Brits drawn with Woods

The world number one begins his bid for a hat-trick of titles - something last achieved by Australian Peter Thomson - at 9.09am on Thursday.

Lawrie was the winner of the last Carnoustie Open in 1999, but has since slipped to 282nd in the world.

Rose's best Open finish remains his fourth place as a 17-year-old amateur at Birkdale in 1998, and he was also paired with Woods at Muirfield in 2002.

With the Open back in Scotland, Colin Montgomerie is bound to attract a huge following as well, especially after his European Open victory eight days ago.

But the crowd choosing him might have expected to see bigger names than Japan's Toshi Izawa and American Stewart Cink alongside him.

Similarly, Britain's top-ranked player Luke Donald, who was paired with Woods at Sandwich in 2003, might be surprised to see Welsh amateur Llewellyn Matthews, a qualifier last week, with him and American Charles Howell.

Padraig Harrington also has an amateur partner - Scot Richie Ramsay.

Ramsay earned an exemption by becoming the first British winner of the US Amateur since 1911 last August and, having partnered Phil Mickelson in the US Masters and Woods at the US Open, he joins Harrington and former US PGA champion David Toms.

World number two Mickelson partners Lee Westwood and Japan's Toru Taniguchi, while Swede Niclas Fasth and England's Nick Dougherty, Europe's top two finishers at the US Open in fourth and eighth place respectively, partner world number three Jim Furyk, who was runner-up at Oakmont to Angel Cabrera.