British Open Thursday live updates, leaderboard: Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy are big favorites early at Royal Birkdale
It’s time to wrap up major championship season.
The British Open kicked off on Thursday at Royal Birkdale in England, ending what has turned into a roughly 100-day sprint in the golf world. In just a few days, we’ll have to wait nine months to start the process all over again.
But for now, the race for the Claret Jug is on. Top-ranked Scottie Scheffler is the betting favorite once again this week, though he’s entering the tournament coming off his worst outing in years. Scheffler missed the cut at the Genesis Scottish Open last week, which marked his first missed cut since 2022. Rory McIlroy isn’t far behind, per usual, and he’s coming off of a top-10 finish up in Scotland. The vibes were a bit off earlier this week at Royal Birkdale, though, and both guys started talking about their inevitable demise. Weird.
Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau are among the 15 LIV Golf members in the field this week, though they are easily the biggest names from the venture that appears to be on its last legs. A win for them, or even a legitimate run at the jug on Sunday, would be huge for LIV Golf to close 2026.
Scheffler and DeChambeau will play together during the first two rounds, and will go off around 5 a.m. ET this morning. McIlroy is in the afternoon wave alongside Xander Schauffele and Matt Fitzpatrick at 10:15 a.m. ET.
So, for one last time in 2026, the race for a major title is on.
Notable Thursday tee times
All times ET
2:19 a.m.: Robert MacIntyre, Rickie Fowler, Alex Fitzpatrick
4:36 a.m.: Russell Henley, Justin Rose, Viktor Hovland
4:47 a.m.: Justin Thomas, Alex Noren, Jason Day
4:58 a.m.: Scottie Scheffler, Tyrrell Hatton, Bryson DeChambeau
5:09 a.m.: Jordan Spieth, Tommy Fleetwood, Jon Rahm
9:31 a.m.: Chris Gotterup, Sam Burns, Adam Scott
9:42 a.m.: Collin Morikawa, JJ Spaun, Nicolai Hojgaard
9:53 a.m.: Shane Lowry, Aaron Rai, Brooks Koepka
10:04 a.m.: Cameron Young, Wyndham Clark, Ludvig Aberg
10:15 a.m.: Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Matt Fitzpatrick
For the full list of tee times, click here.
How to watch
Thursday, July 16
Peacock: 1:30 a.m. - 4 a.m. ET
USA Network: 4 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. ET
Keep up with all of the action at the British Open on Thursday with Yahoo Sports.
