18 July 2023 , 13:01
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Five-time major champion Brooks Koepka's bid to add the Claret Jug to his collection has not got off to the best start after being grouped with Patrick Cantlay for the first two rounds of The Open Championship this week.
LIV Golf rebel Koepka has enjoyed a return to top form this season, winning the PGA Championship at Oak Hill at May, but he endured an agonising last day at the Masters a month before as Jon Rahm beat him to the coveted green jacket.
After the final round at Augusta National, Koepka slammed former Ryder Cup teammate Cantlay for his slow play, with his and Rahm's frustration clear to see as they waited on the tee boxes on the back nine.
Cantlay, 31, was in the penultimate group alongside Viktor Hovland, who was also unimpressed with how long the eight-time PGA Tour winner was taking to play his shots, with the Norwegian chipping onto the 13th green while his playing partner was still in the fairway.
"The group in front of us was brutally slow," Koepka said after carding a final round of three-over-par to lose by four. "Jon went to the bathroom like seven times during the round, and we were still waiting.”
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Cantlay defended himself, saying he and Hovland also spent plenty of time waiting with the pace of play dreadful across the course on the final day, but he admitted his pre-shot routine is "definitely slower than average".
Koepka, a two-time winner on LIV since joining the rival tour, would certainly have chosen many other playing partners before Cantlay, but they will tee off at 9.36am alongside Japan's Hideki Matsuyama at Hoylake on Thursday.
Rory McIlroy is the bookies' favourite after his victory at the Scottish Open at the Renaissance Club. (Andrew Redington/Getty Images)Rahm will play alongside Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose in the 2.59pm grouping. McIlroy displaced Rahm as the world number-two after the Northern Irishman's sensational victory in the Scottish Open on Sunday and he returns to Hoylake – where he lifted the Claret Jug in 2014 – as the bookies' favourite.
World number-one Scottie Scheffler will tee off at 9.47am with hometown hero Tommy Fleetwood and Adam Scott, while reigning Open champion Cameron Smith plays in the group immediately after at 9.58am, alongside Xander Schauffele and US Open winner Wyndham Clark.
Ireland's Shane Lowry, who won The Open at Portrush in 2019, will start at 10.09am with Rickie Fowler and Robert MacIntyre. Fowler will hope to continue his recent good form after ending a four-year wait for a PGA Tour win by claiming the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit earlier this month.
MacIntyre, meanwhile, will be full of confidence despite being narrowly edged out by McIlroy in his native Scotland on Sunday.