Australia will have 12 starters in The Open Championship, which tees off from 3.30pm on Thursday (Australian time) at St Andrews. They are: Mathew Goggin (to tee off 3.41pm), John Senden (3.52) Robert Allenby (5.09) Jason Day (6.42) Michael Sim (7.26) Ewan Porter (7.48) Cameron Percy (7.59) Peter Senior (8.41) Marc Leishman (9.14) Adam Scott (10.42) Geoff Ogilvy (10.53) Kurt Barnes (12.15am Friday). Scott will play in an afternoon highlight group with England star Lee Westwood and Spain’s Miguel Angel Jiminez and will be followed on the tee by Ogilvy, playing with fellow former US Open winners Jim Furyk of the US and Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell.

The weather forecast for the opening two rounds of The Open suggest that the early starters Thursday (including favourite Tiger Woods and top-rated Aussie Robert Allenby) will have wet and windy conditions with which to contend. The weather is expected to ease in the afternoon but more rain is predicted for Friday.

Aussie senior Peter Senior, playing in his sixth British Open and his first for a decade, says that making the weekend cut would be an achievement. Senior qualified through the Australasian round of international final qualifying at Kingston Heath in January. Playing St Andrews for the first time since the 2000 Open, Senior says the Old Course is playing tough. “I'm excited that I've got two weeks here. I've got St Andrews and then Carnoustie next week for the Senior (British) Open,” he said.

Greg Norman has pulled out of this week's Major due to lack of fitness and confidence in his form. “I'm disappointed that I will not be able to participate in this year's Open Championship but, unfortunately, it is taking longer than expected to regain competitive form,” Norman said on the Open website. The cause for the shock withdrawal was linked to shoulder surgery Norman had in September.

Aussie qualifier Kurt Barnes had an early highlight at The Open – having signed on for a practice round on Monday he was joined by golf icon Tom Watson and US star Ben Crane. The same day Robert Allenby was joined by Jin Jeong, the Korean-born Melbourne-based teenage golfer who recently won a spot in The Open by virtue of his clinching the British Amateur Championship.

Peter Thomson, the five-time Open champion, may miss playing in the Champions Challenge tomorrow because of “medical complications”. Golf writer Peter Stone reported in the Sun-Herald on Sunday that Thomson has been named one of seven team captains for the four-hole Champions Challenge, which brings together 27 past winners for an exhibition that is part of the 150th anniversary celebrations, but the 80-year-old will probably not be playing.

from pgatour.com.au