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Darren Clarke to get the honour of hitting first shot at The Open in Portrush

Darren Clarke to get the honour of hitting first shot at The Open in Portrush

2011 winner Darren Clarke will have the honour of hitting the first shot of The Open Championship at Portrush this week.

Clarke will be up in the first group of the week, alongside Irish amateur James Sugrue and American Charley Hoffman at 6.35am.

All six Irish players will be out early on day one.

Two-time winner Padraig Harrington has a 7.30am start. Joining him on the course will be England's Matt Fitzpatrick and America's Andrew Putnam.

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Shane Lowry will have five-time major winner Phil Mickelson and South Africa's Branden Grace for company when he takes to the first tee at 7.52am.

Local boy Graeme McDowell has been drawn alongside 2018 runner-up Xander Schauffele and 2016 champion Henrik Stenson. They tee off at 9.14am.

Rory McIlroy will be the last of the Irish to tee off on the opening day, going out with Gary Woodland and Paul Casey at 10.09am.

Among the other first-round tee times, defending champion Francesco Molinari will play with Bryson deChambeau and Adam Scott at 9.58am.

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Tiger Woods is one of the later starters, getting underway at 3.10pm in the company of Matt Wallace and Patrick Reed.

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