2015 British Open live stream: How to watch Friday’s round online

The 2015 Open Championship got off to an entertaining start on Thursday with several players posting good opening scores at St. Andrews. There may not be as many red numbers on Friday with weather conditions expected to be worse, including heavy wind and rain. While it may be a grind and a struggle for the field, viewers will have comfortable conditions to watch the round online.

There is no shortage of notable names in contention with Dustin Johnson leading the way at 7-under. His length off the tee plays well at St. Andrews and he had the putter working just as well on Thursday. Jason Day is back in contention at a major championship and will begin the second round at 6-under, one shot off the lead. Zach Johnson also opened the tournament with a 6-under 66.

Jordan Spieth’s quest to win a third straight major got off to a solid start thanks to a 5-under 67. He was his usual solid self once again, using a complete game to rack up seven birdies in the first round. He doesn’t hit it as long as Johnson or Day, both of which were near the driving distance leaders, so it will be interesting to see how he fares when wind becomes a bigger factor and effectively lengthens the course. After the first round, Spieth said he would have to play his best golf to even have a chance if Dustin Johnson keeps driving the ball like he did on Thursday.

The weather conditions will absolutely be a major factor on the second-round scores, but conditions could also affect the broadcast. There is a chance play could be delayed due to the weather, which would affect the ESPN broadcast. Currently, television coverage is scheduled to run from 4 a.m. to 3 p.m. ET. The broadcast extended a full half-hour on Thursday and could go even longer on Friday if play is extended and there is enough daylight to remain on the course.

In addition to at least 11 hours of live television coverage, ESPN will give viewers multiple options to watch the second round online. There will be three online streams, including a simulcast stream of the TV broadcast on WatchESPN. In addition to the main simulcast, there will also be a separate Spanish feed and an International BBC stream. The BBC stream differs from the ESPN broadcast, giving viewers a different look at the round including a focus on players who may not get as much coverage on ESPN.

Once again ESPN will provide a featured group stream and a featured hole stream. The featured group stream will focus on the pairing of Phil Mickelson, Henrik Stenson and Matt Kuchar in the morning before shifting to the trio of Spieth, Dustin Johnson and Hideki Matsuyama in the afternoon. The morning featured group is scheduled to tee off at 4:33 a.m. while the late group will go off the first tee at 9:34 p.m. barring delays.

No. 17 will be the focus of the featured hole stream and viewers watching are unlikely to be treated to many birdies. In fact, the famous “Road Hole” at St. Andrews didn’t yield a single birdie on Thursday and could end up being the toughest hole in British Open history.

Here is a complete look at the online coverage for the second round. All times Eastern.

UPDATE: Heavy rains forced a 3.5-hour rain delay on Friday morning, with only two groups getting onto the first hole before play was called. You can play golf until after 10 p.m. this time of year in Scotland, but with the entire field starting 3.5 hours later than expected, there’s no way they will finish up on time Friday night. So expect ESPN’s coverage to run late and past 4:30 p.m. ET as they carry coverage until play is halted due to darkness.

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

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