British Open 2015: Leaderboard, live updates, scores from Thursday’s round at St. Andrews

The Open Championship is the oldest major in golf and this year it returns to its most renowned venue, the Old Course at St. Andrews. World No. 1 Rory McIlroy is the first defending champion not to play The Open since Ben Hogan in 1954. McIlroy was the favorite before he ripped up his ankle and his loss is significant, but the headliner is still here.

Jordan Spieth is the first player since Tiger Woods in 2002 to show up at the British Open holding the first two majors of the season. He’s the best player in the world and the favorite to win. Between the Spieth Slam, Tiger’s return to a place where he’s won twice, and the venue, this should be an amazing Open. Some background notes on the 144th edition as well as updated results and highlights as the week progresses.

Weather remains a concern for the 144th Open Championship at St Andrews. High wind and rain showers are likely over the next four days, with Friday through Saturday as the worst of the weather conditions.

THURSDAY - OPENING ROUND WEATHER FORECAST

Mostly cloudy and breezy for the opening round but also mostly dry. Winds will be out of the east-southeast between 10 to 20 mph and occasional gusts near 25 mph - High 60

For the first time in 13 years, a player arrives at the British Open holding the season’s first two majors. Jordan Spieth has overtaken the golf world in 2015 and he’ll continue his chase at the Grand Slam on Thursday at St. Andrews. It’s a longshot that Spieth completes the unthinkable slam, but you will be able to watch his every swing this week, starting with Thursday’s opening round.

Spieth is set to go off the 1st tee at 9:33 a.m. local, or 4:33 a.m. ET in the United States. Only the most dedicated souls will be up to watch the beginning of his round back in the USA, and his home state of Texas. But the Masters and U.S. Open winner will be front and center on ESPN’s marquee groups stream if you want to watch him from the very start.

The 2015 Open Championship gets underway from St. Andrews on Thursday and despite the time change and unusual hours in the United States, viewers will still be able to watch plenty of live golf if they are willing to sacrifice sleep. The British Open is running five hours ahead of Eastern time in the United States, so television coverage will begin bright and early at 4 a.m. ET.

A number of players will already be on the course by that time with the field scheduled to begin going off the first tee at 1:32 a.m. As is British Open tradition, every player will begin his round from the No. 1 tee box, so the first few groups will be well into their rounds when television coverage begins on ESPN. The first-round action will continue well into the afternoon with coverage scheduled to run until 3 p.m. Although the weather may not be ideal all week in Scotland, there will be plenty of daylight allowing the field to play well into the night.

The Open Championship is the game’s oldest major and it’s separate and unique from the other three in so many ways. The obvious ones are that it’s the only major abroad and it’s always played on a true links style course in dramatically different weather conditions from the US majors.

But another way The Open stands out is how the field is slotted on the tee shot. A links course is meant to be played from No. 1 through 18, and never with a split-tee system of half the field going off No. 10. Because of where and when The Open takes place, the entire 156-man field is able to go off the 1st tee. That’s an unrealistic dream at the U.S. Open, which is played during the longest days of the summer, and at the PGA Championship -- two majors that have the exact same size fields. The two U.S. majors try to dodge any inclement weather and grind to navigate 156 players off two tees through 36 holes of sun-up to sun-down before the cut is made.

After the FOX experiment of the U.S. Open, major championship golf returns to one of its traditional partners this week at St. Andrews. ESPN and ABC have a 55-year relationship with the British Open, but 2015’s edition at St. Andrews will be their penultimate broadcast. Just last year, the cable giant had varying levels of rights to the Masters, the U.S. Open, and the Open Championship. But after Royal Troon next year, all that may remain is the Masters, which maintains a constant one-year deal with CBS, who in turn grants early round rights to ESPN.

The past couple years have prompted a game of musical chairs among the majors and their broadcast partners. The U.S. Open took the big FOX money and ran from their traditional partner, NBC. That left Johnny Miller and friends without a major championship and just The Players and Ryder Cup every other year as their marquee golf properties. So when the US portion of the Open Championship rights went out for bidding this summer, NBC, and their Comcast sister cable network, Golf Channel, swooped in and got back into major championship golf. They will start carrying The Open in 2017.