Darren Clarke played a big part in the British Open's return to his adopted home links, and the 2011 champion has been given the honour of hitting the first tee shot in Thursday's opening round at Royal Portrush Golf Club.
Indeed, it will be a case of bridging the generationson the first tee as 22-year-old Corkman James Sugrue, the British Amateur champion, has been grouped in the same tee time as 50-year-old Clarke, along with Charley Hoffman, at 6.35am.
All six Irish players have been given early tee times, with Pádraig Harrington scheduled for a 7.30am tee time slot with Matt Fitzpatrick and American Andrew Putnam; Shane Lowry is off at 7.52am with Phil Mickelson and Branden Grace; Graeme McDowell is grouped with Henrik Stenson and Xander Schauffele at 9.14am, while Rory McIlroy has a 10.09am tee time with US Open champion Gary Woodland and England's Paul Casey.
Clarke revealed he was asked three week ago by the R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers to perform the opening tee shot. “I was honoured to be asked,” said Clarke.
British Open first and second round tee times (Irish in bold)
06:35 / 11:36: Darren Clarke (Nir), James Sugrue (Ire), Charley Hoffman (US)
06:46 / 11:47: Emiliano Grillo (Arg), Sung Kang (Kor), Thomas Thurloway (a) (Eng)
06:57 / 11:58: Andy Sullivan (Eng), Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa), Alex Levy (Fra)
07:08 / 12:09: Chan Kim (US), Zander Lombard (Rsa), Brandon Wu (a) (US)
07:19 / 12:20: Richard Sterne (Rsa), Romain Langasque (Fra), Matthias Schmid (a) (Ger)
07:30 / 12:31: Padraig Harrington (Ire), Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng), Andrew Putnam (US)
07:41 / 12:42: Bubba Watson (US), Eddie Pepperell (Eng), Rafa Cabrera Bello (Esp)
07:52 / 12:53: Phil Mickelson (US), Shane Lowry (Ire), Branden Grace (Rsa)
08:03 / 13:04: Alex Noren (Swe), Mike Lorenzo-Vera (Fra), Sam Locke (Sco)
08:14 / 13:15: Webb Simpson (US), Sergio Garcia (Esp), CT Pan (Tai)
08:25 / 13:26: Ryan Palmer (US), Andrea Pavan (Ita), Dylan Frittelli (Rsa)
08:36 / 13:37: Kyle Stanley (US), Bob MacIntyre (Sco), Andrew Johnston (Eng)
08:47 / 13:48: Mikko Korhonen (Fin), Oliver Wilson (Eng), Curtis Knipes (a) (Eng)
09:03 / 14:04: Ian Poulter (Eng), Sungjae Im (Kor), Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha)
09:14 / 14:15: Henrik Stenson (Swe), Xander Schauffele (US), Graeme McDowell (Nir)
09:25 / 14:26: Haotong Li (Chi), Russell Knox (Sco), Bernd Wiesberger (Aus)
09:36 / 14:37: Jason Kokrak (US), Conor Syme (Sco), Austin Connelly (Can)
09:47 / 14:48: Zach Johnson (US), David Duval (US), Corey Conners (Can)
09:58 / 14:59: Francesco Molinari (Ita), Bryson DeChambeau (US), Adam Scott (Eng)
10:09 / 15:10: Rory McIlroy (Nir), Gary Woodland (US), Paul Casey (Eng)
10:20 / 15:21: Rickie Fowler (US), Kevin Kisner (US), Hideki Matsuyama (Jap)
10:31 / 15:32: Jim Furyk (US), Siwoo Kim (Kor), Jimmy Walker (US)
10:42 / 15:43: Luke List (US), Alexander Bjork (Swe), Paul Waring (Eng)
10:53 / 15:54: Shugo Imahira (Jap), Nate Lashley (US), Benjamin Hebert (Fra)
11:04 / 16:05: Mikumu Horikawa (Jap), Callum Shinkwin (Eng), Garrick Porteous (Eng)
11:15 / 16:16: Prom Meesawat (Tha), Matthew Baldwin (Eng), Jack Senior (Eng)
11:36 / 06:35: Tom Lehman (US), Joaquin Niemann (Chile), Miguel Angel Jimenez (Esp)
11:47 / 06:46: Byeong Hun An (Kor), Jorge Campillo (Esp), Chris Wood (Eng)
11:58 / 06:57: Joel Dahmen (US), Adri Arnaus (Esp), Dimitrios Papadatos (Aus)
12:09 / 07:08: Stewart Cink (US), Rory Sabbatini (Slo), Innchoon Hwang (Kor)
12:20 / 07:19: Erik van Rooyen (Rsa), Kurt Kitayama (US), Jake McLeod (Aus)
12:31 / 07:30: Ryan Fox (NZ), Shaun Norris (Rsa), Dongkyu Jang (Kor)
12:42 / 07:41: Tyrrell Hatton (Eng), Keith Mitchell (US), Thomas Pieters (Bel)
12:53 / 07:52: Justin Thomas (US), Tommy Fleetwood (Eng), Thorbjorn Olesen (Den)
13:04 / 08:03: Brooks Koepka (US), Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa), Shubhankar Sharma (Ind)
13:15 / 08:14: Billy Horschel (US), Jazz Janewattananond (Tha), Aaron Wise (US)
13:26 / 08:25: Jordan Spieth (US), Marc Leishman (Aus), Danny Willett (Eng)
13:37 / 08:36: Cameron Smith (Aus), Adam Hadwin (Can), David Lipsky (US)
13:48 / 08:47: Paul Lawrie (Sco), Chez Reavie (US), Justin Harding (Rsa)
14:04 / 09:03: Takumi Kanaya (A) (Jpn), Tom Lewis (Eng), Brandon Stone (Rsa)
14:15 / 09:14: Lucas Glover (USA), Joost Luiten (Ned), Nino Bertasio (Ita)
14:26 / 09:25: Ernie Els (Rsa), JB Holmes (USA), Abraham Ancer (Mex)
14:37 / 09:36: Brandt Snedeker (USA), Lee Westwood (Eng), Brian Harman (USA)
14:48 / 09:47: Justin Rose (Eng), Tony Finau (USA), Lucas Bjerregaard (Den)
14.59 / 09:58: Dustin Johnson (USA), Jason Day (Aus), Keegan Bradley (USA)
15:10 / 10:09: Tiger Woods (USA), Matthew Wallace (Eng), Patrick Reed (USA)
15:21 / 10:20: Jon Rahm (Spa), Patrick Cantlay (USA), Matt Kuchar (USA)
15:32 / 10:31: Kevin Streelman (USA), Doc Redman (USA), Robert Rock (Eng)
15:43 / 10:42: Adrian Otaegui (Spa), Yuta Ikeda (Jpn), Isidro Benitez (Mex)
15.54 / 10:53: Patton Kizzirer (USA), Sang Hyun Park (Kor), Yuki Inamori (Jpn)
16:05 / 11:04: Yoshinori Fujimoto (Jpn), Doyeob Mun (Kor), Andrew Wilson (Eng)
16:16 / 11:15: Gunn Charoenkul (Tha), Yosuke Asaji (Jpn), Ashton Turner (Eng)
