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

The wide-open British Open has a chance to become one of the most exciting events of the year, with the season's third major championship scheduled to get underway Thursday at Royal Birkdale at Southport, England.

Oddsmakers normally designate one or two golfers who are standout performers and likely to win the tournament. Since winning the U.S. Open in 2016, that player has often been Dustin Johnson.

The lanky American star got off to a great start in 2017, but he has not been in dominant form since injuring himself in a fluke accident prior to the Masters in April.

Johnson is the co-favorite to win the British Open along with Jordan Spieth, but OddsShark has both golfers at plus-1,400. That's an unusually inviting number for the top-rated performers.

The event will not be an easy one for all golf fans to follow. The five-hour time difference between Southport and North Americans living in the Eastern time zone, for example, means some fans abroad will have to start watching in the early-morning hours.

Mark O'Meara, Chris Wood and Ryan Moore will get the tournament underway when they tee off on the par-70 course at 1:35 a.m. ET.

The Golf Channel will broadcast the opening round from 1:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET on Thursday, and it will follow the same coverage schedule on Friday. 

The Saturday broadcast schedule includes the Golf Channel taking the early shift from 4:30 a.m. until 7 a.m. ET, with NBC taking over from 7 a.m. through 3 p.m. After a 90-minute break, NBC will return to the British Open for wrap-up coverage from 4:30 p.m. until 6 p.m.

The tournament concludes Sunday, with the Golf Channel broadcasting from 4 a.m. until 7 a.m. and NBC taking over from 7 a.m. until the conclusion, which is likely to come around 2 p.m. ET.

Golf fans can also live-stream the British Open via the tournament's website.

Here's a look at the tee times for the opening round of the tournament. 

2017 British Open Championship tee times, pairings (courtesy of theopen.com)

Thursday (ET)

