US Open Golf 2013: Complete TV and Live Stream Guide for Opening Round

With the grounds cleaned up following a torrential downpour that left Merion Golf Club's East Course flooded and players unable to properly practice, the true preparations for Thursday's first round of the 2013 U.S. Open can finally begin. 

While each year the U.S. Open provides the hardest test of golf's four major championships, Merion's East Course is a particularly interesting challenge. At just 6,996 yards, Merion will mark the first time since Shinnecock Hills in 2004 that an Open course has measured less than the benchmark figure of 7,000 yards. And though the fairways at the southeastern Pennsylvanian course are about as wide as your index and middle fingers put together, the rains could play a major factor in softening up the course.

In other words, Thursday's first round could go a long way toward determining this week's winner. Should the course play soft, the scores will go low—at least "low" for a U.S. Open. As the course toughens up over the weekend, though, those initial low-score buffers could pay huge dividends for those in contention.

Of course, much of the conversation about who will be in contention this week centers around Tiger Woods. The world's top-ranked golfer's quest to win his first major tournament in a half-decade continues this week, and he'll be paired with two players in Rory McIlroy and Adam Scott who have won in the past 12 months.

With that trio—along with plenty of other interesting pairings for the opening two rounds—creating a bevy of intrigue, Thursday should be a lot of fun. Here is a complete breakdown of everything you need to know about Thursday's opening round, including streaming and television information.

Round 1 Television Coverage

Time (ET)	Network
9 a.m. - 3 p.m.	ESPN
3 p.m. - 5 p.m.	NBC
5 p.m. - 7 p.m.	ESPN

Round 1 Live Stream Information

Start Time (ET)	Event	Service(s)
7:11 a.m. ET	Marquee Group 1	USOpen.com
9 a.m.	Live Holes 11 & 18	WatchESPN
9 a.m.	Round 1 Coverage - Part 1	WatchESPN (restrictions apply)
9 a.m.	Marquee Group	WatchESPN
1:14 p.m.	Marquee Group 2	USOpen.com
3 p.m.	Round 1 Coverage	NBC Sports Live Extra
5 p.m.	Round 1 Coverage - Part 2	WatchESPN (restrictions apply)

Scheduling information via USOpen.com, WatchESPN and NBC Sports Live Extra.

Round 1 Groups to Watch (Tee Time)

Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker, Keegan Bradley (7:11 a.m. ET)

For years, the narrative surrounding the name Phil Mickelson was always some form of the following question: Will he ever win a major championship? The answer was yes, and Mickelson has gone on to win a total of four major championships in his illustrious career.

None of them have come at a U.S. Open. Of course, that's not to say there weren't plenty of close calls. Mickelson has finished second at his home country's Open on five separate occasions, dating back to 1999. Those spanned from his burst onto the national scene in 1999, to his soul-crushing final-round meltdown at Winged Foot in 2006 to a tantalizing finish in 2009. Mickelson hasn't been always the bridesmaid but never the bride; he's been engaged five different times only to be left at the altar.

Such is the case with Mickelson, now 42 and sitting 10th in the world golf rankings, that it's appropriate to wonder whether this U.S. Open spinster will ever find his perfect 18-hole match. With Mickelson looking solid last week, the possibility of his contention doesn't seem as far fetched. He finished second at the St. Jude Classic, the first tournament he had played since being cut at the Players Championship.

That being said, Mickelson will be playing at least one player whose potential to compete consistently goes underrated. This course at Merion, relatively short with narrow fairways, rewards precise accuracy. Players aren't going to be able to spray their tee shots all over creation and expect to contend. The rough is too deep, too bogged down by the week-long rain to make for a relenting experience.

Enter Steve Stricker. The consummate professional, Stricker finds fairways and greens in his sleep. Would he have played in enough tournaments to qualify, the 46-year-old Stricker would rank second in greens in regulation percentage and 13th in driving accuracy. With only six events played thus far in 2013, Stricker isn't listed among the overall leaders.  

Keegan Bradley, who goes under long bouts of inaccuracy, is a less noteworthy candidate. His six top-10 finishes this year make him worth mentioning—that figure is tied for the highest on tour—but seeing him have the consistency over four rounds at Merion is probably too much to ask. 

