ESPN Announces Coverage of THE OPEN Golf Championship

ESPN will air live, four-round television coverage of the 142nd renewal of golf's oldest major, The Open Championship, July 18-21 as it is played for the 16th time at Scotland's Muirfield Golf Links. In addition to more than 65 total hours on television, which includes live play and encore presentations, ESPN also will have live radio broadcasts and extensive digital offerings on computers, tablets and mobile devices.

ESPN and WatchESPN will have 11 scheduled hours of live play from each of the first two rounds on Thursday and Friday, July 18-19, from 4 a.m. - 3 p.m. ET. The third round on Saturday, July 20, will air live from 7 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. with the final round on Sunday, July 21, airing live from 6 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.

The Best of The Open Championship, an edited encore presentation, will air in prime time Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights from 7-10 p.m. on ESPN and Sunday night from 9 p.m. - midnight on ESPN2 for golf fans unable to watch the live play earlier in the day. Highlights of each day's play also will air in The Open Championship Today from 3-6 p.m. Thursday and Friday on ESPN and Saturday and Sunday on ABC. The Open Championship has appeared on ABC every year since 1966.

ESPN's flagship news and information program, SportsCenter, will originate from the site of the championship with a one-hour special SportsCenter at The Open Championship program on Wednesday, July 17, at 2 p.m. as well as with extensive reports throughout each day beginning Monday, July 15.

ESPN's expert analysts and reporters for the event represent nine major golf championships and include Andy North and World Golf Hall of Famer Curtis Strange, both two-time U.S. Open champions; 1993 PGA Championship winner Paul Azinger, World Golf Hall of Famer Judy Rankin, two-time women's major champion Dottie Pepper, 1973 Open Championship winner Tom Weiskopf and 2001 Open Championship winner David Duval.

Mike Tirico will host ESPN's live telecasts from The Open Championship for the 18th consecutive year, with Scott Van Pelt also in the host role during the four days of the event. The BBC's legendary golf announcer Peter Alliss will join ESPN for several afternoon hours on both Thursday and Friday.

In addition to his host role, Van Pelt will work as a hole announcer as will Strange, Pepper and Sean McDonough. Azinger, Duval and Alliss will join the hosts for analysis at various times. On-course reporters will be North, Rankin, Pepper and Bill Kratzert while Tom Rinaldi will conduct player interviews.

ESPN will continue the use of "Virtual Aerial," a technical feature that debuted in coverage of last year's Open Championship. With wind being such a factor in links golf, Virtual Aerial demonstrates for viewers the different conditions for golfers around the course with a live aerial view of wind direction in one part of the course as opposed to another.

ESPN also will use Flight Tracker on six holes. The real-time feature tracks drives from behind and in front of the shot with a virtual line on the screen, allowing viewers to see the flight path of the ball from the time it leaves the tee.

Golden Globe winning actor Ian McShane, one of the stars of the current movie Jack the Giant Slayer, again lends his voice to ESPN's Open Championship scene-setting interstitial videos penned by ESPN.com and ESPN the Magazine senior writer Wright Thompson.

SportsCenter at The Open Championship

A special one-hour SportsCenter at The Open Championship will have an extensive preview of the event on Wednesday, July 17, at 2 p.m. ET on ESPN2 and WatchESPN. The program will originate from Muirfield Golf Links. Scott Van Pelt will host with analyst Andy North and reporter Tom Rinaldi. ESPN.com national columnist Gene Wojciechowski also will contribute to the special.

Regular editions of SportsCenter will have reports from The Open Championship beginning Monday of tournament week. Mike Tirico will share the host role with Van Pelt on the reports with analysis by North, Paul Azinger, Tom Weiskopf and David Duval. Rinaldi will conduct interviews and with reports and reactions from Wojciechowski.

ESPN Radio's Four-Round Open Championship Coverage

ESPN Radio's coverage of The Open Championship tees off Thursday, July 18, with a six-hour live broadcast at 7 a.m. ET from Muirfield Golf Links in Scotland. Daily coverage will continue Friday (7 a.m. - 1 p.m.), Saturday (9 a.m. - 3 p.m.) and Sunday (8 a.m. - 2 p.m.). The broadcasts also will be available on ESPNRadio.com and TheOpen.com.

Commentators contributing to ESPN Radio's live coverage will include Doug Bell, Dennis Paulson, Bill Rosinski, and Bob Wischusen.

All Open Championship programming on ESPN and ESPN2 is available on computers, smartphones, tablets, Xbox and Apple TV via WatchESPN, accessible to fans who receive their video subscription from an affiliate provider including Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks, Verizon FiOS TV, Comcast Xfinity TV, Midcontinent Communications, Cablevision, Cox, Charter Communications and AT&T U-verse.

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