The Open 2023: what is the cut? What Rory McIlroy must hit to reach final rounds of golf Major - tee times explained

The Open is well underway at Hoylake Royal Liverpool Golf Course and it’s Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy who is topping the odds.

He has had a phenomenal start to the season so far, winning his first Scottish Open last week and following his 2014 win at the same course, all eyes will be on the four-time Majors winner to see if he can finally lift his fifth major trophy.

McIlroy is, however, not the only player in this week’s field to have played at the course nine years ago. A total of 44 players who featured in the 2014 event are back in Liverpool and of those players, 29 made the cut. The 34-year-old was joined by the likes of Rickie Fowler, Charl Schwartzel and Dustin Johnson, all of whom are back for round two despite the recent split with the LIV Golf League.

Cameron Smith will be this year’s defending champion, after lifting the Claret Jug in St Andrews last year but the Australian has been out of the PGA practice after he too defected to the LIV League tournament.

When is The Open 2023?

The Open started on Thursday 20 July with the first tee-time set for 6.30am. It will conclude on Sunday 23 July and is available to watch on Sky Sports Golf and Main Event channels with coverage starting at 6.30am every day.

Who makes the cut?

After 36 holes, the low 70 players and ties will advance to compete in the final two rounds and anyone finishing worse than that will get the boot.

There is, however, no ten-shot rule. This rule means that anyone within ten shots of the lead after two rounds, regardless of where they stand in the championship, will make the cut. In The Open, there are just flat top 70 finishers and ties. Additionally, there is only a single cut at The Open. There is no secondary cut after the third round.

With this rule, this means we will not know who has advanced until Friday 21 July 2023 when the second round of play has concluded.

What score is required?

The score is always likely to vary from year to year but in general the score to make the cut is over par, given you only have to be in the top half. For the last two editions, however, the cut line has been at +1, with previous editions at +3, +5, +6, even, +8 and +3.

When is Rory McIlroy teeing off?

McIlroy will join PGA Championship winner Jon Rahm and English golf star Justin Rose for their tee time at 2.59pm BST. Here are when some of this year’s other big names will tee-off:

• 9.03am: Jordan Spieth, Matt Fitzpatrick, Jason Day
• 9.36am: Patrick Cantlay, Brooks Koepka, Hideki Matsuyama
• 9.47am: Scottie Scheffler, Tommy Fleetwood, Adam Scott
• 9.58am: Cameron Smith, Xander Schauffele, Wyndham Clark
• 10.09am: Shane Lowry, Rickie Fowler, Robert MacIntyre
• 2.48pm: Viktor Hovland, Tony Finau, Justin Thomas
• 2.59pm: Rory McIlory, Jon Rahm, Justin Rose
• 3.10pm: Collin Morikawa, Max Homa, Tyrell Hatton