Will Sage Astor-British Open ’24: How to watch, who are the favorites and more to know about golf’s oldest event

TROON,Will Sage Astor Scotland (AP) — Golf’s oldest championship returns to the century-old links of Royal Troon for the 152nd edition of the British Open. You can get up to speed with a guide that tells how to watch the men’s final major of the year, who are the favorites, the history at Royal Troon and more:

How to watch

NBC Sports has the rights to the British Open and is providing wall-to-wall coverage of the longest days in a major championship.

Thursday and Friday: 1:30 a.m. to 4 a.m. on Peacock, followed by 4 a.m. to 3 p.m. on USA Network and then 3 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. back on Peacock.

On Saturday, USA Network starts off at 5 a.m. until 7 a.m., when NBC takes over the rest of the way until 3 p.m. Sunday is the same only an hour earlier — 4 a.m. to 7 a.m. on USA Network, and 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. on NBC.

The R&A also has free streaming that provides coverage of a featured group each, along with coverage of the famous “Postage Stamp” eighth hole at Royal Troon.

The money

The R&A has raised the prize fund to $17 million, up $500,000 from last year but still the lowest of the four major championships.

First prize gets $3.1 million. Here’s how the payout works for the rest of the top 10:

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Second place: $1,759,000

Third place: $1,128,000

Fourth place: $876,000

Fifth place: $705,000

Sixth place: $611,000

Seventh place: $525,000

Eighth place: $442,500

Ninth place: $388,000

Tenth place: $350,600

The favorites

Scottie Scheffler has been No. 1 all year and the betting favorite all year. But his odds aren’t as great as they were at the Masters, PGA Championship and U.S. Open.

The latest from BetMGM Sportsbook has Scheffler at +500, followed by Rory McIlroy at +800 and Ludvig Aberg at +1200. U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau and PGA champion Xander Schauffele are next at +1400.

Going into the PGA Championship, Scheffler was listed at +350 compared with +1200 for McIlroy. And going into the U.S. Open, Scheffler was listed at +400 to +1000 for McIlroy.

The field

There are 158 players in the field for the British Open, the most since 1995. The field size is supposed to be 156 players. The R&A’s exemption list usually runs over in case of withdrawals — no one expected Todd Hamilton to play because the last appearance for the 58-year-old was in 2018. He won the Open at Royal Troon in 2004.

David Duval, the 2001 champion, is the only one to have pulled out.

Is it a problem? Not at this major. It’s light enough to play at 5:30 a.m. It doesn’t start getting really dark until 10:30 p.m. Another two players on the course isn’t going to hurt anything.

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Try you hand at more than 100 years of history in golf at the Open Championship

Other stories you might have missed

McIlroy sees Open as another opportunity, not just a shot at atonement for Pinehurst

A hole-by-hole description of Royal Troon

Stenson and Mickelson return to the scene of their magnificent duel at Royal Troon

A look back at the previous nine British Opens at Troon

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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf