Early Round Coverage Tomorrow (Thursday) & Friday at 1:30 a.m. ET on Peacock and NBCSN; Weekend Coverage on NBC and Peacock Begins at 7 a.m. ET Saturday and Sunday; Peacock Streams Live All Day, Every Day with “Open All Access,” Featured Groups, and Debut of “Player Focus”
“The champions at Birkdale speak for themselves… The golf course produces those kinds of champions. I think we’re going to be in line for another one.” – Dan Hicks
“I don’t think it’s automatically get up there and bomb it… strategic game planning and iron control will be huge, especially if the wind picks up.” – Kevin Kisner on Royal Birkdale rewarding strategy over power
“Scottie is definitively the best player in the world… the intestinal fortitude that guy has is second to none on the PGA TOUR, and I expect him to rebound in a big way.” – Jim “Bones” Mackay on Scottie Scheffler entering The Open Championship after missing the cut at Scottish Open
STAMFORD, Conn. – July 15, 2026 – NBC Sports’ comprehensive coverage of the 154th Open Championship from Royal Birkdale in Southport, England, begins tomorrow, Thursday, July 16, and continues through Sunday, July 19.
Coverage of the first two rounds on Thursday and Friday begins at 1:30 a.m. ET on Peacock and NBCSN, with weekend coverage on NBC and Peacock starting at 7 a.m. ET on Saturday and Sunday.
NBC Sports’ 150+ hours of live coverage of The Open Championship overall includes live featured groups on Peacock showcasing two morning groups and two afternoon groups each day, Open All Access, a whiparound show on Thursday and Friday, and, new this year, a Player Focus stream featuring every shot from a marquee player with more detail, more analysis and additional content.
NBC Sports’ play-by-play voice Dan Hicks, analyst Kevin Kisner, and on course reporter Jim “Bones” Mackay previewed this week’s 154th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. Highlights follow below, with the full transcript here.
Hicks on Royal Birkdale’s championship pedigree: “The champions at Birkdale speak for themselves. If you look all the way back to Peter Thompson, who won there twice, and you go through the names, it’s a Hall of Fame who’s who from Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, my old partner Johnny Miller, Tom Watson, and on down the list to the recent Jordan Spieth... The golf course produces those kinds of champions. So, I think we’re going to be in line for another one.”
Kisner on why Royal Birkdale produces worthy champions: “When you produce champions on the list that they’ve produced up to this point, it just shows you the golf course is a great test and proves that a worthy winner wins every time they go back to Royal Birkdale... I think it rewards really good golf shots…It’s all kind of right there in front of you. Now, they’ve added some length this year that will make a couple more holes challenging, but from my viewpoint, when I think about Royal Birkdale, it’s ‘here’s our golf course. Come and get it.’ And we let the conditions and what we think is the proper test do all the talking.”
“Bones” Mackay on why Royal Birkdale rewards great golf: “I think it’s the most underrated golf course on The Open course rotation, just a wonderful test of golf…You just can’t fake it there. There’s less luck involved... I think that you hit it where you’re looking and you’re going to be rewarded for it ultimately.”
Hicks on Scottie Scheffler entering as the favorite: “We are still very much every week in the era of it starts and stops with Scottie Scheffler as far as the pre-championship favorite goes... There’s something about Scheffler’s preparation that he just absolutely can’t get enough of... Scheffler’s the man still.”
“Bones” Mackay on Scheffler entering the week: “…Scottie is definitively the best player in the world. I expect the fact that he did miss the [Scottish Open] cut this week to light something of a fuse that much more underneath him…Certainly he hasn’t been quite at the level of play that we saw him last year in terms of what he’s done this year, but he’s still Scottie Scheffler, and my gosh, the intestinal fortitude that guy has is second to none on the PGA TOUR, and I expect him to rebound in a big day next week.”
Kisner on Royal Birkdale rewarding strategy over power: “I don’t think it’s automatically get up there and bomb it, I think it’s more strategic... I think, if the fairways and conditions line up with what a normal Open Championship is, that length won’t be the top of it, but strategic game planning and iron control will be huge, especially if the wind picks up.”
Kisner on Royal Birkdale’s opening hole: “I love it because it smacks you in the mouth on the 1st tee, one of the hardest shots in Open Championship history I’ve played, depending on wind conditions and the weather... I think it rewards really good golf shots.”
Kisner on impact of weather at The Open: “I would say every day you’re forecasting or watching the forecast in preparation for how you’re going to handle your round, how you’re going to expect to play this course in relation to par and how you’re going to best get around it and where you can be aggressive, where you have to be more conservative based on wind direction and other conditions that change…It can be very volatile over there.”
Hicks on competing for the Claret Jug: "… they’re playing for a Claret Jug, and that also has an enormous impact on some guys that I’m always fascinated by when I’m grilling [Kevin Kisner] on who’s going to win and who can handle the nerves. That, I think, is one of the best things our analysts can impart. They’ve been in the heat, and they know what it’s like. Some guys are built for that, and some guys aren’t. That’s what I think makes golf one of the greatest sports, if not the best sport in the world, to watch these guys coming down the back nine with a Claret Jug on the line or a U.S. Open trophy. It’s just great stuff.”
How To Watch – Thursday, July 16 – Sunday, July 19 (all times ET)
- TV – NBC, NBCSN, USA Network
- Streaming – Peacock, NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app
| Date | Peacock/NBCSN | USA Network | NBC/Peacock |
| Thursday, July 16 | *1:30-4 a.m. | 4 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. | |
| Friday, July 17 | *1:30-4 a.m. | 4 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. | |
| Saturday, July 18 | 5 - 7 a.m. | 7 a.m. – 3 p.m. | |
| Sunday, July 19 | 4 - 7 a.m. | 7 a.m. – 2 p.m. |
*coverage will begin shortly before the first scheduled tee time at 1:30 a.m. ET
Open All Access, Featured Groups, and Player Focus
| Coverage | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
| All Access | 8 a.m. – 3 p.m. | 8 a.m. – 3 p.m. | --- | --- |
| Featured Groups | Approximately 5 a.m. | Approximately 5 a.m. | TBD | TBD |
| Player Focus | Beginning 10 a.m. | Beginning 10 a.m. | TBD | TBD |
-NBC SPORTS-
