The British Open Championship has officially kicked off its 142nd edition on Thursday with the spotlight on world's no.1 Tiger Woods as he tries to end his five-year Grand Slam drought at the iconic Muirfield Golf Links in Gullane, East Lothian, Scotland.
Woods, who hasn't hoisted a Grand Slam trophy since winning the US Open Championship in 2008, enters the Open Championship as an 8-1 favorite to win the title despite dealing with a nagging elbow injury. The sore elbow, which he suffered at the US Open Championship a month ago, could be a serious concern for Woods in his attempt to win his fourth British Open hardware.
Looking to extend Woods' Grand Slam misery are defending champion Ernie Els, Phil Mickelson, Justin Rose, and Rory McIlroy, who each boasts a majors title in their career. Yet, the four-round tournament could also be filled with surprises especially if the weather becomes a factor deep into the weekends.
Muirfield Golf Links will be hosting the Open Championship for the 16th time with the last staging taking place 11 years ago when Els bested Stuart Appleby and Steve Elkington in a nerve-wracking playoff and then edged Thomas Levet in a sudden death to bag his third Grand Slam title of his career.
T.V Schedule and Online Streaming
T.V Coverage of the 2013 British Open will start at 4:00 a.m ET on ESPN with Live Online Streaming available on ESPN3. Radio Coverage will start at 7:00 a.m ET on ESPN Radio.
Tee Times and Leaderboard
Running scores and first-round results of the 2013 British Open is available on ESPN British Open Coverage while Tee Times of each pairing is listed below:
First Round Tee Times/Pairings
| Players | Tee Time (ET) | Tee Time (BST) |
| Peter Senior, Lloyd Saltman, Oliver Fisher | 1:32 a.m. | 6:32 a.m. |
| Robert Karlsson, Todd Hamilton, Ben Stow | 1:43 a.m. | 6:43 a.m. |
| Thomas Aiken, Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Bud Cauley | 1:54 a.m. | 6:54 a.m. |
| Mikko Ilonen, Brooks Koepka, Ashun Wu | 2:05 a.m. | 7:05 a.m. |
| David Duval, Bernd Wiesberger, Chris Wood | 2:16 a.m. | 7:16 a.m. |
| Scott Stallings, Stewart Cink, Richard McEvoy | 2:27 a.m. | 7:27 a.m. |
| K.J. Choi, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Jimmy Walker | 2:38 a.m. | 7:38 a.m. |
| Ben Curtis, Shane Lowry, Rafael Cabrera-Bello | 2:49 a.m. | 7:49 a.m. |
| Jonas Blixt, Brian Davis, Graham Delaet | 3 a.m. | 8 a.m. |
| Robert Garrigus, John Senden, Marc Warren | 3:11 a.m. | 8:11 a.m. |
| Martin Kaymer, Garrick Porteous, Jason Day | 3:22 a.m. | 8:22 a.m. |
| Carl Pettersson, Jason Dufner, David Lynn | 3:33 a.m. | 8:33 a.m. |
| Bubba Watson, Nicolas Colsaerts, Dustin Johnson | 3:44 a.m. | 8:44 a.m. |
| Nick Faldo, Tom Watson, Fred Couples | 4 a.m. | 9 a.m. |
