Australia’s Peter Senior has the honour of being the first player to tee up in this year’s 142nd Open Championship at Muirfield.

The 53-year old Queensland-born Senior will tee up at 6.32am local time Thursday.

Senior, who made his Open Championship debut in 1979 at Royal Lytham and St. Annes, is competing in his 19th Open Championship and a first in three years.

Ausrtralian Open champion Peter Senior teeing up first in 142nd Open. (Photo – www.golffile.ie)

The very popular Australian earned his place in this year’s field by securing top spot on the 2012/13 Australasian Tour Order of Merit and helped with his victory in the Emirates Australian Open title in Sydney last December and where he became the oldest-ever winner of an Australian Open.

“It’s great to be teeing off first and I’m just happy to be here, since this will probably be my last Open by the looks of things,” he said.

“It’s also an honour to be leading out the field so I am very happy that the R&A picked me to lead off the tournament. It’s something special, I think, hitting the opening shot. I’m really looking forward to it.”

It’s the first time Senior will tee up first in an Open.

His best finish was fourth behind fellow Queensland born Greg Norman in the 1993 Open Championship at Royal St. Georges.

Since turning 50 on July 31st, 2009 Senior has focussed his golf on the lucrative Champions Tour and earning in excess of $3.5m since his first full year in 2010.

This season Senior has competed in 13 Champion Tour tournaments with a best placed finish of third in the Toshiba Classic.