The 2026 Open Championship heads into Friday’s second round with an unexpected contender sharing the top spot. Jackson Suber, playing his first career round at The Open, made an immediate impression with a 5-under 65 to claim a share of the lead.
Suber will not have much time to dwell on his position, which may be a blessing given the pressure of leading a major championship. He is scheduled to go out early Friday at 2:30 a.m. ET, 7:30 a.m. local time, giving him a chance to build on his fast start before the course potentially firms up later in the day.
Among the early players trying to make a move is Cameron Young, who sits at 3 under and begins his second round at 4:58 a.m. alongside Wyndham Clark (+3) and Ludvig Åberg (+1). Both Clark and Åberg will need sharper rounds to feel comfortable about playing the weekend. Immediately behind them, Rory McIlroy (+2), Matt Fitzpatrick (+2) and Xander Schauffele (+1) headline a high-profile 5:09 a.m. tee time, with all three facing work to avoid an early exit.
The afternoon wave brings plenty of intrigue as Bryson DeChambeau (-3), Scottie Scheffler (-2) and Tyrrell Hatton (-1) tee off at 10:04 a.m. after each opened with an under-par round Thursday morning. Conditions at Royal Birkdale could be more demanding by then, making their second-round tests especially important. One group later, Tommy Fleetwood (-1), Jon Rahm (-1) and Jordan Spieth (+3) begin at 10:15 a.m., with Fleetwood looking to use the home crowd’s energy to climb the Open Championship leaderboard before the weekend.
Here is the complete list of Friday tee times and pairings for the second round at Royal Birkdale, where the 156-player field continues its pursuit of the winner’s share of The Open’s enhanced $17.5 million purse. For viewing details throughout the final 54 holes, check CBS Sports’ full 2026 Open TV schedule and coverage guide.
2026 Open Championship tee times, Friday pairings
All times Eastern
1:35 a.m. — John Parry, Eric Cole, Tiger Christensen
1:46 a.m. — Eugenio Chacarra, Matt Wallace, Max Greyserman
1:57 a.m. — Michael Brennan, Sahith Theegala, Laurie Canter
2:08 a.m. — Cameron Smith, Keith Mitchell, Stuart Grehan (a)
2:19 a.m. — Sepp Straka, Joaquin Niemann, Kurt Kitayama
2:30 a.m. — Sami Valimaki, Shaun Norris, Jackson Suber
2:41 a.m. — Darren Clarke, Adrien Saddier, Bernd Wiesberger
2:52 a.m. — Keegan Bradley, Corey Conners, Casey Jarvis
3:03 a.m. — Matt McCarty, Harry Hall, Haotong Li
3:14 a.m. — Padraig Harrington, Marco Penge, Michael Hollick
3:25 a.m. — Tom Kim, Billy Horschel, Mason Howell (a)
3:36 a.m. — Johnny Keefer, Pierceson Coody, Keita Nakajima
3:47 a.m. — Louis Oosthuizen, Jesper Svensson, Jack Buchanan (a)
4:03 a.m. — Bud Cauley, Jayden Schaper, Lucas Herbert
4:14 a.m. — Kristoffer Reitan, Patrick Reed, J.T. Poston
4:25 a.m. — Chris Gotterup, Sam Burns, Adam Scott
4:36 a.m. — Collin Morikawa, J.J. Spaun, Nicolai Højgaard
4:47 a.m. — Shane Lowry, Aaron Rai, Brooks Koepka
4:58 a.m. — Cameron Young, Wyndham Clark, Ludvig Åberg
5:09 a.m. — Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Matt Fitzpatrick
5:20 a.m. — Jacob Bridgeman, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, Tim Wiedemeyer (a)
5:31 a.m. — Patrick Cantlay, Daniel Berger, Nico Echavarria
5:42 a.m. — Peter Uihlein, Alistair Docherty, Francesco LaPorta
5:53 a.m. — Cameron John, Austen Truslow, Sam Bairstow
6:04 a.m. — Naoyuki Kataoka, Marcus Plunkett, Baard Skogen
6:15 a.m. — Kazuki Higa, Jiho Yang, Nevill Ruiter (a)
6:41 a.m. — Matthew Baldwin, Thomas Detry, James Nicholas
6:52 a.m. — Michael Kim, Daniel Hillier, Andy Sullivan
7:03 a.m. — Ryan Fox, Andrew Novak, Matthew Jordan
7:14 a.m. — Henrik Stenson, Max Homa, Joe Dean
7:25 a.m. — Robert MacIntyre, Rickie Fowler, Alex Fitzpatrick
7:36 a.m. — David Duval, Martin Couvra, Matthew Southgate
7:47 a.m. — Sungjae Im, Daniel Brown, Fifa Laopakdee (a)
7:58 a.m. — Gary Woodland, Jake Knapp, Jordan Smith
8:09 a.m. — Francesco Molinari, Tom McKibbin, Lev Grinberg (a)
8:20 a.m. — Hennie Du Plessis, Jose Luis Ballester, Dan Bradbury
8:31 a.m. — Angel Ayora, Victor Perez, Mateo Pulcini (a)
8:42 a.m. — Stewart Cink, Scott Vincent, Joakim Lagergren
8:53 a.m. — Michael Thorbjornsen, Kota Kaneko, Travis Smyth
9:09 a.m. — Alex Smalley, Sam Stevens, Ryo Hisatsune
9:20 a.m. — Akshay Bhatia, Harris English, Rasmus Højgaard
9:31 a.m. — Ben Griffin, Hideki Matsuyama, Min Woo Lee
9:42 a.m. — Russell Henley, Justin Rose, Viktor Hovland
9:53 a.m. — Justin Thomas, Alex Noren, Jason Day
10:04 a.m. — Scottie Scheffler, Tyrrell Hatton, Bryson DeChambeau
10:15 a.m. — Jordan Spieth, Tommy Fleetwood, Jon Rahm
10:26 a.m. — Brian Harman, Si Woo Kim, Nick Taylor
10:37 a.m. — Ryan Gerard, Maverick McNealy, David Puig
10:48 a.m. — Kazuma Kobori, Tom Sloman, David Howard (a)
10:59 a.m. — Antoine Rozner, Ren Yonexawa, Caleb Surratt
11:10 a.m. — M.J. Daffue, Frederic Lacroix, Jack McDonald
11:21 a.m. — Jeongwoo Ham, Ryutaro Nagano, Alejandro De Castro Piera (a)
