Notable first- and second-round pairings at the 2024 Open Championship

The 2024 Open Championship tees off on Thursday at Royal Troon.

Before the first round, here's a look at five notable groupings that should be on your radar.

All tee times are in the Eastern Time Zone.

4:47 a.m. ET/9:48 a.m. ET: Ludvig Aberg • Bryson DeChambeau • Tom Kim

Aberg, 24, burst on the scene last year with an exceptional Ryder Cup performance and has continued turning heads in 2024. He has two runner-up finishes, including at the Masters, and tied for fourth at the Genesis Scottish Open last weekend.

He's gotten off to hot starts since missing the cut at the PGA Championship, shooting a combined 17-under-par in the first round of his last four events. He's found trouble later, going 9-over-par in final rounds during that same span.

DeChambeau won the U.S. Open last month and is coming off a ninth-place finish at LIV Golf Andalucia. The Open has given DeChambeau the most problems among golf's four majors. In six previous appearances, his best finish is a 2022 eighth-place tie. He missed the cut in 2017 and 2019, placed outside the top 50 in 2018 and 2023 and finished tied for 33rd in 2021.

Kim, a runner-up at the 2022 Open, also finished second at last month's Travelers Championship. He makes up for below-average power on his drives with one of the PGA Tour's best driving accuracy rates (70.43 percent).

5:09 a.m. ET/10:10 a.m. ET: Rory McIlroy • Max Homa • Tyrrell Hatton

McIlroy has been brutally close to adding a fifth major championship — and first since 2014 — to his resume recently, but this year's Open might be his best chance to snap his 10-year drought.

McIlroy's ability to drive the ball off the tee – he has the Tour's second-longest average driving distance (319.3 yards) — could be especially beneficial on the historic par-5 sixth hole at Royal Troon. Per The Open, the 623-yard hole is the longest in the storied tournament's history. ( h/t USA Today ).

Homa finished in the top 10 at last year's Open but is coming off a disappointing 70th-place finish at the Scottish Open.

Meanwhile, Hatton most recently shot a four-under-par to finish third at Andalucia. He's one of LIV Golf's best scramblers , recording a par or better on 68.5 percent of holes where he misses greens in regulation or fails to reach the putting surface with at least two strokes to par. For comparison sake, the PGA Tour's average scrambling rate through the Scottish Open is 59.5 percent.

9:26 a.m. ET/4:14 a.m. ET: Wyndham Clark • Hideki Matsuyama • Brooks Koepka

Clark, the 2023 U.S. Open champ, has consecutive top-10 finishes at the Travelers and Scottish Open. Per Data Golf , he's gained an average of 1.465 strokes over the field, putting in his last two events.

Matsuyama (+5500) is a long shot after missing the cut at the Scottish Open. The 2021 Masters champ last missed the cut at a major at the 2019 Open.

Koepka had a disappointing 27th-place finish at Andalucia, and the five-time major champion hasn't finished inside the top 10 at The Open since 2021.

9:37 a.m. ET/4:25 a.m. ET: Tiger Woods • Xander Schauffele • Patrick Cantlay

Woods is appearing in his 23rd Open Championship, and the three-time winner (2000, 2005-06) will try to make his first cut at a major this year. Since winning his fifth green jacket at the 2019 Masters, Woods has either missed the cut or been forced to withdraw due to injury in eight of his 13 majors played.

Schauffele (+1400) is one of this year's leading contenders and ranks second in the PGA in total strokes gained (2.201) . He won his first career major at the 2024 PGA Championship. After a second-place finish at the 2018 Open, Schauffele hasn't had a top-10 finish in his last four trips.

Cantlay is a strong putter, ranking 11th in the PGA in putts per round (28.06) while gaining 0.309 strokes. He could be a contender with improved accuracy off the tee. He ranks 114th in driving accuracy per PGA Tour data , hitting 406 of a possible 690 fairways.

10:10 a.m. ET/4:58 a.m. ET: Jordan Spieth • Scottie Scheffler • Cameron Young

The 2017 Open champion Spieth has five top-10 finishes in 10 career appearances at the event. However, he is in the midst of one of his worst seasons, missing six cuts in 2024, including at the Scottish Open. His last top-10 finish came at the Valero Texas Open in April.

World No. 1 golfer Scheffler already has six wins this season and is seeking his first major championship outside Augusta. He ranks first in greens hit in regulation (74.1 percent), helping combat his rank of 89th in putting strokes gained (0.037).

Young is 11th on the PGA Tour in total driving (96), ranking 31st in driving distance and 65th in driving accuracy. He tied for sixth at his last tournament — the Rocket Mortgage Classic from June 27 to 30 — and was the runner-up at the 2022 Open, finishing one stroke behind the winner, Cameron Smith.