The Open 2013: Justin Rose & Ernie Els grouped at Muirfield

England's 2013 US Open winner Justin Rose has been grouped with defending Open champion Ernie Els in the opening two rounds at Muirfield.

World number one Tiger Woods will be joined by the 2010 US Open champion Graeme McDowell and South Africa's 2010 Open winner Louis Oosthuizen.

Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy is in a group with America's Phil Mickelson.

Former champions Sir Nick Faldo and Tom Watson play with Fred Couples at the tournament which starts on Thursday.

The first shot of the 142nd Open Championship will be struck at 06:32 BST by Australian veteran Peter Senior, with Scotland's Lloyd Saltman and England's Oliver Fisher making up the first group. The last group does not get under way until 16:13.

Rose, 32, clinched his maiden major title when he became the first Englishman for 43 years to win the US Open in June.

He starts his campaign at 09:11 alongside Els, who took advantage of Adam Scott's collapse to win last year's title. American Brandt Snedeker completes their threesome.

Woods, 37, is looking for a 15th major title while world number two McIlroy will hope to build on his 2011 US Open title and his 2012 PGA Championship win.

Tee-off times and groupings for Thursday and Friday (all times BST)

06:32 & 11:33 Peter Senior (Aus), Lloyd Saltman (Sco), Oliver Fisher (Eng)

06:43 & 11:44 Robert Karlsson (Swe), Todd Hamilton (US), Ben Stow (A)

06:54 & 11:55 Thomas Aiken (SA), Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha), Bud Cauley (US)

07:05 & 12:06 Mikko Ilonen (Fin), Brooks Koepka (US), Ashun Wu (Chn)

07:16 & 12:17 David Duval (US), Bernd Wiesberger (Aut), Chris Wood (Eng)

07:27 & 12:28 Scott Stallings (US), Stewart Cink (US), Richard McEvoy (Eng)

07:38 & 12:39 KJ Choi (Kor), Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa), Jimmy Walker (US)

07:49 & 12:50 Ben Curtis (US), Shane Lowry (Ire), Rafael Cabrera-Bello (Spa)

08:00 & 13:01 Jonas Blixt (Swe), Brian Davis (Eng), Graham Delaet (Can)

08:11 & 13:12 Robert Garrigus (US), John Senden (Aus), Marc Warren (Sco)

08:22 & 13:23 Martin Kaymer (Ger), Garrick Porteous (Eng - am), Jason Day (Aus)

08:33 & 13:34 Carl Pettersson (Swe), Jason Dufner (US), David Lynn (Eng)

0844 & 13:45 Bubba Watson (US), Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel), Dustin Johnson (US)

09:00 & 14:01 Nick Faldo (Eng), Tom Watson (US), Fred Couples (US)

09:11 & 14:12 Justin Rose (Eng), Ernie Els (SA), Brandt Snedeker (US)

09:22 & 14:23 Ian Poulter (Eng), Keegan Bradley (US), Billy Horschel (US)

09:33 & 14:34 Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa), Richard Sterne (SA), Nick Watney (US)

09:44 & 14:45 Rory McIlroy (NI), Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn), Phil Mickelson (US)

09:55 & 14:56 Scott Piercy (US), Tim Clark (SA), Kevin Streelman (US)

10:06 & 15:07 Zach Johnson (US), Shingo Katayama (Jpn), Thomas Bjorn (Den)

10:17 & 15:18 Angel Cabrera (Arg), Camilo Villegas (Col), Tano Goya (Arg)

10:28 & 15:29 George Coetzee (SA), Ken Duke (US), Mark Calcavecchia (US)

10:39 & 15:40 John Huh (US), Brendan Jones (Aus), Hyung-Sung Kim (Kor)

10:50 & 15:51 Josh Teater (US), Steven Tiley (Eng), Jimmy Mullen (Eng - am)

11:01 & 16:02 KT Kim (Kor), Steven Jeffress (Aus), Luke Guthrie (USA)

11:12 & 14:13 John Wade (Aus), Gareth Wright (Wal), Makoto Inoue (Jpn)

11:33 & 06:32 Danny Willett, YE Yang (Kor), Johnson Wagner (USA)

11:44 & 06:43 Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha), Lucas Glover (USA), Oscar Floren (Swe)

11:55 & 06:54 Boo Weekley (USA), Sandy Lyle (Sco), Niclas Fasth (Swe)

12:06 & 07:05 Marcus Fraser (Aus), Grant Forrest (Sco - am), Mark O'Meara (US)

12:17 & 07:16 Tom Lehman (US), Thongchai Jaidee (Tha), Fredrik Jacobsen (Swe)

12:28 & 07:27 Justin Leonard (US), Rhys Pugh (Wal - am), Marc Leishman (Aus)

12:39 & 07:38 Alvaro Quiros (Spa), Kyle Stanley (US), Alexander Noren (Swe)

12:50 & 07:49 Russell Henley (US), Jordan Spieth (US), Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng - am)

13:01 & 08:00 Padraig Harrington (Ire), Michael Thompson (US), Richie Ramsay (Sco)

13:12 & 08:11 Vijay Singh (Fij), Darren Clarke (NI), Martin Laird (Sco)

13:23 & 08:22 Ryan Moore (US), Henrik Stenson (Swe), Steven Fox (US - am)

13:34 & 08:33 Thorbjorn Olesen (Den), Jim Furyk (US), Paul Lawrie (Sco)

13:45 & 08:44 Geoff Ogilvy (Aus), Harris English (US), Stephen Gallacher (Sco)

14:01 & 09:00 Lee Westwood (Eng), Charl Schwartzel (SA), Sergio Garcia (Spa)

14:12 & 09:11 Adam Scott (Aus), Matt Kuchar (US), Luke Donald (Eng)

14:23 & 09:22 Rickie Fowler (US), Matteo Manassero (Ita), Hunter Mahan (US)

14:34 & 09:33 Peter Hanson (Swe), Hiroyuki Fujita (Jpn), Bill Haas (US)

14:45 & 09:44 Tiger Woods (US), Graeme McDowell (NI), Louis Ooshuizen (SA)

14:56 & 09:55 Webb Simpson (US), Branden Grace (SA), Jamie Donaldson (Wal)

15:07 & 10:06 Francesco Molinari (Ita), Toru Taniguchi (Jpn), Bo Van Pelt (US)

15:18 & 10:17 D A Points (US), Brett Rumford (Aus), Marcel Siem (Ger)

15:29 & 10:28 George Murray (Sco), Mark Brown (NZ), Justin Harding (SA)

15:40 & 10:39 Gregory Bourdy (Fra), Scott Jamieson (Sco), Shiv Kapur (Ind)

15:51 & 10:50 Scott Brown (USA, Satoshi Kodaira (Jpn), Gareth Maybin (NI)

16:02 & 11:01 Tyrrell Hatton (Eng), Eduardo De La Riva (Spa), Kenichi Kuboya (Jpn)

16:13 & 11:12 Stephen Dartnall (Aus), Darryn Lloyd (SA), Daisuke Maruyama (Jpn)