2004 heroics remembered as Casey is paired with Mickelson again at the Open

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Four years ago at Royal Troon the pair were also drawn together and Casey shot
a five under par 66 to be the joint first round leader.

The Englishman could not keep it going then, however. He managed only a 77 the following day and finished joint 20th while Mickelson came back from his opening 73 to miss the play-off between Todd Hamilton and Ernie Els by one shot - easily his best Open performance.

One-time leader: Paul Casey

They will tee off at Royal Birkdale at 9.20am on Thursday, with Japan's Hideto Tanihara as the third member of the group.

Padraig Harrington will already be on the Southport links by then for the start of his title defence.

The Dubliner, conqueror of Sergio Garcia in a play-off at Carnoustie last July, starts at 7.58am alongside 1997 winner Justin Leonard and twice US Open champion Retief Goosen.

Justin Rose is off even earlier than that on his return to the course where, as a 17-year-old amateur, he finished a spectacular fourth 10 years ago.

Old friend: Mickelson

Rose's tee-off time is 7.36am and he plays with five-time champion Tom Watson, winner at Birkdale in 1983, and Australian Aaron Baddeley.

Garcia and Ernie Els are the two favourites in the absence through injury of Tiger Woods and they are at opposite ends of the draw.

Els is another early starter, going out at 8.31am with American Scott Verplank and rising German star Martin Kaymer, but Garcia has to wait until 2.31pm to begin his bid.

The Spaniard, runner-up in the European Open two weeks ago, has Japan's Ryuji
Imada and American Sean O'Hair for company.

Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell, winner of the Scottish Open this weekend,
partners 2004 winner Hamilton and South African Rory Sabbatini at 12.36pm, while
Colin Montgomerie plays with Canadian left-hander Mike Weir and American Boo
Weekley at 9.31am and Lee Westwood is just over half an hour earlier than that 2003 champion Ben Curtis and Korean KJ Choi.

The distinction of hitting the first shot - at 6.30am - falls to Australian Craig Parry, while the last group of English qualifiers Jonathan Lomas and Peter Appleyard and Japan's Yoshinobu Tsukada are not teeing off until 4.21pm and might struggle to finish before darkness if play is slow.