Matt Kuchar, Justin Rose, Brandt Snedeker (7:22 a.m. ET)

Teeing off just behind the aforementioned Mickelson-led trio, the Kuchar-Rose-Snedeker threesome might wind up getting swept under the rug on Day 1. They shouldn't, though. All of these three men have different things going in their favor that could make for some easy Sunday contention.

For Kuchar, all you have to do is look at recent results. The 34-year-old Floridian is coming off a victory at the Memorial in May, which followed a second-place run at Crowne Plaza. Only Tiger Woods has more FedEx Cup points at this juncture of the season or has earned more money than Kuchar. And with an average score of 69.739 over 57 rounds, Kuchar has been consistently better over a longer course of time than anyone in this field.

One problem: Kuchar's intermittent accuracy struggles could cause him U.S. Open heartache. Kuchar ranks 134th on tour in driving accuracy, 68th in greens in regulation and 10th in scramble percentage. He's somehow dug himself out of continuous holes (sorry for the pun) by hitting jaw-dropping saves. Maintaining that scramble percentage will be a near impossibility this week. 

As for Rose and Snedeker, Kuchar's two playing partners, they should fare a whole lot better if their current rates continue at Merion this week. Both men rank among the top 12 in the world this season in greens in regulation percentage, and both rest firmly inside the top 20 in fairways hit. Neither man has found his way to the top of a major championship leaderboard after the final round, but both have been in contention.

Rose, the world's fifth-ranked golfer, seemed especially confident in his chances this week in an interview with John Boyman of the Basingstoke Gazette. 

“If things go my way I believe I’m capable of winning any major I tee off in now,” Rose said. "Confidence is the x-factor. It is not something you can rush, it comes over time and helps piece the rest of your game together."

It will be interesting to see whether that confidence pushes him to excellence this week.

Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Adam Scott (1:14 p.m. ET)

The U.S. Open officials obviously weren't fooling around when putting this group together. They have the two best and most famous golfers in the world in Woods and McIlroy, with Masters champion Adam Scott seemingly thrown in there just for good measure. If you choose to only ignore work for one of these marquee groups on Thursday, there's no questioning which it will be.

Woods' trip to Merion will see him pass five full calendar years without a major championship. It's by far the biggest drought of his career, making that little stretch between 2002 and 2005 look like a short vacation. We all know the personal issues that have gone on during Woods' current majorless streak, and the "Tebowian" saturation point of that coverage has long since passed.

What golf needs—yes, needs—is Tiger to win a major championship to reinvigorate the conversation. Woods hasn't fallen off the face of the earth in golf's biggest events—any other golfer on tour would be more than glad to have his recent history—but we've long-since passed the point where "close" is acceptable. Woods knows this, as he mentioned to USA Today's Steve DiMeglio.

"And I've contended in majors," Woods said. "Just haven't gotten it done. But you have to keep putting yourself in position to win. If I do that enough times, the odds are better for me to win."

McIlroy, on the other hand, has suffered through a (relatively) wretched beginning to 2013. After taking home the PGA Championship with an ultimate muscle-flexing eight-stroke win to end last year, folks were once again proclaiming this the Era of McIlroy. And yet here we are, halfway through the 2013 calendar year, and he has yet to win a tournament. He has just one finish better than eighth the entire season.

That being said, McIlroy's talent is too prodigious for anyone to ever count him out. The kid battled through arguably greater criticism a year ago—much of which was nonsensical off-the-course speculation—and still came back to drop the hammer on his competition at Kiawah Island. 

Scott, buoyed by his Masters victory, doesn't have to worry about such criticism anymore. The 32-year-old Australian never had the weight of being golf's next big thing on his shoulders, and now that he's a major champion, the biggest question about his future is whether he can win more. Though Scott has taken a bit of a pause since winning at Augusta, his sporadic recent appearances tend to lean more toward yes.

Just don't expect it this week. Scott has historically struggled to compete at U.S. Opens, with his tie for 15th last year being his career-best performance. And while Scott is one of the biggest boomers on tour off the tee, his sometimes-questionable accuracy lends itself to at least one high number at Merion. 

