Portrush is the only venue outside England and Scotland to have hosted golf’s oldest major, but has done so just once, in 1951. Almost seven decades on, local favorite Darren Clarke hit the first tee shot on Thursday morning as the 148th edition of the Open got underway.
The tournament is the only one of the four majors to take place outside the U.S., which makes it the hardest to follow for American fans.
Britain is five hours ahead of the U.S. East Coast, meaning the first two rounds begin at around 1:30 a.m. ET. Despite the time difference, there are plenty of ways to keep up with the action and ensure you don’t miss a putt.
On Thursday and Friday alone, Golf Channel will provide over 14 hours of coverage on each day. Fans wanting to watch all the action might need to stock up on coffee.
Here’s how to keep up with the first round.
TV coverage
The final major of the season is being broadcast on Golf Channel and NBC, with the former covering the whole tournament and the latter broadcasting the final two rounds.
Coverage of the first round on Thursday runs from 1:30 a.m. ET until 4 p.m. ET on Golf Channel.
Meanwhile, coverage on NBC will begin at 7 a.m. on both Saturday and Sunday. Dan Hicks and Paul Azinger will call the action on NBC, with Mike Tirico, Terry Gannon and Sir Nick Faldo also part of the team.
Live stream
Streaming for the four rounds is available via Golf Channel, NBC Sport and The Open’s official website. The entire tournament can also be streamed via fuboTV.
Tee times (All times ET)
By the time most people wake up on the East Coast, Bubba Watson, Phil Mickelson, Shane Lowry and Alex Noren will be among the players approaching the end of the first round.
However, there will still be time to watch Justin Thomas and Brooks Koepka’s rounds in their entirety, while Jordan Spieth and Tiger Woods will tee off later in the day.
7:53 a. m. —Justin Thomas, Tommy Fleetwood, Thorbjorn Olesen8:04 a. m. —Louis Oosthuizen, Brooks Koepka, Shubhankar Sharma8:26 a. m. —Jordan Spieth, Marc Leishman, Danny Willett9:48 a. m. —Justin Rose, Tony Finau, Lucas Bjerregaard9:59 a. m. —Dustin Johnson, Jason Day, Keegan Bradley10:10 a. m. —Tiger Woods, Matt Wallace, Patrick Reed10:21 a. m. —Patrick Cantlay, Jon Rahm, Matt Kuchar