Woodsome Hall tour pro Chris Hanson has been handed a morning start at The Open.

And he will take to the fairways at Royal Liverpool on Thursday with at least one known opponent.

Hanson will tee off at 11.05am and will join Oscar Floren, who is a European Challenge Tour rival and the pair both qualified from a four-man play-off at the Hillside club at the start of this month.

The 28-year-old will also be playing alongside Japan’s Yoshinobu Tsukada, who plays on the Japan and Asian Tours – and his best finish on the Japan Tour is a win at the 2013 Token Homemate Cup.

Tiger Woods will not have to wait too long to make his competitive return to Hoylake in the 143rd Open, which runs for four days through to Sunday.

Woods, who claimed his third Claret Jug the last time the Open was staged at Hoylake in 2006, will start his first round at 9.04am alongside Argentina’s Angel Cabrera and Sweden’s Henrik Stenson.

After missing the first two majors of the year following back surgery, Woods returned to action in the Quicken Loans National at the end of June.

The 14-time major winner has not played competitively since, but completed 12 holes in practice on Saturday and a full round on Sunday and was in buoyant mood.

“I can do whatever I want. I’m at that point now,” the 38-year-old said of his recovery from surgery on March 31.

“We didn’t think we’d get to that point until this tournament or the week after. Before I had the procedure, I was at the point I couldn’t do anything. This is how I used to feel. I had been playing with the back injury for a while and I had my good weeks and bad weeks. Now they are all good.”

Double Open champion Padraig Harrington is in the group after Woods along with 2011 Masters winner Charl Schwartzel and Korea’s KJ Choi, with former world number one Rory McIlroy next out with American Jordan Spieth and Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama.

Phil Mickelson gets the defence of his title under way at 2.05pm in the company of 2012 winner Ernie Els and current Masters champion Bubba Watson, with Scottish Open winner Justin Rose out two groups later with world number one Adam Scott and former US PGA champion Jason Dufner.

US Open champion Martin Kaymer begins his bid for a second major of the year at 1.38pm alongside Australian Jason Day and former Masters champion Zach Johnson.

England’s David Howell has the honour of hitting the opening tee shot at 6.25am.

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