The Open Championship on ESPN

http://sportsmediajournal.com/ ESPN is set to provide 35 hours of live coverage of all four rounds of next week’s Open Championship from Royal Lytham & St Annes in Lancashire, England. ESPN, ESPN3 and WatchESPN will have 10 scheduled hours of live play from each of the first two rounds on Thursday and Friday, July 19-20, from 5:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. ET. The third round on Saturday, July 21, will air live from 7:00 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. ET with the final round on Sunday, July 22, airing live from 6 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. The network will also produce The Best of The Open Championship, an edited encore presentation, on ESPN in prime time Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights from 7-10 p.m. and 9 p.m. – midnight on ESPN2. Mike Tirico will host ESPN’s live telecasts from The Open Championship for the 17th consecutive year, with Scott Van Pelt and Terry Gannon also serving as hosts during the four days of the tournament. ESPN’s team will also include Curtis Strange, Andy North, Paul Azinger, Tom Weiskopf and Judy Rankin. The BBC’s legendary golf announcer Peter Alliss will join ESPN each day. Van Pelt and Gannon will work as hole announcers, as will Strange and Sean McDonough. Azinger, Weiskopf and Alliss will join the hosts for analysis. On-course reporters will be North, Rankin, Bill Kratzert and Olin Browne, while reporter Tom Rinaldi will conduct player interviews. ESPN.com national columnist Gene Wojciechowski also will contribute to ESPN’s television coverage. ESPN Radio will also be providing coverage of the tournament for the first time, with 4 total hours over the four days of the event. Here is the entire ESPN schedule for the 2012 Open Championship: (all times U.S. Eastern) Day/Date Program Start Network Wed., July 18 SportsCenter at The Open Championship 2 p.m. ESPN2, WatchESPN Thu., July 19 First Round 5 a.m. ESPN, ESPN3, WatchESPN Thu., July 19 First Round 7 a.m. ESPN Radio Thu., July 19 The Open Championship Today presented by Merrill Lynch 3 p.m. ESPN, WatchESPN Thu., July 19 Best of The Open Championship 7 p.m. ESPN, WatchESPN Fri., July 20 Second Round 5 a.m. ESPN, ESPN3, WatchESPN Fri., July 20 Second Round 7 a.m. ESPN Radio Fri., July 20 The Open Championship Today presented by Merrill Lynch 3 p.m. ESPN, WatchESPN Fri., July 20 Best of The Open Championship 7 p.m. ESPN, WatchESPN Sat., July 21 Best of The Open Championship 4 a.m. ESPN2, WatchESPN Sat., July 21 Third Round 7 a.m. ESPN, ESPN3, WatchESPN Sat., July 21 Third Round 9 a.m. ESPN Radio Sat., July 21 The Open Championship Today presented by Merrill Lynch 3 p.m. ABC Sat., July 21 Best of The Open Championship 7 p.m. ESPN, WatchESPN Sun., July 22 Best of The Open Championship 3 a.m. ESPN2, WatchESPN Sun., July 22 Final Round 6 a.m. ESPN, ESPN3, WatchESPN Sun., July 22 Final Round 8 a.m. ESPN Radio Sun., July 22 The Open Championship Today presented by Merrill Lynch 3 p.m. ABC Sun., July 22 Best of The Open Championship 9 p.m. ESPN2, WatchESPN Mon., July 23 Best of The Open Championship Noon ESPN2, WatchESPN