McIlroy, who won The Open the last time it was held in Hoylake in 2014, has been handed a late-early start time as he looks to follow on from his Scottish Open success and end his nine-year major drought.

The four-time major champion will headline afternoon coverage on the opening day and tee-off at 2.59pm local time, before getting under way at 9.58am on Friday, with all four rounds of the final men's major of the year exclusively live on Sky Sports.

• First round: Full groupings and tee times
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• Get Sky Sports | Stream the biggest moments on NOW

Defending champion Cameron Smith is on the opposite side of the draw and has been drawn alongside US Open winner Wyndham Clark and Xander Schauffele, who has posted top-20 finishes in his last six major appearances.

World No 1 Scottie Scheffler, arriving with top-fives in his last seven worldwide starts and having finished no worse than 12th anywhere since October, is out in the group before with Tommy Fleetwood and former Masters champion Adam Scott.

Reigning PGA Championship winner Brooks Koepka has a morning tee time on the opening day, playing with world No 4 Patrick Cantlay and Hideki Matsuyama, while 2017 champion Jordan Spieth has been put with fellow major winners Matt Fitzpatrick and Jason Day.

2014 runner-up Rickie Fowler, who won on the PGA Tour earlier this month at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, is in the same group as 2019 Champion Golfer of the Year Shane Lowry and Sunday's Scottish Open runner-up Robert MacIntyre.

Royal Liverpool member Matthew Jordan has been given the honour of hitting the opening tee shot of the tournament after progressing through Final Qualifying earlier this month, with Richie Ramsay and Branden Grace completing that opening threeball at 6.35am.

Thursday's selected tee times

USA unless stated; All times BST

0903 Jordan Spieth, Matt Fitzpatrick (Eng), Jason Day (Aus)

0936 Patrick Cantlay, Brooks Koepka, Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn)

0947 Scottie Scheffler, Tommy Fleetwood (Eng), Adam Scott (Aus)

0958 Cameron Smith (Aus), Xander Schauffele, Wyndham Clark

1009 Shane Lowry (Irl), Rickie Fowler, Robert Macintyre (Sco)

1448 Viktor Hovland (Nor), Tony Finau, Justin Thomas

1459 Rory McIlroy (Nirl), Jon Rahm (Esp), Justin Rose (Eng)

1510 Collin Morikawa, Max Homa, Tyrrell Hatton (Eng)

See the full groupings and R1 tee times here...

When is The Open live on Sky Sports?

Sky Sports will have round-the-clock coverage from The Open, with 80 hours of live programming across the tournament week and a host of extra programming available to enjoy.

Wall-to-wall coverage will begin from 6.30am for the first two tournament days on Thursday July 20 and Friday July 21, ahead of the opening tee shot at 6.35am, with the action live until 9pm for each of the opening two rounds.

Day three coverage begins at 9am and runs through until after the action is finished, with early play live on the red button as 'Saturday at The Open' offers updates from the course alongside shot centre challenges, special guests, fun features and much more, while the same offering stars from 8am for Sunday's final round.

There is also lots of extra coverage available throughout each day via the red button on Sky Sports Golf, along with Sky Q and Sky Glass, with Featured Groups and Featured Hole feeds available to enjoy as the world's best players tackle Royal Liverpool.

Watch The 151st Open throughout the week exclusively live on Sky Sports. Live coverage of the opening round begins on Thursday July 20 from 6.30am on Sky Sports Golf.