Olympic golf 2016: Start time and TV schedule for Round 4

There are just 18 more holes to go in the first Olympic golf event in more than 100 years. The return to the games has had its ups and downs and taken plenty of PR hits as big names dropped out en masse over the summer. But since the Olympics have started, that has subsided a bit and the players in Rio have embraced being Olympians. The actual golf has been uneven, with significant lulls and really underwhelming stretches ... until Saturday.

The sun came out, the wind was up, the crowds swelled beyond expectation, and the top names made their moves in the third round. In golf, it’s rare to have the favorites rise to the top of the leaderboard. There’s just too much variance and luck involved. But here we have the top two favorites in first and second on the leaderboard. Two major champions, Ryder Cup aces, and decorated world class stars -- Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson are sitting on top of the leaderboard with 18 more to play. Both have been committed to the Olympics from the start and now have a chance to drape a gold medal around the Claret Jug or U.S. Open trophy.

Aside from those two Euro stars, there are also a couple American players who charged up the board on Saturday. Rickie Fowler had been awful through the first two rounds, taking up residence at the bottom of the leaderboard after 36 holes. But his third round 64 was the second lowest round of the entire week and included an outward 29 on his front nine. He rocketed up the leaderboard and now has an outside shot at a medal. Bubba Watson posted his second straight round of 67 and is inside the top 5 with a great chance at bronze, and perhaps better, if he can get crazy hot on some of the easier stretches of this Gil Hanse design.

Golf Channel will carry the entire final round, as they’ve done the previous three days. They’re the Comcast sister of NBC so it makes sense to shuffle this new golf experiment over there for these two weeks, where it will get nonstop coverage. Golf Channel is not messing around either, going live at the start of all four rounds. That rarely happens, even at the majors. But with such a small field and the last Olympic golf competition being some 112 years ago, it makes sense to show as much golf as possible. They will be live 30 minutes earlier than the first three rounds when that opening threesome hits the first tee at 6 a.m. ET on Sunday.

Here’s the full media schedule for the final round:

All times Eastern

Events: Men’s competition, 6 a.m.

TV: Golf Channel, 6 a.m. to approx. 3 p.m.

Online Streaming: