US Open Golf TV Schedule 2012: Start Time and Channel for Day 1 Coverage

Although most will be focused on the US Open on Sunday when the contending golfers make their respective moves in an effort to win one of the biggest tournaments in golf, it all gets started on Thursday.

The world's best golfers will vie for position at The Olympic Club in San Francisco, Calif. in an effort to be in the hunt this weekend.

Watching the beginning of a golf tournament is always interesting because every single player in the field is a contender. Obviously, things sort themselves out over the course of the first round, but there aren't many players that ruin their chances after just one round. With that being said, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Rory McIlroy and all of the elites will be on the prowl on Thursday.

Here is all the information you need for when and where to catch Thursday's first round of the prestigious US Open.

Where: The Olympic Club in San Francisco, Calif.

When: Thursday, June 14

Watch: ESPN and NBC 

Round 1 (Thursday, June 14)

12 p.m.-3 p.m. ET (ESPN)

3 p.m.-5 p.m. ET (NBC)

5 p.m.-10 p.m. ET (ESPN)

Predicting How Recent Major Champions Will Fare

Bubba Watson

Bubba Watson finally broke through with his first major victory at The Masters this year, and while it has been great for his career, it also has put added pressure on him to succeed in every tournament.

That will be the case this week, as golf fans are eager to see how Watson will fare in his follow-up performance. He will obviously have a lot of tough competition to contend with, but another major win would make Watson one of the premier players in the game.

The Masters played to Watson's strengths, as he likes to hit the ball a long way off the tee and go from there. The US Open is generally more about strategy and short game, though, so I don't expect Watson to have quite as much success.

When you couple that with the pressure he is sure to feel, I don't really anticipate Watson being a factor at all as he finishes well off the pace between 30th and 40th place.

Keegan Bradley

Keegan Bradley shocked many fans last season when he won the PGA Championship as a rookie, but he won't be sneaking up on anyone now that he is in his second year on tour and is a well-established player.

Bradley hasn't really been a factor in most tournaments this year, and hasn't had a top-five finish since the Houston Open back in March, but he has a ton of talent and potential, as well as a penchant for hanging around in tournaments.

I don't expect Bradley to make an immediate splash where he surges to the top of the leaderboard, but he is the type of player that holds steady and moves up as other players around him make mistakes. That was the case in the PGA Championship last year, and it could very well happen in the US Open.

I'm not going to predict a win for Bradley, but I feel pretty confident that he will come away with a solid top-10 finish.

Rory McIlroy

Rory McIlroy has toyed with the world's No. 1 ranking several times this year, and is considered by many to be the best player in golf currently.

He had mixed results since winning the US Open last year, but when he is on his game he is very difficult to beat. The main issue with McIlroy is that he is often too inconsistent, which tends to lead to him having one bad round in a tournament and he ultimately falters because of it.

There will be a ton of pressure on McIlroy as he tries to live up to the expectation that he is the next big thing in golf. Seeing as Tiger Woods is coming off a victory and has a ton of momentum, it will be interesting to see how McIlroy handles that pressure.

McIlroy is very likely to be in the hunt for much of the tournament, but I like Woods to win and Rory to finish somewhere around fifth.

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