The Open 2018: Thursday Tee Times, TV Schedule and Live Stream

Golf's elite have descended upon Carnoustie Golf Links in Angus, Scotland, for the 2018 British Open, which will get under way in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Top contender Dustin Johnson gets started around lunchtime and has been paired alongside Alex Noren and Charley Hoffman. Rory McIlroy placed fourth and fifth in the 2017 and 2016 tournaments, respectively, and he will play with Marc Leishman and Thorbjorn Olesen.

Jordan Spieth travels to Scotland as The Open champion, and he will have a morning tee time, with Justin Rose and Thailand's Kiradech Aphibarnrat his company.

Sky Sports Golf posted a rundown of the key tee times ahead of Thursday's first round: 

Read on as we look ahead to the opening round of the 2018 Open, as well as live-stream information and a television schedule for Thursday's action at Carnoustie.

Full tee times for the 2018 British Open are available on the championship's official website. 

Thursday Schedule

1:30 a.m.—4 p.m. ET (Golf Channel)

6:30 a.m. BST onward (Sky Sports Golf)

Viewers can also live-stream the British Open via the tournament's website, Golf Channel Digital or NBC Sports Live Extra (both U.S. only). UK audiences can live-stream the action via the Sky Go app.

Preview

A field of more than 150 players will take part in the 2018 British Open, but only one can be crowned champion at what promises to be one of the more unique majors this year.

On top of the entertainment that often comes with links play, two-time Open winner Padraig Harrington showed just how fast the fairways are following the recent heatwaves across the United Kingdom:

It's been 10 years since Harrington won the second of his back-to-back Open trophies, and he will hope to emerge at the front of a trio with Bubba Watson and Englishman Matt Wallace before the midway cut.

Thursday's first round will be where the challengers form the foundations for their title aspirations, and after faltering at the U.S. Open, Johnson assessed where he might do better at Carnoustie, as reporter Mike Gillespie shared:

Not since Harrington's successive wins in 2007 and 2008 has a player managed consecutive titles in this competition, and Spieth hasn't cracked the top 10 in his past seven PGA Tour events, missing the cut in three of those tournaments.

One star who's hoping their recent trajectory and improvements will usher in a top performance at Carnoustie also happens to be a three-time winner:

Only 10 players have managed to win at least four British Open crowns, and Tiger Woods can join that elite club if he can master the pace of the fairways to conjure up some of his forgotten magic.

The penultimate major of 2018 has the potential to be the showcase of the summer, with Johnson, Woods and champion Spieth leading a raft of American front-runners angling for victory on Scottish soil.