| Justin Rose, Ernie Els, Brandt Snedeker | 4:11 a.m. | 9:11 a.m. |
| Ian Poulter, Keegan Bradley, Billy Horschel | 4:22 a.m. | 9:22 a.m. |
| Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, Richard Sterne, Nick Watney | 4:33 a.m. | 9:33 a.m. |
| Rory McIlroy, Hideki Matsuyama, Phil Mickelson | 4:44 a.m. | 9:44 a.m. |
| Scott Piercy, Tim Clark, Kevin Streelman | 4:55 a.m. | 9:55 a.m. |
| Zach Johnson, Shingo Katayama, Thomas Bjorn | 5:06 a.m. | 10:06 a.m. |
| Angel Cabrera, Camilo Villegas, Tano Goya | 5:17 a.m. | 10:17 a.m. |
| George Coetzee, Ken Duke, Mark Calcavecchia | 5:28 a.m. | 10:28 a.m. |
| John Huh, Brendan Jones, Hyung-Sung Kim | 5:39 a.m. | 10:39 a.m. |
| Josh Teater, Steven Tiley, Jimmy Mullen | 5:50 a.m. | 10:50 a.m. |
| K.T. Kim, Steven Jeffress, Luke Guthrie | 6:01 a.m. | 11:01 a.m. |
| John Wade, Gareth Wright, Makoto Inoue | 6:12 a.m. | 11:12 a.m. |
| Danny Willett, Y.E. Yang, Johnson Wagner | 6:33 a.m. | 11:33 a.m. |
| Thaworn Wiratchant, Lucas Glover, Oscar Floren | 6:44 a.m. | 11:44 a.m. |
| Boo Weekley, Sandy Lyle, Niclas Fasth | 6:55 a.m. | 11:55 a.m. |
| Marcus Fraser, Grant Forrest, Mark O'Meara | 7:06 a.m. | 12:06 p.m. |
| Tom Lehman, Thongchai Jaidee, Fredrik Jacobson | 7:17 a.m. | 12:17 p.m. |
| Justin Leonard, Rhys Pugh, Marc Leishman | 7:28 a.m. | 12:28 p.m. |
| Alvaro Quiros, Kyle Stanley, Alexander Noren | 7:39 a.m. | 12:39 p.m. |
| Russell Henley, Jordan Spieth, Matthew Fitzpatrick | 7:50 a.m. | 12:50 p.m. |
| Padraig Harrington, Michael Thompson, Richie Ramsay | 8:01 a.m. | 1:01 p.m. |
| Vijay Singh, Darren Clarke, Martin Laird | 8:12 a.m. | 1:12 p.m. |
| Ryan Moore, Henrik Stenson, Steven Fox | 8:23 a.m. | 1:23 p.m. |
| Thorbjorn Olesen, Jim Furyk, Paul Lawrie | 8:34 a.m. | 1:34 p.m. |
| Geoff Ogilvy, Harris English, Stephen Gallacher | 8:45 a.m. | 1:45 p.m. |
| Lee Westwood, Charl Schwartzel, Sergio Garcia | 9:01 a.m. | 2:01 p.m. |
| Adam Scott, Matt Kuchar, Luke Donald | 9:12 a.m. | 2:12 p.m. |
| Rickie Fowler, Matteo Manassero, Hunter Mahan | 9:23 a.m. | 2:23 p.m. |
| Peter Hanson, Hiroyuki Fujita, Bill Haas | 9:34 a.m. | 2:34 p.m. |
| Tiger Woods, Graeme McDowell, Louis Oosthuizen | 9:45 a.m. | 2:45 p.m. |
| Webb Simpson, Branden Grace, Jamie Donaldson | 9:56 a.m. | 2:56 p.m. |
| Francesco Molinari, Toru Taniguchi, Bo Van Pelt | 10:07 a.m. | 3:07 p.m. |
| D.A. Points, Brett Rumford, Marcel Siem | 10:18 a.m. | 3:18 p.m. |
| George Murray, Mark Brown, Justin Harding | 10:29 a.m. | 3:29 p.m. |
| Gregory Bourdy, Scott Jamieson, Shiv Kapur | 10:40 a.m. | 3:40 p.m. |
| Scott Brown, Satoshi Kodaira, Gareth Maybin | 10:51 a.m. | 3:51 p.m. |
| Tyrrell Hatton, Eduardo de la Riva, Kenichi Kuboya | 11:02 a.m. | 4:02 p.m. |
| Stephen Dartnall, Darryn Lloyd, Daisuke Maruyama | 11:13 a.m. | 4:13 p.m. |