World No. 2 Rory McIlroy will begin his bid for a second Open Championship title alongside Xander Schauffele and Matt Fitzpatrick after being handed a late-afternoon tee time for the opening round at Royal Birkdale.

The former champion is part of one of the marquee groups for the opening two rounds, with Schauffele chasing a second Claret Jug and Fitzpatrick looking to win The Open for the first time.

On Thursday afternoon, McIlroy will tee off at 3:15 PM BST alongside Schauffele and Fitzpatrick. In the second round, they will tee off at 10:09 AM.

The marquee trio is part of the late wave at Royal Birkdale, as announced by The Open. McIlroy and Schauffele will each be battling for their second Open title. On the other hand, Fitzpatrick, the 2022 U.S. Open winner, will be looking for his first.

McIlroy's lone Open Championship title came at Royal Liverpool in 2014, where he secured the Claret Jug by two strokes over Rickie Fowler and Sergio García in a wire-to-wire victory. This time, the 37-year-old arrives at Royal Birkdale with his Career Grand Slam already complete.

Ahead of the Open, the World No. 2 revealed a technical adjustment that he needs to make in his game.

Technical adjustments McIlroy must master at Royal Birkdale

Rory McIlroy is heading to Royal Birkdale with an "I'm so bad at golf" moment at the Genesis Scottish Open. However, the Irishman knows exactly what he has to work on before the season-ending major.

"I just need to hit some balls in a right-to-left wind. That usually helps me," he said after his final round at The Renaissance Club on Sunday, according to a report by HITC. "Again, it's the same thing that I get a lot when I start hitting balls in a left-to-right wind like it has been over the weekend. My path and my face just get too far apart, in terms of like my face is just the further left than my path is and I start hitting these left shots, especially with the irons." 

McIlroy shot rounds of 65, 66, 73, and 64 at The Renaissance Club. The third round put him out of contention. He pointed out that his putting was the point of difference.

"I managed the clubface better, and I held a lot of putts. I putted really well today. That was the difference between 73 and 64," he said.

McIlroy will look to avoid loose iron shots at Royal Birkdale with the extra preparation, hitting his shots into a right-to-left wind. Hopefully, that will be enough to secure the seventh major title of his career.

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Written by

Avishek Sarkar

Edited by

Pulkit Prabhav