylake on Thursday
Last Updated: 14/07/14 6:51pm
Tiger Woods will begin his bid for a fourth Open Championship alongside Angel Cabrera and Henrik Stenson at 9:04am on Thursday morning.
The American, a 14-time major winner during his incredible career, will be returning to Hoylake, where he won his last Open crown back in 2006.
And the 38-year-old will tee off for his first two rounds alongside Stenson, who finished second in the Open last year, and Cabrera, a former Masters and US Open winner.
Woods missed the first two majors of the year as he recovered from back surgery, returning to action in the Quicken Loans National at the end of June, where he missed the cut.
He has not played a competitive round since then but has been practicing at Hoylake over the weekend and says he is now fully healthy.
“I can do whatever I want, I'm at that point now," said Woods. "We didn't think we'd get to that point until this tournament, or the week after.
Injury
"Before I had the procedure, I was at the point where I couldn't do anything. I had been playing with the injury for a while and I had my good weeks and bad weeks. Now, they are all good."
Dual major winner Rory McIlroy will be out two groups after Woods at 9:26am and he will be playing alongside hugely promising American youngster Jordan Spieth and Hideki Matsuyama of Japan.
Phil Mickelson was victorious in last year’s Open at Muirfield and he will begin his title defence at 2:05pm, in a high class group which will also include Ernie Els, twice an Open winner, and Bubba Watson, who won the Masters for a second time in the spring.
Scottish Open winner Justin Rose is seen as a likely contender this week and he will be out two groups later, at 2:27pm, in another marquee group which will also feature World No 1 Adam Scott and last year’s US PGA champion Jason Dufner.
German Martin Kaymer was a runaway winner of the US Open last month and begins his Hoylake campaign at 1:38pm, when he will have Aussie Jason Day and 2007 Masters winner Zach Johnson for company.
David Howell will hit the first shot of the tournament at 6:25am and the first group will also include a former champion in the shape of the 2001 winner David Duval.
England's Christopher Rodgers, Scotland's Scott Jamieson and Korea's An Byeong-hun comprise the final group, who will start their opening rounds at 4:06pm.
First round tee times:
0625: David Duval, David Howell (Eng), Robert Karlsson (Swe)
0636: Dawie Van Der Walt (Rsa), Cameron Tringale, Masanori Kobayashi (Jpn)
0647: Chris Wood (Eng), Matthew Jones (Aus), Bernd Wiesberger (Aut)
0658: Hyung-sung Kim (Kor), Erik Compton, Marc Leishman (Aus)
0709: Koumei Oda (Jpn), Ben Martin, Anirban Lahiri (Ind)
0720: Brooks Koepka, Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha), Edoardo Molinari (Ita)
0731: Fredrik Jacobson (Swe), Branden Grace (Rsa), Ashley Chesters (Eng)
0742: Justin Leonard, Ben Curtis, Paul Lawrie (Sco)
0753: Ryan Moore, Francesco Molinari (Ita), Thorbjorn Olesen (Den)
0804: Matteo Manassero (Ita), Bradley Neil (Sco), Mikko Ilonen (Fin)
0815: Thomas Bjorn (Den), Patrick Reed, Stewart Cink
0826: Tom Watson, Jim Furyk, Darren Clarke (Nirl)
0837: Luke Donald (Eng), Rickie Fowler, Sergio Garcia (Spa)
0853: Paul Casey (Eng), Harris English, Matthew Every
0904: Tiger Woods, Angel Cabrera (Arg), Henrik Stenson (Swe)
0915: Charl Schwartzel (Rsa), Padraig Harrington (Irl), K J Choi (Kor)
0926: Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn), Rory McIlroy (Nirl), Jordan Spieth
0937: Ian Poulter (Eng), Dustin Johnson, Jimmy Walker
0948: Matt Kuchar, Graeme McDowell (Nirl), Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa)
0959: Hunter Mahan, Stephen Gallacher (Sco), Victor Dubuisson (Fra)
1010: Sir Nick Faldo (Eng), Todd Hamilton, Mark Calcavecchia
1021: Brett Rumford (Aus), Ryan Palmer, Tomohiro Kondo (Jpn)
1032: John Singleton (Eng), Peter Uihlein, Marc Warren (Sco)
1043: Paul Mckechnie (Sco), Kristoffer Broberg (Swe), Juvic Pagunsan (Phi)
1054: Rhein Gibson (Aus), Brian Harman, Hyung-tae Kim (Jpn)
1105: Oscar Floren (Swe), Chris Hanson (Eng), Yoshinobu Tsukada (Jpn)
1126: Matthew Southgate (Eng), James Mcleary (Sco), Hiroshi Iwata (Jpn)
1137: Roberto Castro, Victor Riu (Fra), Tyrrell Hatton (Eng)
1148: Dong-kyu Jang (Kor), Nick Watney, Shawn Stefani
1159: Y.E. Yang (Kor), D.A. Points, Brendan Steele
1210: Scott Stallings, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa), Bryden Macpherson (Aus)
1221: Charley Hoffman, George Coetzee (Rsa), Michael Hoey (Nirl)
1232: Brendon De Jonge (Zim), Kevin Streelman, Brendon Todd
1243: Gary Woodland, Sandy Lyle (Sco), Kevin Stadler
1254: Graham Delaet (Can), Brandt Snedeker, Cheng-tsung Pan (Chn)
1305: Boo Weekley, Danny Willett (Eng), Ashun Wu (Chn)
1316: J.B. Holmes, Jonas Blixt (Swe), Chris Kirk
1327: Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa), Bill Haas, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha)
1338: Jason Day (Aus), Martin Kaymer (Ger), Zach Johnson
1354: Jamie Donaldson (Wal), Webb Simpson, Yusaku Miyazato (Jpn)
1405: Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els (Rsa), Bubba Watson
1416: Russell Henley, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa), Billy Horschel
1427: Adam Scott (Aus), Justin Rose (Eng), Jason Dufner
1438: Ryo Ishikawa (Jpn), Lee Westwood (Eng), Keegan Bradley
1449: Kevin Na, Joost Luiten (Ned), John Senden (Aus)
1500: John Daly, Tommy Fleetwood (Eng), Ross Fisher (Eng)
1511: Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa), Mark Wiebe, Paul Dunne (Irl)
1522: Oliver Fisher (Eng), Chesson Hadley, Shane Lowry (Irl)
1533: Richard Sterne (Rsa), George McNeill, Chris Stroud
1544: Gregory Bourdy (Fra), Jin Jeong (Kor), Matthew Baldwin (Eng)
1555: Justin Walters (Rsa), Rhys Enoch (Wal), Billy Hurley III
1606: Chris Rodgers (Eng), Scott Jamieson (Sco), Byeong-Hun An (Kor)