Complete U.S. Open Tee Times

Group	Golfers	Time (ET)
1	Cliff Kresge, Roger Tambellini, Ryan Yip	6:45 a.m.
2	Rikard Karlberg, Yui Ueda, John Parry	6:56 a.m.
3	Nick Watney, Peter Hanson, Hunter Mahan	7:07 a.m.
4	Lucas Glover, Paul Casey, Bill Haas	7:18 a.m.
5	Aaron Baddeley, Rory Sabbatini, David Lingmerth	7:29 a.m.
6	George Coetzee, Martin Laird, Marcel Siem	7:40 a.m.
7	Jerry Kelly, Charley Hoffman, John Huh	7:51 a.m.
8	Henrik Stenson, Ryan Moore, Robert Garrigus	8:02 a.m.
9	Ryan Palmer, Simon Khan, Ted Potter Jr.	8:13 a.m.
10	Shawn Stefani, Michael Kim, Nicholas Thompson	8;24 a.m.
11	Chris Doak, Andrew Svoboda, Douglas LaBelle II	8:35 a.m.
12	Kevin Sutherland, Matt Weibring, Randall Hutchison	8:46 a.m.
13	Cory McElyea, Ryan Nelson, John Hahn	8:57 a.m.
14	David Toms, Darren Clarke, Jose Maria Olazabal	12:30 p.m.
15	Geoff Ogilvy, Angel Cabrera, Paul Lawrie	12:41 p.m.
16	Luke Donald, Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer	12:52 p.m.
17	Jim Furyk, Graeme McDowell, Zach Johnson	1:03 p.m.
18	Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Adam Scott	1:14 p.m.
19	Thongchai Jaidee. G. Fernandez-Castano, Thorbjorn Olesen	1:25 p.m.
20	Webb Simpson, Steven Fox, Ernie Els	1:36 p.m.
21	Kyle Stanley, Joe Ogilvi, Luke Guthrie	1:47 p.m.
22	Josh Teater, Yoshinobu Tsukada, Eddie Pepperell	1:58 p.m.
23	Edward Loar, Morten Orum Madsen, Jung-Gon Hwang	2:09 p.m.
24	Max Homa, Russell Knox, Matt Bettencourt	2:20 p.m.
25	Adam Hadwin, John Nieporte, Jim Herman	2:31 p.m.
26	Brandon Brown, Grayson Murray, Jesse Smith	2:42 p.m.
27	Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson, Nicolas Colsaerts	7:00 a.m.
28	Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker, Keegan Bradley	7:11 a.m.
29	Matt Kuchar, Justin Rose, Brandt Snedeker	7:22 a.m.
30	Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel, Tim Clark	7:33 a.m.
31	Sergio Garcia, Stewart Cink, Padraig Harrington	7:44 a.m.
32	Ian Poulter, Jason Dufner, Boo Weekley	7:55 a.m.
33	Rickie Fowler, Matteo Manassero, Jason Day	8:06 a.m.
34	Y.E. Yang, Fredrik Jacobson, Hiroyuki Fujita	8:17 a.m.
35	Scott Stallings, John Peterson, Robert Karlsson	8:28 a.m.
36	Jay Don Blake, Brandt Jobe, Michael Campbell	8:39 a.m.
37	David Hearn, Mike Weir, Jaco Van Zyl	8:50 a.m.
38	Kevin Phelan, Wil Collins, Harold Varner III	9:01 a.m.
39	Cheng-Tsung Pan, Mackenzie Hughes, Geoffrey Sisk	9:12 a.m.
40	Justin Hicks, David Howell, Brian Stuard	12:45 p.m.
41	Brendan Steele, Estanislao Goya, Peter Hedblom	12:56 p.m.
42	Marc Leishman, John Senden, Marcus Fraser	1:07 p.m.
43	Scott Langley, Chris Williams, Morgan Hoffmann	1:18 p.m.
44	Michael Thompson, Michael Weaver, Casey Wittenberg	1:29 p.m.
45	K.J. Choi, Francesco Molinari, Carl Pettersson	1:40 p.m.
46	Scott Piercy, Kevin Chappell, Jamie Donaldson	1:51 p.m.
47	Bo Van Pelt, Kevin Streelman, D.A. Points	2:02 p.m.
48	Branden Grace, Sang-Moon Bae, Russell Henley	2:13 p.m.
49	Hideki Matsuyama, Billy Horschel, Jordan Spieth	2:24 p.m.
50	Mathew Goggin, Steven Alker, Alistair Presnell	2:35 p.m.
51	Matt Harmon, Gavin Hall, Bio Kim	2:46 p.m.
52	Zack Fischer, Ryan Sullivan, Brandon Crick	2:57 p.m.

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