Golf's oldest open championship returns to Northern Ireland for the first time since 1951 and Scott will be front and centre when he tees off with defending champion Francesco Molinari on Thursday and Friday.

Scott, who yearns to finally get his hands on the Claret Jug after a series of painful near misses in recent years, will be the first Australian out on Thursday.

The former Masters champion tees off at 9.58am local time (6.58pm AEST) alongside Molinari and American World No.6 Bryson DeChambeau.

Marc Leishman is also in a heavyweight grouping with 2017 Open champion Jordan Spieth and another former Masters winner, Brit Danny Willett.

Runner-up in 2015 after losing a playoff at St Andrews, Leishman boasts three top-six finishes in his past four Open starts, which have clearly caught the eye of R&A officials.

RIGHT: Scott will tee off at 6.58pm on Thursday alongside Molinari and DeChambeau. PHOTO: Harry How/Getty Images.

Day, whose best Open finish remains a tied fourth four years ago after falling a shot short of the three-man playoff won by Zach Johnson, hits off alongside World No.2 Dustin Johnson and another American ex-major champion in Keegan Bradley.

Tiger Woods tees off in the group immediately after Day's with fellow American Patrick Reed and English hope Matt Wallace.

Northern Ireland superstar Rory McIlroy is out just before midday local time with US Open champion Gary Woodland and Englishman Paul Casey.

World No.1 Brooks Koepka begins his quest for a fifth major championship in the afternoon wave with 2010 Open winner Louis Oosthuizen and Indian Shubhankar Sharma.

AUSTRALIAN TEE TIMES FOR THE OPEN ON THURSDAY (all times AEST)

6.58pm: ADAM SCOTT, Francesco Molinari (ITA), Bryson DeChambeau (USA)

8.58pm: DIMITRIOS PAPADATOS, Joel Dahmen (USA), Adri Arnaus (ESP)

9.20pm: JAKE MCLEOD, Eric Van Rooyen (RSA), Kurt Kitiyama (USA)

10.26pm: MARC LEISHMAN, Jordan Spieth (USA), Danny Willett (ENG)

10.37pm: CAMERON SMITH, Adam Hadwin (CAN), David Lipsky (USA)

11.59pm: JASON DAY, Dustin Johnson (USA), Keegan Bradley (USA)

OTHER NOTABLE GROUPINGS

7.09pm: Rory McIlroy (NIR), Gary Woodland (USA), Paul Casey (ENG)

10.04pm: Brooks Koepka (USA), Louis Oosthuizen (RSA), Shubhankar Sharma IND)

12.10am (Friday): Tiger Woods, Patrick Reed, Matt Wallace

- Darren Walton, Australian Associated Press