Rod Pampling has been bestowed a great honour at The 144^th Open Championship.

The Queenslander will hit the very first ball of the
tournament and lead out a field which includes some of the greats of golf like
Tom Watson and Sir Nick Faldo as well as the hottest player in the world right
now Jordan Spieth.

Teeing off at 6.32am local time alongside Englishman Greg
Owen and Dane Thomas Bjorn, Aussie fans will be able to follow Pampling’s
progress in the first round courtesy of an Australian friendly tee time of
3.32pm (AEST).

Pampling earned his place in The Open courtesy of his runner-up
finish at the 2014 Emirates Australian Open and comes into this week having
already won on the Web.com Tour this year.

While he will lead out the field this week, Pampling also led
the field on the leaderboard in his Open debut in 1999 when he was the only
player to shoot an even par first round at Carnoustie, before going on to miss
the cut following an 86 in the second round.    

Pampling isn’t the only Australian to have been bestowed the
privilege of hitting the first tee shot of The Open, Peter Senior also had the
honour in 2012 at Muirfield.  

Pampling is the first Aussie to tee off while Scott Strange
and Marcus Fraser will be the last to start their Major campaign teeing off at
4.02pm local time, 1.02am AEST with the other 12 Australians slotting in somewhere
in between.

Related Links

Info / Australian Tee Times
Info / TV Schedule
Info / Live Scores
Article / The Open form guide – 16.07.15