Of the 11 South Africans in the field at this week’s 153rd Open at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland, former champion Louis Oosthuizen will be first off the tee at 07:46 tomorrow.

According to The Citizen, the Open champion at St Andrews in 2010, who now plays his golf on the LIV Tour, will play alongside Guido Migliozzi and KJ Choi for the first two rounds.

Oosthuizen has enjoyed playing the Open over the years and also boasts a tied second (2015) and tied third (2021) in 17 appearances. He will hope for another good week on the links course.

Following Oosthuizen off the tee will be Daniel van Tonder at 08:19, alongside Phil Mickelson and Ryan Peake, and then Justin Walters at 10:14 in a group with Takumi Kanaya and fellow South African amateur, 18-year-old Bryan Newman.

Newman will be chasing the silver medal, awarded to the best amateur in the tournament, after qualifying to play this week by winning the Africa Amateur Championship at Leopard Creek in February as a 17-year-old.

SA Open champion Naidoo

At 10:47, new hotshot and recent first-time winner on the PGA Tour, Aldrich Potgieter, will tee off with American powerhouses Sam Burns and Brooks Koepka, who has won five Majors but is seeking a first Claret Jug.

At 11:53, SA Open champion Dylan Naidoo, who won in a playoff in Durban in early March, will make his Open debut alongside veteran South African Darren Fichardt, with John Axelsen the other member of their group.

Another South African playing LIV Golf, Dean Burmester, will play alongside Davis Thompson of the US and Rikuya Hoshino of Japan from 13:42, while Shaun Norris will be in a group featuring Matt McCarty of the US and Spain’s Angel Hidalgo at 14:15.

Christiaan Bezuidenhout, now a regular on the PGA Tour in the US, will play alongside Rasmus Hojgaard and Romain Langasque, while Thriston Lawrence, who led the Open at one stage last year and eventually finished fourth, will tee off at 15:04 alongside former champion Justin Leonard and Antoine Rozner.

The defending champion this week is American Xander Schauffele.

The last time the Open was held at Royal Portrush, in 2019, Ireland’s Shane Lowry won the Claret Jug. The last South African winner was Ernie Els in 2012 at Royal Lytham and St Annes, but he is not playing this year.