Rory, Fleetwood, JT headline notable groups at Portrush

The Royal and Ancient delivered some star-studded groups for the opening two rounds of The Open at Royal Portrush.

Rory McIlroy will be in the afternoon wave for the first round, hitting the course alongside good friends Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Thomas at 3:10 p.m. local time (10:10 a.m. ET) in the final featured group of the day.

That trio is playing in Thursday's later groupings alongside the likes of Bryson DeChambeau, Jordan Spieth, and Viktor Hovland, with an early-morning tee time awaiting on Friday.

Defending champion Xander Schauffele gets his tournament started early with a 9:58 a.m. local start beside Jon Rahm and U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun. They're joined in the morning session by Portrush hero Shane Lowry, Collin Morikawa and World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler.

Notable groups (all times ET)

Group: Xander Schauffele, Jon Rahm, J.J. Spaun
Round 1 - 4:58 a.m. ET
Round 2 - 9:59 a.m. ET

Group: Shane Lowry, Collin Morikawa, Scottie Scheffler
Round 1 - 5:09 a.m. ET
Round 2 - 10:10 a.m. ET

Group: Bryson DeChambeau, Robert MacIntyre, Justin Rose
Round 1 - 9:48 a.m. ET
Round 2 - 4:47 a.m. ET

Group: Jordan Spieth, Ludvig Aberg, Viktor Hovland
Round 1 - 9:59 a.m. ET
Round 2 - 4:58 a.m. ET

Group: Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas, Tommy Fleetwood
Round 1 - 10:10 a.m. ET
Round 2 - 5:09 a.m. ET

Irish golf legend Padraig Harrington will get the 153rd Open Championship started by hitting the first tee shot on Thursday,