Olympic golf tee times confirmed as Rory McIlroy faces Scottie Scheffler showdown

Rory McIlroy’s quest for Olympic gold will commence with a high-profile matchup against world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and Swedish rising star Ludvig Aberg. The trio will compete at Le Golf National, the venue for the 2018 Ryder Cup, in the opening rounds of the men’s Olympic golf tournament.

Scheffler, who has had a remarkable season with six PGA Tour victories including The Masters, is the favorite for the gold medal. The American will start his campaign alongside McIlroy, ranked world No. 3, and Aberg at 9:11 a.m. (BST) on Thursday.

The reigning Olympic champion, Xander Schauffele, currently world No. 2, enters the tournament in exceptional form, having won both the PGA Championship and The Open in the last three months. Schauffele will play with Spain’s Jon Rahm and Norway’s Viktor Hovland at 10:55 a.m.

Great Britain’s hopes rest on Tommy Fleetwood and Matt Fitzpatrick. Fleetwood will tee off at 8:44 a.m. alongside the USA’s Wyndham Clark and Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama. Fitzpatrick is set to play with France’s Matthieu Pavon and America’s Collin Morikawa at 11:06 a.m.

Shane Lowry, McIlroy’s teammate from Ireland, will be grouped with South Korea’s Byeong Hun An and Canada’s Nick Taylor at 10:44 a.m.

Here are the full tee times for the opening two rounds of the Olympic golf tournament, all times in BST:

– 8:00 a.m./9:55 a.m.: Victor Perez (France), Matti Schmid (Germany), C.T. Pan (Chinese Taipei)
– 8:11 a.m./10:06 a.m.: Thorbjørn Olesen (Denmark), Alejandro Tosti (Argentina), Joaquin Niemann (Chile)
– 8:22 a.m./10:17 a.m.: Emiliano Grillo (Argentina), Alex Noren (Sweden), Ryan Fox (New Zealand)
– 8:33 a.m./10:33 a.m.: Min Woo Lee (Australia), Corey Conners (Canada), Christian Bezuidenhout (South Africa)
– 8:44 a.m./10:44 a.m.: Wyndham Clark (USA), Hideki Matsuyama (Japan), Tommy Fleetwood (Great Britain)
– 8:55 a.m./10:55 a.m.: Sepp Straka (Austria), Jason Day (Australia), Tom Kim (Korea)
– 9:11 a.m./11:06 a.m.: Scottie Scheffler (USA), Rory McIlroy (Ireland), Ludvig Åberg (Sweden)
– 9:22 a.m./11:17 a.m.: Adrien Dumont de Chassart (Belgium), Daniel Hillier (New Zealand), Guido Migliozzi (Italy)
– 9:33 a.m./11:28 a.m.: Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Thailand), Gavin Green (Malaysia), Gaganjeet Bhullar (India)
– 9:44 a.m./11:39 a.m.: Phachara Khongwatmai (Thailand), Abraham Ancer (Mexico), Dou Zecheng (China)
– 9:55 a.m./8:00 a.m.: Yuan Yechun (China), Camilo Villegas (Colombia), Matteo Manassero (Italy)
– 10:06 a.m./8:11 a.m.: Adrian Meronk (Poland), Sami Valimaki (Finland), David Puig (Spain)
– 10:17 a.m./8:22 a.m.: Erik van Rooyen (South Africa), Keita Nakajima (Japan), Kevin Yu (Chinese Taipei)
– 10:33 a.m./8:33 a.m.: Stephan Jaeger (Germany), Nicolai Højgaard (Denmark), Thomas Detry (Belgium)
– 10:44 a.m./8:44 a.m.: Byeong Hun An (Korea), Shane Lowry (Ireland), Nick Taylor (Canada)
– 10:55 a.m./8:55 a.m.: Xander Schauffele (USA), Viktor Hovland (Norway), Jon Rahm (Spain)
– 11:06 a.m./9:11 a.m.: Matthieu Pavon (France), Collin Morikawa (USA), Matt Fitzpatrick (Great Britain)
– 11:17 a.m./9:22 a.m.: Shubhankar Sharma (India), Rafael Campos (Puerto Rico), Carlos Ortiz (Mexico)
– 11:28 a.m./9:33 a.m.: Nico Echavarria (Colombia), Mito Pereira (Chile), Kris Ventura (Norway)
– 11:39 a.m./9:44 a.m.: Fabrizio Zanotti (Paraguay), Joel Girrbach (Switzerland), Tapio Pulkkanen (Finland)