The Open 2019 tee times: Sunday pairings brought forward due to threat of poor weather
The tee times for the final day at The Open have been moved forward by around an hour to avoid bad weather conditions, which are due to hit Northern Ireland's Royal Portrush course late in the evening.
The final group, which is currently set to be made up of Shane Lowry and Tommy Fleetwood as they lead the way on -13 and -12 respectively, will take to the course at 1:47pm on Sunday afternoon.
The tee-off is an hour earlier than last year's final round at Carnoustie, and two hours earlier than when Lowry and JB Holmes started their third round on Saturday.
"Sunday tee times have been moved forward due to the adverse weather forecast," tournament organisers the R&A tweeted.
"The first tee time will be at 7:32am with the leaders beginning their final round at 1:47pm."
It is the second time this year that the final round of a major has been affected by weather, following the early finish to The Masters last April when Tiger Woods secured his 15th career major victory.
On that occasion, heavy thunderstorms expected in the afternoon lead to organisers deciding on a two-tee start and threesomes instead of pairings, though players will remain in twos at The Open and it has been decided that there is enough time for all groups to tee off from the first hole as planned.
Welcome to The Independent's live coverage of the final round at The Open, which gets underway imminently as Irishman Shane Lowry looks to defend a four-shot lead to claim his first major on home soil.
It was a famous day at Royal Portrush on Saturday as Lowry broke the course record with a supreme eight-under-par round of 63, giving him a healthy lead over his nearest challenger in Tommy Fleetwood. The pair will head out last at 1:47pm, though tee times have already been brought forward by an hour due to the threat of bad weather and rain and high winds are expected throughout today's round.
With Ashton Turner set to get the round underway at 7:32am, let's not waste any time as the fourth and final round of th1 148th Open Championship begins.
We're expecting rainfall today at Portrush, probably in the afternoon when the leaders head out onto the course, winds could reach up to 35mph, but are expected to be in the region of 20mph regardless.
"I know it's going to rain," said Shane Lowry. "I know it's going to be difficult at times and I have just have to try and shoot the best score I can."
Game no. 3 is just getting under way, Eddie Pepperell (+5) and Nino Bertasio (+5) are the pairing. They both find the left edge of the fairway wit their drives.
On the green Shubhankar Sharma (+6) misses his putt for par. He'll drop to (+7).
With conditions today set to be the most difficult of the week, it'll take a special round from someone to reel Shane Lowry in from his four-shot lead.
Yesterday was all about the Irishman who set a record breaking round of 63:
A quiet but consistent opening two rounds were rewarded for Danny Willett yesterday, who shot a brilliant round of 65 to send him to (-7) for the tournament:
Here's a look at the top of the leaderboard from overnight. Lowry and Fleetwood tee off at 1:47pm today, you'd think it would have be one of those two to lift the Claret Jug at the end of the day but this is The Open and anything can happen.
Kokrak (+4) and Grace (+3) both miss birdie chances on the first green.
Sharma (+5) makes his second birdie of the day with a two on the third, and Kiradech (+3) joins him. This pairing are scoring well, between them they're 5-under thru three holes.
Kiradech Aphibarnrat (+2) is storming out there, he made an opening bogey but since then has carded an eagle and two birdies as he finishes up the fifth hole. He's 3-under for the day.
Casey's (+2) approach shot to the first green is a little long, it got a good skip when it hit the green so he'll have a downhill putt for birdie. Hebert (+2) goes one better and leaves himself an 8 footer or so for a three.
6th hole
Eddie Pepperell's completed something of a recovery following two bogeys on the first two holes. Birdies on three, five and now six put him 1-under for the day and (+4) for the tournament.