1:35 a.m. — Mark O'Meara, Chris Wood, Ryan Moore
1:46 a.m. — Maverick McNealy, Phachara Khongwatmai, Stuart Manley
1:57 a.m. — Stewart Cink, Sandy Lyle, Jeunghun Wang
2:08 a.m. — Paul Broadhurst, Thongchai Jaidee, Roberto Castro
2:19 a.m. — Tom Lehman, Ben An, Darren Fichardt
2:30 a.m. — Soren Kjeldsen, Billy Horschel, Danny Willett
2:41 a.m. — Matthew Fitzpatrick, Steve Stricker, Emiliano Grillo
2:52 a.m. — Jason Dufner, Branden Grace, Bryson DeChambeau
3:03 a.m. — Alex Noren, Russell Knox, Ian Poulter
3:14 a.m. — David Duval, Prayad Marksaeng, K.T. Kim
3:25 a.m. — Younghan Song, David Horsey, Dylan Frittelli
3:36 a.m. — Mike Lorenzo-Vera, Charles Howell III, Shiv Kapur
3:47 a.m. — Russell Henley, Fabrizio Zanotti, Peter Uihlein
4:03 a.m. — Alexander Levy, Brendan Steele, Webb Simpson
4:14 a.m. — Wesley Bryan, Anirban Lahiri, Alfie Plant
4:25 a.m. — Darren Clarke, Gary Woodland, Harry Ellis
4:36 a.m. — Padraig Harrington, Pat Perez, Thomas Pieters
4:47 a.m. — Henrik Stenson, Si Woo Kim, Jordan Spieth
4:58 a.m. — Louis Oosthuizen, Justin Rose, Justin Thomas
5:09 a.m. — Brooks Koepka, Hideki Matsuyama, Tommy Fleetwood
5:20 a.m. — J.B. Holmes, Brandt Snedeker, Shane Lowry
5:31 a.m. — Richard Bland, Shaun Norris, Luca Cianchetti
5:42 a.m. — Yikeun Chang, Chan Kim, Mark Foster
5:53 a.m. — Sung-Hoon Kang, Tony Finau, Matthieu Pavon
6:04 a.m. — Alexander Bjork, Joe Dean, Robert Streb
6:15 a.m. — Robert Dinwiddie, Julian Suri, Adam Hodkinson
6:36 a.m. — Andrew Johnston, Adam Hadwin, Todd Hamilton
6:47 a.m. — John Daly, Adam Bland, Connor Syme
6:58 a.m. — William McGirt, Toby Tree, Jamie Lovemark
7:09 a.m. — Matthew Griffin, Austin Connelly, Matthew Southgate
7:20 a.m. — Cameron Smith, Bill Haas, Callum Shinkwin
7:31 a.m. — Michael Hendry, Brian Harman, Martin Laird
7:42 a.m. — Ernie Els, Ross Fisher, Bernd Wiesberger
7:53 a.m. — Tyrrell Hatton, Martin Kaymer, Aaron Baddeley
8:04 a.m. — Zach Johnson, Jason Day, Sergio Garcia
8:15 a.m. — Andy Sullivan, Joost Luiten, David Lipsky
8:26 a.m. — Rickie Fowler, Adam Scott, Paul Casey
8:37 a.m. — Matt Kuchar, Richie Ramsay, Ryan Fox
8:48 a.m. — Kevin Kisner, Charley Hoffman, David Drysdale
9:04 a.m. — Jimmy Walker, Hideto Tanihara, Thorbjorn Olesen
9:15 a.m. — Jhonattan Vegas, Brandon Stone, Sean O'Hair
9:26 a.m. — Daniel Berger, Pablo Larrazabal, Yuta Ikeda
9:37 a.m. — Paul Lawrie, Kevin Chappell, Yusaku Miyazato
9:48 a.m. — Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Charl Schwartzel
9:59 a.m. — Jon Rahm, Patrick Reed, Lee Westwood
10:10 a.m. — Phil Mickelson, Francesco Molinari, Marc Leishman
10:21 a.m. — Scott Hend, Rafael Cabrera-Bello, Bubba Watson
10:32 a.m. — Paul Waring, Kyle Stanley, Kevin Na
10:43 a.m. — Giwhan Kim, Xander Schauffele, Andrew Dodt
10:54 a.m. — Haotong Li, Kent Bulle, Haydn McCullen
11:05 a.m. — Jbe Kruger, Nick McCarthy, Ashley Hall
11:16 a.m. — Ryan McCarthy, Laurie Canter, Sebastian Munoz

While top golfers like Johnson, Rory McIlroy and Jason Day have not been in top form, Spieth is coming off a victory in the Travelers Championship in late June, and he tied for second in the Dean & Deluca Invitational in late May.

He was not in contention in the U.S. Open when he tied for 35th, but Spieth has earned nearly $5 million this season. He has two victories, a second-place finish and two third-place showings this year. 

Spieth's accuracy is often the key to his game. He is hitting 70.67 percent of his greens in regulation, and that ranks fifth among all PGA Tour players.

McIlroy comes into the tournament with odds of plus-2,000, and while that may be tempting to those who are looking to wager on the British Open, McIlroy's recent form indicates that he is not likely to get his hands on the Claret Jug that goes to the winner of the tournament.

McIlroy fired a 78 in the opening round of the U.S. Open and then failed to make the cut. In recent weeks, he has competed in two European Tour events, and he failed to make the cut in both cases.

McIlroy has struggled throughout the year, and he ranks 75th in FedEx Cup points. He has not finished in the top three in any of the PGA Tour events he has entered this year, although he does have four top-10 finishes.

Tommy Fleetwood is the top player on the European Tour, and he has been playing at Royal Birkdale since his formative years. He comes into the tournament with odds of plus-2,200, and he should have an excellent chance to contend for four full rounds.

Jon Rahm has been one of the young stars on the PGA Tour this year, and the 22-year-old Spaniard ranks fifth in FedEx Cup points and seventh in the World Golf Rankings. Rahm has won nearly $4.5 million to this point in the season.

Rahm comes into the tournament with odds of plus-1,600.