British Open 2012: Tee Times, Date and TV Schedule

With the 2012 Open Championship set to begin from England's Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club on Thursday, there is plenty of anticipation with regards to who will lift the Claret Jug. The favorites such as Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Phil Mickelson and others are obviously in the mix, but you never know who might come through in a wide open field.

The conditions promise to be poor as rain has pummeled the course as of late and several golfers have lamented having to deal with that in a Major championship. Nobody ever said that winning a Major is easy, however, so whoever comes out on top will most definitely have to earn it as they will face one of the year's toughest tests.

Here is everything you need to know about the 2012 British Open, including when and where to catch all the action, and a full listing of tee times.

Where: Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club in Lancashire, England

When: Thursday, July 19 - Sunday, July 22

Watch: ESPN and ABC

First Round Tee Times for Notable Groups

Time (ET)	Golfer	Golfer	Golfer
4:09 a.m.	Darren Clarke	Ernie Els	Zach Johnson
4:20 a.m.	Lee Westwood	Yoshinori Fujimoto	Bubba Watson
4:42 a.m.	Tiger Woods	Justin Rose	Sergio Garcia
9:21 a.m.	Rory McIlroy	Louis Oosthuizen	Keegan Bradley
9:32 a.m.	Rickie Fowler	Padraig Harrington	Manuel Trappel
9:43 a.m.	Luke Donald	Phil Mickelson	Geoff Ogilvy

*Find full first-round tee times at TheOpen.com.

TV Schedule

Thursday, July 19: 4:30 a.m. - 3 p.m. ET (ESPN)

Friday, July 20: 4:30 a.m. - 3 p.m. ET (ESPN)

Saturday, July 21: 7 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. ET (ESPN)

Sunday, July 22: 6 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. ET (ESPN) and 3 p.m. - 6 p.m. ET (ABC)

Golfers With Most Pressure

Tiger Woods

Many consider him to be the greatest player in the history of golf, but when it comes to winning Major championships, Tiger Woods in insatiable. No matter what he says, it is clear that Woods is very aware of Jack Nicklaus' record and that he would love to break it. Woods isn't getting any younger, though, so he obviously needs to get into the Major win column sooner rather than later.

Woods has had a strong season with three wins overall, but he was a non-factor at The Masters and floundered in the third round of the U.S. Open while in the hunt. Inconsistent play has plagued Woods and that is something that can't happen at the British Open. Wayward shots are incredibly damaging on such a tough course, so Woods will need to be perfect while under the microscope.

Luke Donald

He may be the No. 1 player in the world by title, but I'm not sure that anyone truly believes that Englishman Luke Donald is better than the rest. Donald has all the talent in the world and performs consistently well in normal tournaments, but he is an absolute sieve in Majors and doesn't seem to have the intestinal fortitude to win one.

Things won't be any easier at the Open Championship either, as he will be in front of his countrymen and will have great expectations bestowed upon him. Donald would be fine if he could simply forget the importance of the occasion and pretend like it's any other tournament, but he doesn't seem wired for the big stage, so that will be tough for him.

Lee Westwood

Lee Westwood will be in a similar situation to Donald this week as he is a highly-ranked Brit looking to win his first Major on home soil. Like Donald, Westwood hasn't been able to close the deal in Major championships, but he has been close on several occasions while Donald is usually well off the pace and is rarely a true factor.

Westwood has the game necessary to gut out a win at Royal Lytham, but it remains to be seen whether he can excel during crunch time. He may actually have more pressure than Donald because he has come so close at Majors on several occasions. Westwood is currently the main bearer of the title "best player to never win a major" and while he will look to shed that at the British Open, he has a a lot of demons to conquer.

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