As Thursday's first round proved, tee times can be very important in the British Open. Morning groups had a distinct advantage in the first round due to course conditions becoming increasingly difficult as the day went on. The flipping of tee times Friday could change the fortunes of those players who will now tee off in the afternoon.
Tiger Woods, Mark O'Meara, Jordan Spieth and Shiv Kapur were among the few players who managed to shoot under par Thursday despite playing in the late groups. All four will be in early pairings on Friday and should face more favorable scoring conditions with the moisture in the early morning softening the course.
How dry Muirfield gets as the day progresses will determine how big of an advantage playing early is. If the course plays anything like it did on Thursday, a low round on Friday morning could put Woods or the others in the lead heading into the weekend.
O'Meara will have a chance to set the pace early. He opens the second round at 4-under, one stroke off the lead. He'll tee off at 2:05 a.m. ET on Friday, the fourth group of the day. Woods will tee off at 4:44 a.m., playing once again with Graeme McDowell.
Zach Johnson will play in one of the final groups, teeing off 10:07 a.m., while Phil Mickelson will tee off at 9:45 a.m. Here is a complete look at Friday's pairings, all times Eastern.
1:32 a.m. | Johnson Wagner | Danny Willett | Y.E. Yang |
1:43 a.m. | Oscar Floren | Lucas Glover | Thaworn Wiratchant |
1:54 a.m. | Niclas Fasth | Sandy Lyle | Boo Weekley |
2:05 a.m. | Grant Forrest | Marcus Fraser | Mark O'Meara |
2:16 a.m. | Freddie Jacobson | Thongchai Jaidee | Tom Lehman |
2:27 a.m. | Marc Leishman | Justin Leonard | Rhys Pugh |
2:38 a.m. | Kyle Stanley | Alvaro Quiros | |
2:49 a.m. | Matthew Fitzpatrick | Russell Henley | Jordan Spieth |
3:00 a.m. | Padraig Harrington | Richie Ramsay | Michael Thompson |
3:11 a.m. | Darren Clarke | Martin Laird | Vijay Singh |
3:22 a.m. | Steven Fox | Ryan Moore | Henrik Stenson |
3:33 a.m. | Jim Furyk | Paul Lawrie | Thorbjorn Olesen |
3:44 a.m. | Harris English | Stephen Gallacher | Geoff Ogilvy |
4:00 a.m. | Sergio Garcia | Charl Schwartzel | Lee Westwood |
4:11 a.m. | Luke Donald | Matt Kuchar | Adam Scott |
4:22 a.m. | Rickie Fowler | Hunter Mahan | Matteo Manassero |
4:33 a.m. | Hiroyuki Fujita | Bill Haas | |
4:44 a.m. | Graeme McDowell | Tiger Woods | |
4:55 a.m. | Jamie Donaldson | Branden Grace | Webb Simpson |
5:06 a.m. | Francesco Molinari | Toru Taniguchi | Bo Van Pelt |
5:17 a.m. | D.A. Points | Brett Rumford | Marcel Siem |
5:28 a.m. | Mark Brown | Justin Harding | George Murray |
5:39 a.m. | Gregory Bourdy | Scott Jamieson | Shiv Kapur |
5:50 a.m. | Scott Brown | Satoshi Kodaira | Gareth Maybin |
6:01 a.m. | Eduardo De La Riva | Tyrrell Hatton | Kenichi Kuboya |
6:12 a.m. | Steve Dartnall | Darryn Lloyd | Daisuke Maruyama |
6:33 a.m. | Oliver Fisher | Lloyd Saltman | Peter Senior |
6:44 a.m. | Todd Hamilton | Robert Karlsson | Ben Stow |
6:55 a.m. | Thomas Aiken | Kiradech Aphibarnrat | Bud Cauley |
7:06 a.m. | Mikko Ilonen | Brooks Koepka | A-Shun Wu |
7:17 a.m. | David Duval | Bernd Wiesberger | Chris Wood |
7:28 a.m. | Stewart Cink | Richard McEvoy | Scott Stallings |
7:39 a.m. | K.J. Choi | Miguel A. Jimenez | Jimmy Walker |
7:50 a.m. | Rafael Cabrera-Bello | Ben Curtis | Shane Lowry |
8:01 a.m. | Jonas Blixt | Brian Davis | Graham DeLaet |
8:12 a.m. | Robert Garrigus | John Senden | Marc Warren |
8:23 a.m. | Jason Day | Martin Kaymer | Garrick Porteous |
8:34 a.m. | Jason Dufner | David Lynn | Carl Pettersson |
8:45 a.m. | Nicolas Colsaerts | Dustin Johnson | Bubba Watson |
9:01 a.m. | Fred Couples | Nick Faldo | Tom Watson |
9:12 a.m. | Ernie Els | Justin Rose | Brandt Snedeker |
9:23 a.m. | Keegan Bradley | Billy Horschel | Ian Poulter |
9:34 a.m. | Gonzalo Fdez-Castano | Richard Sterne | Nick Watney |
9:45 a.m. | Hideki Matsuyama | Rory McIlroy | Phil Mickelson |
9:56 a.m. | Tim Clark | Scott Piercy | Kevin Streelman |
10:07 a.m. | Thomas Bjorn | Zach Johnson | Shingo Katayama |
10:18 a.m. | Angel Cabrera | Tano Goya | Camilo Villegas |
10:29 a.m. | Mark Calcavecchia | George Coetzee | Ken Duke |
10:40 a.m. | John Huh | Brendan Jones | Hyung-Sung Kim |
10:51 a.m. | Jimmy Mullen | Josh Teater | Steven Tiley |
11:02 a.m. | Luke Guthrie | Steven Jeffress | K.T. Kim |
11:13 a.m. | Makoto Inoue | John Wade | Gareth Wright |
More golf from SB Nation:
• After Round 1: Johnson leads; Tiger, Phil 2 back
• Tiger, Phil to face different course conditions on Friday
• Tiger’s ball goes the wrong way | More Tiger coverage
• Charl Schwartzel snaps club in half | Thomas Bjorn breaks camera
• A guide to Muirfield | A links course defined