There are 16 past champions playing in the 2025 British Open Championship at Royal Portrush. Only one of them is a two-time winner of the Claret Jug.
Padriag Harrington won the Claret Jug in back-to-back years (2007, 2008) and he’s the most recent golfer to pull off that feat. He was also the first European golfer to do it more than 100 years.
Who will hit the first tee shot at the 2025 British Open Championship?
So it’s only fitting that Harrington, who’s grouped with Nicoloai Hojgaard and Tom McKibbin at 1:35 a.m. ET (6:35 a.m. local time in Scotland), will be the first to hit in Thursday’s first round.
And while Harrington wasn’t among the 10 golfers to hold an official pre-tournament news conference, he did hold an impromptu media session during his practice round on Thursday. He quipped there’s no such thing as a bad links golf course and compared it to whiskey, essentially saying there’s no bad whiskey, there’s just some better than others.
At about 10 p.m. local time Wednesday in Scotland, Harrington posted a screenshot of the 4 a.m. alarm he set on his iPhone. You can bet there’s no way he’s missing his tee time at Royal Portrush on Thursday morning.
Harrington is one of just 11 men to win the Open in consecutive years. The others:
Tiger Woods (2005, 2006), Tom Watson (1982, 1983), Lee Trevino (1971, 1972), Arnold Palmer (1961, 1962), Peter Thomson, (1954, 1955, 1956), Bobby Locke (1950, 1951), Walter Hagen (1928, 1929), Bobby Jones (1926, 1927), James Braid (1905, 1906), Harry Vardon (1898, 1899), JH Taylor (1894, 1895), Bob Ferguson (1880, 1881, 1882), Jamie Anderson (1877, 1878, 1879), Young Tom Morris Jr. (1868, 1869, 1870, 1872), Old Tom Morris (1862, 1862). Note: Young Tom Morris didn’t get a chance to defend in 1871 as that year’s open was canceled.
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