How to watch the 2014 British Open live online, TV, radio and more

ESPN has played a part in the coverage of each of the season’s first two majors, and now at the Open Championship, they’ll stop sharing with the other networks. They hold the rights to all four rounds, and have the air space to run four full days of coverage without needing to split it up with an NBC or CBS.

The British Open is the most unique major for several reasons, one of which is the time change for an American TV audience. It can be annoying for west coast viewers, but most prefer to wake up to golf on the weekends and have it done and over with in the early afternoon. The first two rounds, of course, start in the middle of the night for the eastern U.S. and that can be a hit to the ratings. But fortunately for ESPN, Tiger Woods, the game’s ultimate TV draw and moneymaker, isn’t out unitl almost three hours after the first tee time on Thursday. He’s still in the morning wave, going off at 9:04 a.m. local time, but the second half of his round should fall while most of the American audience is waking up, getting ready for work, and tuning in. Woods will start his first major of the year at 4:04 a.m. ET, and probably finish sometime around 8:30 or 9 a.m.

With Tiger back in the fold and making his first major championship appearance, ESPN decided to go all out and provide coverage of his every shot this week. Unlike the Masters, the TV partner at the Open is not bound to any antediluvian traditions that require limited coverage. Every year, Tiger plays one of his first two rounds in relative obscurity at Augusta. Not this week, however, as there will be a dedicated “Tiger-cam” stream up and running on ESPN3/WatchESPN. It will be live by 4 a.m. on Thursday, just four minutes before Woods takes the first tee. When Tiger’s round is done for the day, it will transition over to Phil Mickelson, and his playing partners, Bubba Watson and Ernie Els. They tee off at 9:05 a.m. ET. On Friday, Phil and Tiger will swap tee times with Woods playing throughout the morning hours in the States and finishing up some time after noon. If Woods and/or Phil fail to make the weekend or they both have late tee times, they’ll find other marquee players to cover.

In addition to the stream dedicated to Tiger and Phil, there will be a featured holes stream and a simulcast of the TV coverage (with Spanish and BBC feeds also available!). And unlike the U.S. Open, there will be no Chris Berman polluting your ears at the Open Championship. Mike Tirico and Scott Van Pelt do most of the anchoring, with the usual rota of analysts Paul Azinger, Curtis Strange, and Andy North chiming in. Can SVP, one of the best anchors in golf, wedge a “Roll Tide” into this broadcast in foreign lands? Tirico and Azinger are the first team and have the final call on Sunday.

And of course, old friend Tom Rinaldi will be there waiting to interview the players around the clubhouse while also delivering his usual mix of saccharine video essays. He’s become a fixture at this event, providing some of the Open’s most memorable gifs over the past couple years.

Here’s hoping Mr. Rinaldi can deliver again in 2014.

ESPN does as good or better a job covering the Open as any of the networks on the other majors, even with the time zone disadvantage. In addition to all the streams, and the 11 hour TV broadcast the first two rounds, they put some pretty cool technology out on the course to capture the links conditions that are unfamiliar to most of the American audience. There will be a flight tracker and this year, they have a virtual aerial feature that can spotlight the conditions and wind on different corners and parts of the course. The Open is one of those tournaments where you may be hitting three or four clubs more or less from the same distance on back-to-back holes, depending on the wind direction. So that could be a cool feature providing insight on the different effects the conditions have throughout the course.

This is one of the most fun events in golf -- the conditions, unique links layout, and time difference providing a cool experience that we just don’t get the rest of the year on the PGA Tour. And ESPN has become a part of that tradition. Here’s the full media schedule for the week (All times ET):

4 a.m. to 3 p.m. -- ESPN

7 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET -- ESPN Radio / PGA Tour Radio on Sirius-XM (Ch. 93/208)

6 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. -- ESPN

6 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. -- ESPN3 simulcast of TV coverage, Spanish feed, and International (BBC) streams

8 a.m. to conclusion (est 1:30 p.m. ET) -- ESPN Radio / PGA Tour Radio on Sirius-XM (Ch. 93/208)