Featured Groups: The Open Championship

Portrush resident Darren Clarke will kick off The Open’s return to his homeland by hitting the opening tee shot at 6:35 a.m. Thursday. He’ll be accompanied by Ireland’s James Sugrue, the reigning British Amateur champion, and Charley Hoffman.

RELATED:Full tee times

A sell-out crowd will be at Royal Portrush to see the first Open in Northern Ireland in more than 60 years. Here’s a look at some other tee times to watch in The Open’s first round (note: all times local; all tee times start on No. 1):

Henrik Stenson, Xander Schauffele, Graeme McDowell
Thursday: 9:14 a.m.; Friday: 2:15 p.m.

• Stenson, who’s 90th in the FedExCup, won his first major at The Open in 2016, adding to a resume that already included World Golf Championships, THE PLAYERS and FedExCup. He leads the PGA TOUR in Strokes Gained: Approach.

• Schauffele has won twice this season and ranks fourth in the FedExCup. He was runner-up at last year’s Open Championship and has two top-three finishes in majors this year (T2, Masters; T3, U.S. Open).

• McDowell grabbed a spot in his hometown Open with his eighth-place finish at the RBC Canadian Open. He won earlier this year at the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship and ranks 46th in the FedExCup.

Francesco Molinari, Bryson DeChambeau, Adam Scott
Thursday: 9:58 a.m.; Friday: 2:59 p.m.

• Molinari, the defending Open champion, won this year’s Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard with a final-round 64. He also was runner-up in the Masters. He is 24th in this season’s FedExCup.

• DeChambeau is 15th in the FedExCup thanks to a win at this season’s Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. He finished T2 in his last start, the 3M Open.

• Scott has been a consistent contender at this championship, posting four consecutive top-10s from 2012-15. Scott is 17th in this season’s FedExCup thanks to six top-10s in 13 starts.

Rory McIlroy, Gary Woodland, Paul Casey
Thursday: 10:09 a.m.; Friday: 3:10 p.m.

• McIlroy set the course record at Royal Portrush before it was renovated for The Open, shooting 61 when he was 16 years old. He arrives in Northern Ireland with two wins this season (THE PLAYERS, RBC Canadian Open). The 2016 FedExCup champion is third in this season’s standings. He has 11 top-10s in 14 starts this season.

• Woodland is making his first major start since winning the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. He’s fifth in the FedExCup standings with eight top-10s in 19 starts.

• Casey won his second consecutive Valspar Championship this year and ranks eighth in the FedExCup.

Rickie Fowler, Kevin Kisner, Hideki Matsuyama
Thursday: 10:20 a.m.; Friday: 3:21 p.m.

• Fowler is holding onto the final spot in the Wyndham Rewards Top 10 thanks to a win at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and four other top-10s. He has two top-5s in The Open, including a runner-up in 2014.

• Kisner, who was runner-up in last year’s Open, won the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play earlier this year. He is 20th in this year’s FedExCup standings.

• Matsuyama hasn’t won since 2017, but he has the longest active streak of consecutive cuts made (25) and is 27th in the FedExCup standings.

Brooks Koepka, Louis Oosthuizen, Shubankar Sharma
Thursday: 1:04 p.m.; Friday: 8:03 a.m.

• Koepka is No. 2 in the FedExCup with two wins this season (CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES, PGA Championship). He has a win and two runners-up in the three majors played this year.

• Oosthuizen won the 2010 Open Championship at St. Andrews. He is 54th in the FedExCup standings. He’s also second in the International Team’s Presidents Cup standings.

• Sharma, who gained recognition for holding the 54-hole lead in last year’s WGC-Mexico Championship, has one top-10 in 15 worldwide starts this year.

Dustin Johnson, Jason Day, Keegan Bradley
Thursday: 2:59 p.m.; Friday: 9:58 a.m.

• Johnson is seventh in the FedExCup standings after winning this year’s WGC-Mexico Championship. He has two runners-up in majors this year (Masters, PGA Championship).

• Day is 35th in the FedExCup standings with six top-10s this season. He finished T4 in the 2015 Open.

• Bradley won last year’s BMW Championship to end a long winless drought. He is 50th in the FedExCup.

Tiger Woods, Matt Wallace, Patrick Reed
Thursday: 3:10 p.m.; Friday: 10:09 a.m.

• The Masters champion makes his first start since the U.S. Open. He is 23rd in the FedExCup standings. He needs to stay in the top 30 to have an opportunity to defend his TOUR Championship title.

• Wallace, of England, finished third in the PGA Championship and T12 at the U.S. Open.

• Reed is 64th in the FedExCup standings. The 2018 Masters champion has just two top-10s in 19 starts this season.

Jon Rahm, Patrick Cantlay, Matt Kuchar
Thursday: 3:21 p.m.; Friday: 10:20 a.m.

• Rahm is 11th in the FedExCup standings after winning the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with partner Ryan Palmer. He has nine top-10s in 15 starts this season, the second-highest percentage of top-10 finishes on TOUR this season. Rahm is coming off a recent win in the Irish Open and two top-10s in majors this season (T9, Masters; T3, U.S. Open).

• Cantlay won the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide and is sixth in the FedExCup. He’s one of five players to finish in the top-10 in at least half his starts this season.

• The FedExCup leader has two wins this season. He was runner-up to Jordan Spieth in the 2017 Open Championship.