Five Open Championship pairings to watch: Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy groups headline deep field

The 154th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale is this weekend, marking golf's final major of the 2026 season.

Before the world's top golfers tee off, here's a look at five first and second round pairings we're most excited to watch.

Scottie Scheffler • Tyrrell Hatton • Bryson DeChambeau

Round 1 - 4:58 a.m. ET | Round 2 - 10:04 a.m. ET

Scheffler, the No. 1 golfer in the world, hasn't won a major since last year's Open and missed the cut at last week's Genesis Scottish Open, his first time doing so since August 2022. He'll need to rely on another approach to repeat after excelling with his driving distance at Royal Portrush.

Royal Birkdale isn't designed for players to power their way to low scores. Instead, accuracy is essential, and after finishing nine percentage points worse than the field in fairways hit at the Scottish Open, per Data Golf, Scheffler must quickly rediscover his form to win a fifth major.

Hatton finished in the top 10 earlier this year at the Masters (T-3) and U.S. Open (T-7) but hasn't had that type of success at The Open since 2019, his last top-10 finish. The most recent time The Open was held at Royal Birkdale (2017), Hatton finished six strokes above the cut line at 11 over par in 36 holes.

DeChambeau has flopped at this year's majors, missing the cut at all three, and three-time Open winner Nick Faldo recently blasted the two-time major champ, telling Sky Sports that DeChambeau has "zero clue of strategy" playing links golf. He'll have to defy the odds to be a contender through Sunday.

Rory McIlroy • Xander Schauffele • Matt Fitzpatrick

R1 - 10:15 a.m. ET | R2 - 5:09 a.m. ET

McIlroy hasn't won The Open since 2014, but with six top-10 finishes in nine events since, he's almost always a threat, and that could continue at Royal Birkdale, where he finished tied for fourth in 2017. Schauffele, a two-time major champion, claimed the claret jug two years ago and hasn't finished worse than a tie for 11th in his past four majors.

Fitzpatrick has three tour wins this year and finished in the top four in three of his past four tournaments, including a tie for third at the Scottish Open.

Cameron Young • Wyndham Clark • Ludvig Aberg

R1 - 10:04 a.m. ET | R2 - 4:58 a.m. ET

Clark won his second U.S. Open last month and is coming off his best finish at The Open in 2025 (T-4). He ranks fourth in the FedEx Cup standings, one spot below Young, who, like Aberg (ranked eighth), is seeking a first major title.

Shane Lowry • Aaron Rai • Brooks Koepka

R1 - 9:53 a.m. ET | R2 - 4:47 a.m. ET

Rai claimed his first career major at this year's PGA Championship, and as the second-most accurate driver on tour this year, he may have the proper game for the environment at Royal Birkdale.

Lowry and Koepka, meanwhile, both missed the cut at both the Scottish Open and 2026 U.S. Open, leaving the two former grand slam champs with little positive momentum heading into the weekend. They must turn back the clock or risk another early exit.

Russell Henley • Justin Rose • Viktor Hovland

R1 - 4:36 a.m. ET | R2 - 9:42 a.m. ET

Henley leads the PGA Tour in driving accuracy (73.41 percent) and is also third in scrambling (66.56 percent). With a fifth-place finish in 2024 and tie for 10th at 2025's The Open Championship, perhaps this is the year he ends on top. 

Rose, 45, is looking to become the second-oldest winner in Open Championship history, but he'll have to overcome an unpleasant history at Royal Birkdale after a T-70 (2008) and a T-54 (2017) the last two times the site hosted the major tournament. Hovland won the Travelers Championship last month in a playoff over Scheffler, his first tour win this season. After failing to make the cut at the last two majors, that victory could be a sign Hovland is ready to put those setbacks behind him.