Open Championship 2016: TV Coverage & How To Watch Live Online; 6 Intriguing Groups To Watch On Day 1 & 2

The Open Championship returns to Scotland’s Royal Troon Golf Club for the ninth time this week as the best golfers in the world begin a dizzying stretch of high-stakes action over the next few weeks. Starting with this week’s 145th Open Championship, the third leg of the major championship schedule, the world’s best will only have a two-week turnaround before the final major of the year, the PGA Championship, which begins on July 28 to compensate for the Rio Olympics.

Sadly, the Rio Olympics obviously won’t be as big of a deal in the golf world as the IOC originally wanted. Many of the world’s highest-ranked players have chosen to skip the event, mainly due to concerns over the Zika virus, but the big guns are certainly ready to go for The Open Championship, which gets underway this Thursday.

There are plenty of great storylines heading into The Open Championship this year, but first things first. Where and when can those in North America follow along live with the action across the pond? In the past, it was somewhat difficult to get live results from overseas, and viewers would simply wait for an afternoon broadcast of The Open that had actually ended hours beforehand. In this day and age, however, it’s nearly impossible not to run into up-to-the-minute details on what’s happening, so here’s the breakdown of live TV and online coverage so you can follow along with all of this week’s major championship play.

Open Championship Round 1–Thursday, July 14, 2016

Starting Time: 1:35 AM ET

TV Coverage: 1:30 AM ET to 4:00 PM ET [Golf Channel]

Online Simulcast: 1:30 AM ET to 4:00 PM ET [www.golfchannel.com/theopen]

1st Tee: 1:30 AM ET to 11 AM ET [www.golfchannel.com/theopen-firsttee]

Featured Holes: 2:30 AM ET to 2:00 PM ET [www.golfchannel.com/theopen-featured]

Open Championship Round 2–Friday, July 15, 2016

Starting Time: 1:35 AM ET

TV Coverage: 1:30 AM ET to 4:00 PM ET [Golf Channel]

Online Simulcast: 1:30 AM ET to 4:00 PM ET [www.golfchannel.com/theopen]

1st Tee: 1:30 AM ET to 11:30 AM ET [www.golfchannel.com/theopen-firsttee]

Featured Holes: 3:00 AM ET to 2:30 PM ET [www.golfchannel.com/theopen-featured]

Marquee Groups: 4:00 AM ET to 4:00 PM ET [www.golfchannel.com/theopen-marqueegroups]

Open Championship Round 3–Saturday, July 16, 2016

Starting Time: 4:05 AM ET

TV Coverage: 4:00 AM ET to 7:00 AM ET [Golf Channel], 7:00 AM ET to 2:30 PM ET [NBC]

Online Simulcast: 4:00 AM ET to 2:30 PM ET [www.golfchannel.com/theopen]

First Tee: 4:00 AM ET to 9:30 AM ET [www.golfchannel.com/theopen-firsttee]

Open Championship Round 4–Sunday, July 17, 2016

Starting Time: 4:05 AM ET

TV Coverage: 4:00 AM ET to 7:00 AM ET [Golf Channel], 7:00 AM ET to 2:00 PM ET [NBC]

Online Simulcast: 4:00 AM ET to 2:00 PM ET [www.golfchannel.com/theopen]

First Tee: 4:00 AM ET to 9:30 AM ET [www.golfchannel.com/theopen-firsttee]

There are many intriguing groups at this year’s Open Championship, one of which will actually kick things off on Thursday morning. The opening threesome includes eight-time European Tour Order of Merit winner and longtime “best player to never win a major,” Colin Montgomerie. The 53-year-old Hall of Famer will be playing in his first Open Championship since 2010 when he tied for 68th. He’ll be paired with former world number one and current 85th-ranked Luke Donald and Marc Leishman, who was part of last year’s Open Championship three-man playoff with eventual winner Zach Johnson and Louis Oosthuizen. His T2 finish was the 2009 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year’s highest finish to date in a major championship. Here are six more Open Championship threesomes for Thursday and Friday that should be fun to watch.

