First round live stream, leaderboard, scores, updates, tee times, news from Royal Liverpool, Hoylake, Australians, Cameron Smith

The in-form Rory McIlroy and world No.1 Scottie Scheffler lead the contenders, while a whopping 10 Australians — headlined by defending champ Cameron Smith — feature in the field at the 151st British Open at Hoylake starting Thursday afternoon AEST.

England’s Matthew Jordan will hit the first tee shot at 0635 local time (3.35pm AEST), at the Royal Liverpool club where he is a member, but McIlroy is the centre of attention as he returns to the course where he lifted the Claret Jug for the only time in 2014.

The Northern Irishman backed up that victory by winning the PGA Championship the following month, but has been stuck on four major titles ever since.

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McIlroy came agonisingly close both at last year’s Open Championship at St Andrews and last month when he missed out at the US Open by one shot to Wyndham Clark.

However, doubts over the 34-year-old’s ability to handle the pressure coming down the stretch on Sunday were dispelled last weekend as a birdie-birdie finish in blustery conditions brought McIlroy the Scottish Open for the first time.

“I could not ask for better preparation,” said McIlroy. “The way I played the last two holes (in Scotland) was an amazing finish and a perfect way to come into this week.

McIlroy is among the late starters on Thursday as he tees off alongside Masters champion Jon Rahm and former world number one Justin Rose at 11.59pm AEST.

Scheffler has also had a stellar year on the PGA Tour, but is yet to add to his sole major win at the 2022 Masters.

The American has not finished lower that 12th in 16 tournaments this year and was in the top three at both the PGA Championship and US Open.

The final major of the year comes just weeks after a shock announcement that the PGA and DP World Tours plan to merge with the breakaway LIV Golf series.

A “framework agreement” between the parties has left the players on both sides of the divide short on detail on what the future of the sport will look like.

“I don’t even think the guys that are trying to sort it out really know what this outcome is going to be like,” said defending champion Smith, who defected to LIV shortly after winning his first major 12 months ago.

Smith has endured a mixed year since he captured the Claret Jug at St Andrews but it confident his game has been trending in the right direction to mount a strong title defence.

He leads a healthy Australian contingent also featuring Adam Scott, Jason Day and rising star Min Woo Lee.

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R&A ‘CHOSE VIOLENCE’ WITH POPCORN BROOKS PAIRING

As always there are some intriguing pairings for the opening day, with one grouping in particular sparking raised eyebrows.

Koepka will play alongside Patrick Cantlay and Hideki Matsuyama in a group teeing off at 6.36pm AEST on Thursday. It’s notable because Koepka has been openly critical of American compatriot Cantlay for his slow play.

“Yeah, the group in front of us was brutally slow. Jon [Rahm] went to the bathroom like seven times during the round, and we were still waiting,” Koepka said after the Masters in April.

Matsuyama is also considered a slower player while Koepka loves to play fast, meaning it could be a challenging couple of days for the five-time major winner.

“The face of the anti-slow play movement is paired with the face of slow play on the PGA Tour Patrick Cantlay,” golf pundit Dan Rapaport said on a ‘foreplaypod’ TikTok post entitled ‘The R&A woke up and chose violence.”

Smith, Day and Scott all feature in blockbuster groups teeing off after 6pm AEST on Thursday night. See the full Round 1 tee times below.

HOW TO WATCH & BROADCAST TIMES

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Wednesday

10pm-4am Live From The Open (Fox Sports 505/Kayo)

Thursday

3.30pm-5am Round 1 (Fox Sports 505/Kayo)

Friday

5am-7am Live From The Open (Fox Sports 505/Kayo)

3.30pm-5am Round 2 (Fox Sports 505/Kayo)

Saturday

5am-7am Live From The Open (Fox Sports 505/Kayo)

7pm – 5am Round 3 (Fox Sports 505/Kayo)

Sunday

5am-7am Live From The Open (Fox Sports 505/Kayo)

Final Round 6pm – 4am (Fox Sports 505/Kayo)

Monday

4am-6am Live From The Open (Fox Sports 505/Kayo)

LIVE SCORES

Follow the British Open leaderboard HERE.