The strength of South African golf at the moment has been shown a lot of respect in the pairings at the Open Championship

Louis Oosthuizen will begin the defence of his Open Championship title in the company of fellow Major champions Martin Kaymer of Germany and American Phil Mickelson.

Louis' friend and Masters Champion Charl Schwartzel will be playing in the group before him alongside former world No 1 Lee Westwood and three-time John Deere Classic winner Steve Stricker.

Ernie Els, the 2002 Open Champion, has been paired with runaway US Open champion Rory McIlroy and America's next great hope Rickie Fowler.

Of the big-name South African golfers at the Open this week Retief Goosen has been handed the most 'background' group but even then it contains world No 20 Hunter Mahan and Danish Anders Hansen. Hardly a slap in the face.

Luke Donald is in the group ahead of Goosen, paired with Japanes sensation Ryo Ishikawa and Spanish livewire Sergio Garcia.

The myth that opening-round groupings are drawn randomly has been ignored for quite a while now, and the organisers of the Open should be congratulated for forming some very interesting and watchable pairings for the first two rounds of the third Major of the year.

To see the official full list of tee times, click here