British Open Schedule 2017: Thursday Tee Times, TV Coverage and Live Stream

The British Open, golf's oldest major, begins on Thursday as the world's elite players battle it out once again to win the Claret Jug.

They will descend on Royal Birkdale in Southport, England, where Henrik Stenson will look to defend his title against the likes of Jordan Spieth, Dustin Johnson and many more.

Sky Sports will provide the UK with full TV coverage of the tournament, which can also be streamed live via the Sky Go app. The Golf Channel will be covering Thursday's play for U.S. audiences, which will also include live-streaming. The tournament website will live-stream the event too.

The tee times will start at 6:35 a.m. BST (1:35 a.m. ET) and run through to 4:16 p.m. (11.16 a.m. ET), and they can be found at The Open's official website.

Some of the most notable pairings include Stenson, Spieth and Si-Woo Kim at 9:47 a.m. (4:47 a.m. ET), Sergio Garcia, Jason Day and Zach Johnson at 1:04 p.m. (8:04 a.m. ET) and Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy and Charl Schwartzel at 2:48 p.m. (9:48 a.m. ET).

Per the Guardian's Mark Tallentire, those starting early on Thursday are forecast to enjoy the better weather during the opening round, so Spieth and Stenson may well be grateful to be out on the course long before many of their rivals.

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Spieth enters the tournament having won the Travelers Championship in June. ESPN's Jason Sobel put the 23-year-old's victory into context and noted the circumstances in which he won:

The American has dismissed the notion he or anyone else is set to emulate the dominance Tiger Woods displayed earlier in his career, though, and believes the field is wide open, per Tallentire: 

"I doubt you'll see a dominance like that maybe ever again in the game. I just think guys are learning, guys are getting stronger. I wouldn't get your hopes up whatsoever.

"You'll see a group of 10 to 12 guys over the next 15, 20 years that are going to have a lot of different competitions that come down the stretch. And it's different than one person being the guy to beat. It's exciting for us as players."

The past seven majors have all been claimed by first-time winners, and there will be many players with their eyes on the Claret Jug this year.

Johnson and McIlroy are always capable of being contenders, albeit they will both need to improve dramatically on their showings in recent months, while the likes of Stenson, Rickie Fowler and Tommy Fleetwood could be in with a chance come Sunday.

Getting off to a good start can go a long way, and it will be fascinating to see how the field contends not only with Royal Birkdale but potentially also with the weather.