Padraig Harrington will have an early start on Thursday when he sets off to defend his British Open crown in the company of 1997 winner Justin Leonard and two-times US Open champion Retief Goosen.

The trio will tee-off at 7.58am over the picturesque Royal Birkdale links north of Liverpool.

Harrington, who defeated Sergio Garcia in a nerve-jangling four-hole play-off at Carnoustie last year to win his first major, geared up for the tournament exactly as he did last year by winning the Irish PGA title.

The Irishman again chose to miss the lucrative Scottish Open at Loch Lomond and put in some valuable time on the links at the relatively low-level event.

"It's been an excellent exercise and I couldn't have asked for a better week in preparation," Harrington said following his four-stroke victory over fellow Open hopeful Philip Walton.

"I don't think it puts me a shot ahead of anybody else but it will certainly save me shots and make my golf better at Birkdale.

"I haven't won for seven or eight months now and it's always nice to win. It is always better to get that winning feeling. It's a nice habit to stick with."

World number two Phil Mickelson, Paul Casey and Japan's Hideto Tanihara will begin their campaigns at 9.20am, while 2002 champion Ernie Els goes out at 8.31am with American Scott Verplank and rising German star Martin Kaymer, who will be playing in his first tournament since his mother died from cancer two weeks ago.

Bookies favourite Sergio Garcia on the other hand has a relatively late start going out at 2.31pm along with Japan's Ryuji Imada and American Sean O'Hair.

The distinction of hitting the first shot at 6.30am falls to Australian veteran Craig Parry, while the last group of English qualifiers Jonathan Lomas and Peter Appleyard and Japan's Yoshinobu Tsukada are last out at 4.21pm.

One recent Open tradition ended on Monday as Tiger Woods' absence through injury meant that he was not the first out at the crack of dawn in the first full day of practice.

That honour went to former US Open champion Michael Campbell of New Zealand. "I can see why he does it," said the New Zealander, who set off just after 6.30 am.

"There was nobody around the first tee at all and even now it's quiet and peaceful."

Campbell finished fifth at St Andrews in 2005 only a month after his US Open victory. But his best Open was a decade earlier when he led by two strokes with a round to go and missed out on the play-off between John Daly and Costantino Rocca by just a single stroke.

His recent form, however, has been poor, although Campbell insists that he is far from despairing.

"I know other players in my position would be panicking and might even give up, but with me it can turn right round in one week. That's how it's always been," he said.

The chances of another American win at Royal Birkdale — they have won five of the eight Opens held at the course since 1954 — may have been diminished by the absence of Woods, the no-show by red-hot Kenny Perry and Phil Mickelson's continuing struggle to get to grips with links golf, but Jim Furyk for one believes that the trend has every chance of continuing.

"There was a bunch of years in a row — it was like eight out of 10 years or something when an American won this golf tournament," said the former US Open champion.

"I think we've got a lot of Americans that have played well at The Open with a lot of experience and I would hope that we would fare well."

AFP