British Open 2017 Tee Times, Pairings Announced for Rounds 1 and 2

Defending champion Henrik Stenson will play his opening two rounds of the 2017 British Open at Royal Birkdale in Southport, England, with world No. 3 Jordan Spieth and South Korea's Si Woo Kim

The pairings and tee times were announced on Monday via the tournament's Twitter account, with world No. 1 Dustin Johnson and world No. 4 Rory McIlroy confirmed for arguably the headline grouping alongside 2011 Masters champion Charl Schwartzel:

Current Masters champion Sergio Garcia, world No. 6 Jason Day and 2015 Open winner Zach Johnson are included in another of the notable trios, while the well-fancied Rickie Fowler will play alongside England's Paul Casey and Australia's Adam Scott.

The last time golf's oldest major was played at Birkdale was in 2008, when Padraig Harrington successfully defended the title he had won a year earlier at Carnoustie, Scotland.

Stenson will hope to emulate the Irishman this year at the Merseyside course, but he has serious competition to contend with.

And many of the top stars will be desperate to bounce back from poor showings at last month's U.S. Open—won by Brooks Koepka—where Johnson, McIlroy and Day all missed the cut.