As Scottie Scheffler gets to grips with his approach to the 18th on his final practice round, here's what 2011 Open champion Darren Clarke thinks about the approach to the final hole of the course.

He's been speaking to BBC Sport NI's Stephen Watson.

Matt Gault
BBC Sport NI at Royal Portrush

The approach into the 18th is quite daunting if you're short of the bunkers off the right of the fairway.

Scottie Scheffler's drive landed just left of them. He tested a few different lies - uphill, sidehill - and seemed happy enough as he trudged off towards the green.

Here's a sneak peak on what I can see from my seat in the media centre.

We have an LED wall of information telling us who is out and where they are.

So let's check in with our reporters on the course to see what's happening out there!

Matt Gault
BBC Sport NI at Royal Portrush

Scottie Scheffler has been enjoying his final practice round with Thorbjorn Olesen, Jesper Svensson and Sampson Zheng.

It's Zheng's 24th birthday today. Scheffler and co prompted the crowd into a "Happy Birthday to you" on the 16th tee.

"I'll remember that for a while," Zheng said as he walked off the tee.

Let's get back out on the Dunluce course and have a look to see who is out there for final practice.

"It was just unbelievable. He's obviously an absolute superstar now but, truth be told, he was a superstar in the making after that day."

It is 20 years ago, almost to the day, that a 16-year-old Rory McIlroy breezed round Royal Portrush - venue for this week's 153rd Open Championship - in 61 shots to set a new course record.

Aaron O'Callaghan was one of McIlroy's playing partners that day and says that the curly-haired teenager went to "the next level" over those 18 holes.

You can read Jonathan Bradley's full feature piece here

It was the sight we have been waiting for and we were able to catch a glimpse of it on Tuesday evening.

Masters champion Rory McIlroy in green at Royal Portrush yesterday heading for an evening function at the clubhouse.

Matt Gault
BBC Sport NI at Royal Portrush

Scottie Scheffler's visit to the media tent yesterday veered, shockingly, into existential territory as he asked: "what's the point of it all?"

But there's been no sign of the world number one wrestling with life's great imponderables so far this morning.

Business as usual. Knocking a few balls around under the Portrush sun. He took a few attempts to escape the cavernous bunker left of the 14th green, but he's looking as relaxed as ever.

Faith Harper
BBC Sport NI at Royal Portrush

So Mr McIlroy is out at the practice area and word has spread... so much so, there is a queue of spectators trying to get in for a glimpse of the Grand Slam champion.

So while the sun is shining, let's take you out on the course to see what's happening...

That concludes Mark Darbon's live press conference from Royal Portrush where he addressed the issues around Turnberry and LIV players requests for world ranking points.

Darbon on Turnberry and the Trump ownership:

It's a somewhat hypothetical question. Unless we address the logistical challenges, it's difficult for us to go back. I met a couple of months ago with Eric Trump and some of the leadership from the Trump golf organisation from Turnberry. We had a really good discussion. I think they understand clearly where we are coming from. We talked through some of the challenges that we have so we have a good dialogue with them.

On LIV players world rankings:

We had an OWGR board meeting yesterday. An application has been received. I think that's a good think. There's a robust process that now exists. The bid will be assessed by the technical committee and then ultimately determined by the board.

R&A chief executive Mark Darbon on Turnberry:

I think we have been extremely clear on our position in regard to Turnberry. We love the golf course but we have some big logistical issues there. You've seen the scale of the set-up here and there's some work to do on the road, rail and accommodation infrastructure around Turnberry.

We've explicitly not taken it out of our pool of venues but we'd need to address those logistical challenges should we return.

R&A chief executive Mark Darbon on prize money:

I'm a big believer that the athletes are the stars of our sport and deserve to be compensated.

On Portmarnock hosting the Open:

I've got one venue on my mind this week and it's Portrush. Yes, we are thinking about Portmarnock. We think it's a fantastic links course and we've been really encouraged by the support in principle that we have had from the Irish government to work with us to understand if we can stage an Open Championship there in the future. We expect to have a clearer picture by the back end of this year.

The assembled press have been called to the interview room where we are expecting the R&A press conference to begin shortly.

Hit the play button above to watch live.

Matt Gault
BBC Sport NI at Royal Portrush

If you ever have the chance, get out and watch Phil Mickelson study a green's undulations. The man's an artist with a wedge in hand. Always has been.

Big Phil won his Open 12 years ago and is in his mid-50s now. Could he possibly contend at Portrush this week?

Faith Harper
BBC Sport NI at Royal Portrush

It's a gorgeous day out here at Royal Portrush and there are plenty of crowds taking in the final practice.

They are on the hunt for some autographs, including that of the man who won here back in 2019 - Shane Lowry.

We caught up with 2011 Open champion Darren Clarke and he gave us the lowdown on what clubs he uses to tackle the famous Dunluce course.

Let's have a quick look at some of the big names and when they are out on Thursday (all times BST):

Padraig Harrington, Nicolai Hojgaard and Tom McKibbin (06:35)

Phil Mickelson, Daniel van Tonder and Ryan Peake (07:19)

Xander Schauffele, JJ Spaun and Jon Rahm (09:58)

Shane Lowry, Collin Morikawa and Scottie Scheffler (10:09)

Russell Henley, Tyrrell Hatton and Min Woo Lee (14:37)

Robert MacIntyre, Justin Rose and Bryson DeChambeau (14:48)

Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Thomas (15:10)

You can get a full list of Thursday and Friday's tee times here