British Open 2012 Pairings: Complete Guide to Opening Round Groups

Despite sharing the same language, there are subtle differences between American English and the Queen’s.

One of them comes into play this weekend at the 141^st Open Championship at Royal Lytham and St. Annes. What we would call a group or pairing off the first tee, they call a game.

When the first round starts Thursday, 53 such games will start from the first tee.

Unlike most tournaments here in the United States, everyone will start off the first tee and play the course each day in the proper order—the first through the 18^th.

Daylight will not be a factor in trying to get all 156 players around the course, as the sun will roughly set at 9:30 p.m. British Summer Time tomorrow night.

We know that the course will be wet and windy to start, the chance of rain goes down every day and those that play the cut should face some very sunny and warm conditions by Sunday.

To get to Sunday, you have to survive Thursday. While you cannot win the thing on the first day, you certainly can lose it.

Here are 11 groups that ESPN and the BBC will be focused on tomorrow. The later your favorite player starts, the better off they should be. They will know whether the course is going to be giving any good scores and they will have a good idea on what they need to do to survive day one.

All times listed are local or British Summer Time.

8:42 a.m.: Adam Scott, Alan Dunbar (A), Matt Kuchar

An ideal group for Kuchar and Scott. Paired with the newly crowned British Amateur champion with Dunbar, these two low-key players will not have huge galleries with them at each hole.

Unless one of them gets into the lead, or just off it early, they will be able to go about their business for the first two rounds and will be ready for the bigger scrutiny being near the last group brings on the weekend.

The fans will be exceedingly polite and supportive of Dunbar, giving this game a rather tranquil feel.

9:09 a.m.: Darren Clarke, Ernie Els, Zach Johnson

This grouping should have a rather boisterous following.

With two Open Champions and a former Masters winner, the more casual fans will be seeing if Clarke can defend his title.

While Clarke has struggled with injuries a bit, Els has really had a good season and Johnson won last week at the John Deere in Iowa. There really could be some pretty good golf played here. 

9:20 a.m.: Lee Westwood, Yoshinori Fujimoto, Bubba Watson

This could be a rather uncomfortable game.

The crowd will be behind Westwood here. If Bubba plays well, he will feed off of it. If he does not—like when paired with Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson the first two days of the US Open—then he will have no place to hide.

Fujimoto is an up-and-coming player that just turned pro in his native Japan. He will soak it all in watching the near-favorite Westwood and always colorful Watson go around the course.

9:31 a.m.: Dustin Johnson, Graeme McDowell, Hiroyuki Fujita

Coming right after the Westwood game, these guys should be able to get down to business without too much trouble.

While Fujita is here based on a very credible year on the Japanese tour where he has won twice, both Johnson and McDowell have legitimate chances to win this week.

They both are smart enough to know that you play the course and not against each other.  There will be a few more casual fans watching with McDowell’s Northern Irish ties, but the game really does not favor anyone really.

9:42 a.m.: Tiger Woods, Justin Rose, Sergio Garcia

This group is the reason ESPN is coming on a half-hour earlier at 4:30 Eastern. This will be the most followed group of the day, something that will make Sergio a bit uneasy.

A group that will probably have mostly every shot shown live on both sides of the Atlantic, all three players will need good starts to the week to keep them going.

They should get it if Garcia and Woods find fairways and Rose gets some good confidence going with his putter. 

9:53 a.m.: Ryo Ishikawa, Martin Kaymer, Tom Watson

Watson has always thrived on playing with younger golfers. The group seems to all feed positive energy to each other and there are some generally good scores as a result.

That will be really important for Kaymer who has struggled most of the year, especially with his putting.

The young Ishikawa would like to have a breakout week here, but it is Kaymer that needs the shot of confidence the most.

Watson? You just never know.

10:15 a.m.: Jason Dufner, Martin Laird, Kevin Na

The last of the morning wave of highlight games, the pairing of the seemingly unflappable Dufner with the seemingly human rain delay in Na is an interesting one.

This group will not play fast. The key for Dufner and Laird will be keeping with their normal game if and when the pressure gets to Na hitting shots and if we see a repeat of the Players Championship with Na pulling out of his swing several times.

Na has the game to contend, if he can stay out of his own way. If Dufner just goes with the flow, he will be alright.

1:59 p.m.: Nicolas Colsaerts, Hunter Mahan, John Senden

While this group will not have throngs of casual fans following it, two very underrated players in Mahan and Colsaerts, along with an up-and-coming player with Senden, make this a very exciting group.

Colsaerts has had a very good year so far in Europe and could break through here for the win. Mahan is more than ready to win his first major while Senden had a very good early season.

It is very possible that the overnight leader comes from here, which would be a surprise for the casual fan, but not for those who closely follow it.

2:21 p.m.: Rory McIlroy, Louis Oosthuizen, Keegan Bradley

Three different personalities here, all with major wins on their resume.

While the crowd will be pro-Rory all the way, Bradley should really enjoy his first Open Championship. Oosthuizen has shown that his Open Championship was not a fluke as well.

A well-balanced game here as they are all capable of playing great golf.

2:32 p.m.: Rickie Fowler, Padraig Harrington, Manuel Trappel (A)

Sandwiched between Rory and Luke Donald, this group may just spend most of the day being kind of ignored.

Fowler and Harrington are paired with the European Amateur champion in Trappel. All three would like to prove to themselves and the golf world that they are serious about their chances.

While Trappel would in the end be extremely happy as the low amateur, Fowler would love to break through for his first major while Harrington would like all the hard work he has done to put his game back into shape to pay off.

2:43 p.m.: Luke Donald, Phil Mickelson, Geoff Oglivy

On paper, you have an all-star group. We have the world’s No. 1 in Donald, a former US Open winner in Ogilvy and the hall of famer in Phil.

In reality, you have three players with fragile confidences grouped together.

All the pressure is on Donald this week. He has the most to prove to the world that his ranking is legitimate. Ogilvy has had a rotten summer and really does not need the added attention of playing with Luke and Phil. Finally, we just do not know which Mickelson we will see. He will either have it tomorrow or not, but he will press in either case.

This will be a bumpy ride.