This year’s Open Championship, an anniversary addition no less, has kicked off in the historic golf town of St Andrews, Scotland.
This year’s Open is the 150th edition, and the 30th played at its current venue, and we are now just a few hours away to the action getting underway at St Andrews.
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As ever, the golf competition will feature the cream of the crop from around the world, with more than 150 competitors in action, including the three-time winner of the event Tiger Woods.
Here we round up everything you need to know about the tournement as players continue their preparations for the major:
Where is the Open Championship?
The Open Championship is held on the Old Course at St Andrews, on the east coast of Fife, in Scotland.
When is it?
The Open got underway this morning Thursday, July 14, and will wind to a close on Sunday, July 17.
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Play on the opening two days begins at 6.45am, while the weekend days will have a tee-off time of 8am.
How does the competition work?
The tournement is made up of 72 holes, featuring four rounds of play.
Competitors will play within groups of three for the first two days and groups of two for the second two days.
Who is playing?
There are 156 players involved in this year’s competition.
Last year’s winner Zach Johnson is involved, as is Rory Mcllroy, Jordan Spieth, Tiger Woods, Dustin Johnson and PGA Tour leader Scottie Scheffler.
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Competitors will be classified according to 28 groups before being placed into the groupings.
Those categories include the likes of previous competition winners, The top 10 finishers from last year’s competition, top 50 ranked players and beyond.


Prize money
The winner of The Open will receive a record prize of £2.1million, while the total prize fund at St Andrews has also been raised by 22% to £11.7m.
Odds
Here are the top 10 favourites for the competition, according to Bet365:
Rory Mcllroy - 10/1
Xander Schauffele - 14/1
Scottie Scheffler - 16/1
Jon Rahm - 16/1
Jordan Spieth - 16/1


Matthew Fitzpatrick - 18/1
Justin Thomas - 20/1
Shane Lowry - 25/1
Cameron Smith - 25/1
Patrick Cantlay, Will Zalatoris, Colin Morikawa - 28/1
TV coverage
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Sky Sports will show coverage of The Open, with coverage teeing off at 6.30am BST on Thursday, July 14 and wrapping up at 8.30pm.
The same coverage pattern will follow on Friday, while Saturday’s coverage will run from 9am to 8pm, and Sunday’s will run from 8am to 7.30pm.
Full coverage will be shown on Sky Sports’ dedicated golf channel, Sky Sports Golf, while most of the action will also be shown on Sky Sports Main Event.
The golf channel also has a number of features throughout the course of the competition, and programmes of that nature have already begun.
Streaming
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Sky Sports subscribers can tune into coverage online through Sky Go.
Short-term passes to watch the golf can also be purchased through NowTV.
Weather forecast
As ever, the weather forecast varies by source, but the Met Office is showing cloudy conditions with a low chance of precipitation.
Temperatures may reach up to 18 C later on this afternoon.
Friday and Saturday are set to be cloudy but dry, while sunny intervals should return on Sunday.
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Temperatures are set to be be between 18 and 23 over the weekend.