Jason Day will play with the past two British Open champions at St Andrews over the first two rounds after being drawn with 14-time major winner Tiger Woods and South African Louis Oosthuizen.
The pair are responsible for the past three victories at the Old Course as Woods won at St Andrews in 2000 and 2005 before Oosthuizen was victorious in 2010, the most recent time the Open was played at the historic birthplace of golf.
Woods also won the 2006 British Open at Royal Liverpool.
World No.9 Day is making his first appearance since the US Open last month where he battled hard in the final group on Sunday and finished tied ninth despite suffering from vertigo.
Now on medication to control a viral infection in his right ear, the root cause of the vertigo, Day is confident there won’t be a repeat of his physical collapse from Chambers Bay’s second round.
The trio will head out at 9:55am local time on Thursday morning in the 20th game of the 144th Open.
Former world No.1 Adam Scott will be on the other side of the draw, heading out at 2:12 local time in game 41 with German two-time major winner Martin Kaymer and American Jimmy Walker.
Since throwing away his chance at a claret jug in 2012 with four bogeys in his last four holes to finish second, Scott has been tied third and tied fifth in 2013 and 2014 and as such headlines Australia’s 15-man contingent.
Now world No.11, Scott has been in St Andrews ahead of time putting in a meticulous preparation.
World No.2 Jordan Spieth, fresh off his fourth win of the year at the John Deere Classic, looks to keep the grand slam alive when he goes off at 9:33am Thursday morning.
The Masters and US Open champion Spieth has been grouped with the man he conquered at Chambers Bay last month in Dustin Johnson along with Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama.
Rod Pampling will have the honour of being a part of the opening game in the tournament, grouped with Dane Thomas Bjorn and England’s Greg Owen at 6:32am.
Matt Jones is away at 7:16am with Dutchman Joost Luiten and American Robert Streb while John Senden will follow behind Day’s power group at 10:06am with American Brooks Koepka and Japan’s Tadahiro Takayama.
Greg Chalmers plays with Finland’s Mikko Ilonen and England’s David Howell at 10:28am while Scott Arnold (10:50am), Adam Bland (11:01am) and Scott Hend (11:12) play in consecutive groups soon after.
Steven Bowditch goes off at 12:17pm, Geoff Ogilvy is away at 1:23pm and Marc Leishman kicks off his campaign after tying fifth last year at 3:18pm.
Brett Rumford gets his tilt off at 3:51pm before Marcus Fraser and Scott Strange play together in the second last game of the day at 4:02pm.
