There’s no feeling quite like waking up and watching live golf with your Cheerios.
This week with the Open Championship on tap, that is true no matter what time you chose to stir.
Thanks to seemingly endless daylight during the U.K. summer, at the Open we get spoiled with golf from the middle of the night in the States all the way to the early afternoon. With tee times starting at 6:35 a.m. local and going all the way to 4:16 p.m., all off the 1st tee, at Royal Liverpool that translates to 1:35 a.m. and 11:16 a.m. for East Coast fans. For West Coasters, the action gets started a day earlier, with the first tee time at 10:35 p.m Wednesday.
On the East Coast, you could theoretically watch the entirety of the opening round and still have time for 18 holes yourself in the afternoon.
So how should you decide what time to wake up on Thursday and Friday? Glad you asked. Here are some of the best tee times before 7 a.m. ET for Thursday and Friday.
Best Open Championship Round 1 & 2 tee times before 7 a.m. ET
All times ET (OWGR)
Thursday
1:35 a.m. – Matthew Jordan (329), Richie Ramsay (142), Branden Grace (405)
You have to be a different kind of golf sicko to get up(/stay up?) for a 1:35 a.m. ET tee time, but you’ll be nicely rewarded for doing so. The first tee shot of this year’s Open will be struck by Royal Liverpool member Matthew Jordan. The 27-year-old remembers watching Tiger and Rory win their Opens at Hoylake and has aspirations of doing so himself. Toss in Branden Grace, the first man to ever shoot 62 in a major (and only until last month) at the 2017 Open, and you should get some good golf.
4:03 a.m. – Jordan Spieth (11), Matt Fitzpatrick (9), Jason Day (27)
Spieth is still looking for his first victory since last April, but his last major win was this tournament six years ago at Royal Birkdale. Fitzpatrick, last year’s U.S. Open champion, hit a spectacular approach on the third playoff hole earlier this year at the RBC Heritage to beat Spieth, so this could be an interesting rematch. Day meanwhile has had a return to form this year, winning at the AT&T Byron Nelson for his first victory in five years.
4:14 a.m. – Padraig Harrington (183), Seamus Power (50), Talor Gooch (101)
At 51 years old, Harrington is a good week at Liverpool away from entering the European Ryder Cup conversation. Ironically, he’ll be competing with Power for a spot on the team too. Gooch meanwhile has been the best player on LIV Golf this year, winning three times already.
4:36 a.m. – Patrick Cantlay (4), Brooks Koepka (12), Hideki Matsuyama (34)
Reining PGA champion Brooks Koepka, one of the fastest — and least tolerant of slow play — players in pro golf, paired with two of the slowest players? Ouch. Expect eye-rolls galore.
4:47 a.m. – Scottie Scheffler (1), Tommy Fleetwood (21), Adam Scott (39)
Will Scottie Scheffler finish outside the top 5? Probably not. Will he finish outside the top 12? Considerably less likely. The best player in the world is teeing it up with another of the hottest players in the world in Fleetwood, who was in the final group last week at Renaissance Club. Not to mention he’ll have a home crowd, growing up in nearby Southport. Scott’s best finish at the Open came in 2012 when he was runner-up.
4:58 a.m. – Cameron Smith (7), Xander Schauffele (6), Wyndham Clark (10)
The defending Champion Golfer of the year begins his quest for a second Claret Jug alongside the U.S. Open winner, Clark, and World No. 6 Schauffele.
5:09 a.m. – Shane Lowry (29), Rickie Fowler (22), Robert MacIntyre (54)
Two players who have famously been beaten by Rory McIlroy in Fowler (2014 Open and 2014 PGA) and MacIntyre (Last week) with one player who won this championship (2019) and beat McIlroy less than a year ago at the BMW PGA Championship. Maybe they’ll trade notes?
5:20 a.m. – Cameron Young (18), Si Woo Kim (36), Bryson DeChambeau (105)
Young, the reining PGA Tour Rookie of the Year, has been marred in a sophomore slump of sorts since finishing top 10 at the Masters, but led through 36 holes in his last start at the John Deere Classic before finishing T6. Kim has quietly been having his best PGA Tour season while DeChambeau contended at the PGA and U.S. Open in a rebound year.
Friday
1:35 a.m. – Rasmus Højgaard (84), Matthew Southgate (285), Alex Fitzpatrick (561)
Friday’s first tee time perhaps offers a glimpse at the future of the European Ryder Cup team. Alex Fitzpatrick, younger brother of 2022 U.S. Open winner Matt, is playing in his first major. Meanwhile Rasmus and twin brother Nicolai (who is also in the field) are two of the brightest young stars on the DP World Tour. Rasmus won a few weeks ago in their home country of Denmark while Nicolai recently earned Special Temporary status on the PGA Tour.
3:03 a.m. – Tom Kim (24), Tom Hoge (38), Abraham Ancer (68)
Kim seems to have found his form again that won him two tournaments in his first few months on Tour. He top-10’d at the U.S. Open and was T6 last week. Ancer was the 11th-ranked player in the world in 2021 but hasn’t played his best golf on LIV this season. Hoge has cooled off considerably since breaking the course record at TPC Sawgrass in March, but was in the mix at the Scottish last week.
3:25 a.m. – Sahith Theegala (35), Emiliano Grillo (41), Dustin Johnson (79)
Do you think Sahith Theegala thought his first pairing with Dustin Johnson would be when he was ranked 44 spots ahead of the two-time major winner? Johnson finished T10 in L.A. and T6 in this tournament last year. Theegala earned his first major top-10 earlier this year at the Masters.
4:47 a.m. – Viktor Hovland (5), Tony Finau (16), Justin Thomas (20)
Hovland’s run of three-straight major top-10s came to an end at the U.S. Open, but only just after finishing T19. He also got a win at a major-like test at Jack’s place. He goes off with two players who are in varying stages of slumps. Finau hasn’t had a top-20 since winning in Mexico, while Thomas’ struggles since his PGA Championship win last May have been well-documented.