Jordan Spieth, Justin Rose, Shane Lowry (Thursday-4:03 AM ET, Friday-9:04 AM ET)

After winning last year’s Masters and U.S. Open, current world number three Jordan Spieth finished just one shot out of last year’s Open Championship playoff, thus ending his run at the Grand Slam. Despite a disappointing final round at this year’s Masters and a 37th-place finish at the U.S. Open, Spieth still has two wins on the PGA Tour this year and comes into the Open Championship as one of the favorites. His consistency and control will certainly come in handy with the unpredictable weather that may hit Royal Troon this week. Justin Rose doesn’t have a win this season, but he has five top tens, and the 2013 U.S. Open champion obviously knows what it takes to win a major. Shane Lowry comes into The Open off his best performance in a major of his career, finishing second at the U.S. Open at Oakmont last month.

Jason Day, Danny Willett, Rickie Fowler (Thursday-4:25 AM ET, Friday-9:26 AM ET)

World number one Jason Day highlights this group that boasts three of the top nine players in the world. Day already has three big wins this season, including THE PLAYERS Championship. Danny Willett enters The Open Championship looking for his second major championship of the year after winning The Masters in April, and seventh-ranked Rickie Fowler has a win in Abu Dhabi this year to go along with seven top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour.

Rory McIlroy, Hideki Matsuyama, Bubba Watson (Thursday-4:36 AM ET, Friday-9:37 AM ET)

Fourth-ranked Rory McIlroy finally has a chance to defend his Open Championship title. Sure, his win at The Open came two years ago, but an injury kept him out of last year’s tournament. Already a four-time major championship winner at age 27, McIlroy certainly has to be a favorite this week at Royal Troon. Bubba Watson, currently ranked just behind McIlroy at number five in the world (and the highest-ranked player that will be at the Olympics), will be interesting to watch this week. He’s got the length to battle through any wind and already has a win this season, as does Hideki Matsuyama, who won in Phoenix back in February.

Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Lee Westwood (Thursday-8:26 AM ET, Friday-3:25 AM ET)

Call this “the elder statesmen” group. This threesome boasts nine major championships and three Open Championship titles between them. 46-year-old Phil Mickelson’s amazing 66 in the final round at Muirfield in 2013 stands as one of the great closing rounds in Open Championship history, and Ernie Els, 46, won The Open in 2002 and 2012 in dramatic fashion. And there’s poor 43-year-old Lee Westwood, who’s come so close in so many majors but has never been able to close one out. He finished tied for third in 2013, took solo second in 2010, tied for third in 2009, and placed fourth in 2004, the last time The Open was played at Royal Troon. Oddly enough, Phil Mickelson came in third that year, and Ernie Els finished second, losing in the four-hole aggregate playoff to winner Todd Hamilton.

Dustin Johnson, Martin Kaymer, Russell Knox (Thursday-9:04 AM ET, Friday-4:03 AM ET)

There’s no hotter golfer in the world right now than world number two Dustin Johnson. After finally getting the monkey off his back and winning a major championship at this year’s U.S. Open, Johnson followed it up with a win at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. Golfodds.com currently has Johnson at 9/1 to win The Open Championship, just behind Jason Day at 8/1. Martin Kaymer is a two-time major winner, and Russell Knox is currently ranked 5th in the FedExCup standings, in large part due to his big win at WGC-HSBC Champions event last November, becoming the first Scot to win a World Golf Championship.

Zach Johnson, Adam Scott, Henrik Stenson (Thursday-9:15 AM ET, Friday-4:14 AM ET)

And let’s not forget about the defending champion, 2015 Open Championship winner Zach Johnson, who played brilliantly a year ago to capture his second major championship, becoming just the sixth golfer in history to win both The Masters and Open Championship in a career. He’s been playing well recently with two consecutive top-10 finishes and will be joined by world number six Henrik Stenson, who won last month’s BMW International Open, and eighth-ranked Adam Scott, who has wins this year at The Honda Classic and WGC-Cadillac Championship and is currently in third in the FedExCup point standings.

So there’s what you need to know about the 145th Open Championship at Royal Troon. Who are your favorites?

[Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images]