How To Watch The 2024 British Open Championship

The Open Championship gets underway this week at Royal Troon in Scotland, where Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Bryson DeChambeau and Collin Morikawa are among the betting favorites to extend the longest run of American success in golf’s major championships in more than 40 years.

DeChambeau became the sixth straight American to win a major at last month’s U.S. Open, following Schauffele, Scheffler, defending Open champion Brian Harman, Wyndham Clark and Brooks Koepka. It’s the longest run since 1982, which was also the last year in which American golfers claimed all four men’s major titles.

The last time Americans won the Open Championship in successive years was 2003 through 2006, when victories by Ben Curtis and Todd Hamilton preceded back-to-back wins by Tiger Woods.

The final major of the year is scheduled for July 18-21 and available to watch via a mix of free television and paid streaming services, with NBC Sports providing nearly 50 hours of live coverage in total. It’s important to note there’s a five-hour time difference between South Ayrshire, Scotland, and New York (ET), so coverage of the first two rounds will start in the early morning hours on the East Coast in the U.S., and even earlier on the West Coast.

How To Watch The British Open

• TV: NBC, USA Network
• Streaming: Peacock, NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports App

NBC Sports will also complement its Open Championship coverage with live featured groups Thursday through Sunday on Peacock, with two morning groups and two afternoon groups showcased each day of the Championship.

Peacock will also showcase a “featured hole” streaming feed throughout the week highlighting the iconic ‘Postage Stamp’ 8th hole, a short but perilous par 3 that could play less than 100 yards this week.

British Open Favorites And Featured Groups

Among the standout groups on Thursday morning are John Rahm, Tommy Fleetwood and Robert MacIntyre – three members of Europe’s Ryder Cup team – going off at 9:36 a.m. local time (4:36 a.m ET), followed by DeChambeau, Ludvig Aberg and Tom Kim at 9:47 a.m. (4:47 a.m. ET).

Harman, Viktor Hovland and Sahith Theegala tee off at 9:58 a.m. (4:58 a.m. ET), with the trio of McIlroy, Max Homa and Tyrell Hatton after them.

The above groups have afternoon tee times during Friday’s second round.

Tiger Woods, a three-time Open champion, goes out at 2:37 p.m. local time (9:37 a.m. ET) on Thursday with Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay, and at 9:25 a.m. (4:25 a.m. ET) on Friday. They’re followed each day by Morikawa, Sam Burns and Si Woo Kim, and preceded by Clark, Koepka and Hideki Matsuyama.

Scheffler, the No. 1 ranked player in the world, starts out on Thursday afternoon with Jordan Spieth and Cameron Young at 3:10 p.m. (10:10 ET). Going off just before that group are former Open champions Shane Lowry and Cam Smith, who are playing with Matt Fitzpatrick.

Here is a list of first and second round tee times at the British Open.

British Open Betting Odds

Scheffler is the 5-1 favorite to win for the seventh time in his past 11 starts dating back to the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March.

McIlroy, who won the last of his four major titles a decade ago, is the second betting choice at 8-1, per the Westgate Las Vegas Superbook. Other top contenders:

• Ludvig Aberg 12/1
• Xander Schauffele 14/1
• Collin Morikawa 16/1
• Bryson DeChambeau 16/1
• Jon Rahm 25/1
• Viktor Hovland 25/1
• Tommy Fleetwood 25/1
• Tyrrell Hatton 30/1
• Robert MacIntyre 30/1
• Brooks Koepka 35/1
• Cameron Smith 40/1
• Shane Lowry 40/1
• Patrick Cantlay 50/1
• Tony Finau 50/1
• Tom Kim 50/1
• Hideki Matsuyama 50/1
• Sahith Theegala 50/1
• Cameron Young 50/1
• Wyndham Clark 60/1
• Matt Fitzpatrick 60/1
• Brian Harman 60/1
• Sungjae Im 60/1
• Min Woo Lee 60/1
• Joaquin Niemann 60/1
• Adam Scott 60/1
• Justin Thomas 60/1

What To Expect From The Weather At The British Open

Fitting for the Scottish links experience at Royal Troon, it’s set to be cool, with rainy and blustery conditions at times.

While it’s been generally dry and benign weather early in the week for practice rounds, the tournament’s official forecast projects some rain and stronger winds to move in on Thursday. There’s a 50% of rainy conditions on Thursday and a 60% chance on Friday through Sunday.

The biggest question in the chase for the Claret Jug might be which groups – the morning waves or afternoon waves – get most impacted by the weather.

“Having caddied for some really good players in the Open, I remember in 2010 and 2014, we got on the bad end of the draw and you had virtually no chance to compete in the tournament,” said Jim ‘Bones’ Mackay, who is part of NBC Sports broadcast team for the championship. “And then caddying for Phil (Mickelson) in 2016 at Royal Troon we got on the great end and (he and Stenson) were able to really separate themselves from the field. I just think that with what the forecast is showing us, the weather is the big story for me.”

Stenson shot a tournament record 20-under par at Royal Troon in 2016 to beat out Mickelson for his lone major victory.

“The unpredictability of what you’re going to get adds to the charisma of the course, to the championship,” said NBC Sports analyst Brad Faxon. “You may not think that while you’re out there playing, but I think Troon has certainly shown that, depending on the weather, you might see Stenson-like scores, but you could also see scores that are just barely under par.”