Day 1 of the 145th Open Championship on the Ayrshire coast where the world’s best golfers are set to battle it out for the Claret Jug and a first prize of £1,175,000.
The Open Championship returns to Royal Troon for the first time since 2004 when American’s Todd Hamilton defeated Ernie Els from South Africa in a dramatic four hole play-off.
American Zach Johnson will defend the title he won at St Andrews last year after prevailing in a three-way play-off over Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa and Aussie Marc Leishman. A stellar field also includes the world No.1 from Australia Jason Day, USA’s Dustin Johnson the world No.2 and reigning US Open champion and America’s newest golfing sensation 22-year-old Justin Speith who shot to prominence in 2015 winning the Masters and the US Open in 2015 and is currently ranked No.3 in the world.
Closer to home you can be sure Ireland’s Rory Mcllroy who will be itching to regain the form that saw him win the Open Championship and PGA titles in 2014, before having to pull out of The Open 2015 Open due to injury. Another player to look our for is England’s Danny Willet fresh from his Masters victory in April, the first European in 17 years to win at Augusta National.
Russell Knox (pictured in action at last week’s Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open), Richie Ramsay, Marc Warren and Paul Lawrie head up a Scottish challenge that also includes Colin Mongomerie and Sandy Lyle, all harbouring dreams of becoming the first Scottish winner since 1999 when Paul Lawrie won at Carnoustie.
It’s all to play for at Royal Troon as the world’s best players compete over four days for a total prize fund of £6.5m.
This is the full list of the players taking part, all aiming to make the cut on Friday evening to then take part in the final two days of the tournament and be in contention for the famous Claret Jug come Sunday evening.
Action starts this morning at 6.35am. These are the tee times for Round 1.
Tickets in advance are available via the ‘Get Tickets’ link. Children under the age of 16 attend The Open for free, while youth tickets and the newly introduced Twilight tickets provide access at a significantly reduced cost.
Tickets on the day are available subject to availability. Checking The Open Championship website before travelling is recommended.
Travel: Spectator information on all routes of travel to Royal Troon is available via the The Open Championship website travel section.