Viewing Options And Americans To Watch For The 2019 Open Championship

• The Open Championship is being held at the Royal Portrush Golf Club for the first time since 1951.
• The total number of Americans to enter the tournament sat at 47, almost double England (25) – the next highest country.
• Three Americans are in contention to take home the $1.935 million top prize after two rounds of action.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – For the first time since 1951, The Open Championship is being played at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland. As the last major tournament of the golf season, golfers from around the world are ready to prove they are elite in attempts to grab a piece of the $10.75 million purse.

Italian Francesco Molinari won the event last year, finishing -8 throughout the tournament (thanks to a round 3 score of 65) and took home $1.89 million for the event. This year the winner will take home a bit more as the first-place finisher will secure $1.935 million, while the second-place finisher will receive $1.12 million. Third-place will earn a bit more than $700,000 and it works itself down to the seventieth-place finisher who will grab $24,750.

This is the 148th Open Championship – the major that has been around the longest on the PGA – and is taking place this weekend, having started on Thursday and ending on Sunday. The course is designed to be affected by the weather and stands as a 7344-yard, par-71 course this year.

3 Americans To Watch During The Open Championship

With 47 Americans in the field of play, there is always sure to be a few that stand out above the rest. The only other country who comes close to the amount of US golfers is England, which is represented by 25 golfers. After the first two rounds of action, three American sit in good standing to fight their way up the leaderboard and offer nice payouts for anyone looking for some weekend sports betting action.

John “J.B.” Holmes (+1400)

J.B. Holmes led the field after the first day, posting a score of -5 in round 1. After a round 2 score of -3, he sits near the top of the leaderboard.

The Kentucky-born, University of Kentucky-educated golfer entered the tournament as an alternate but he hasn’t let that slow him down. His accuracy has been on point so far; however, finishing on the green has been a struggle, as he is above the field-average in the number of putts per hole.

Fairways Hit: 85.71%
Greens In Regulation: 77.78%
Average Number of Putts: 1.72

Brooks Koepka (+650)

No list of American golfers to watch would be complete without the addition of Brooks Koepka. The 2019 PGA Championship winner and 2019 Masters and 2019 U.S. Open runner-up has shown no fear on the biggest stages.

He is only in need of a Masters victory as well as an Open Championship victory to complete his grand slam. Through the first two rounds, Koepka sits well above the cut at -5, after finishing -3 in round 1 and -2 in round 2.

His statistics so far haven’t been anything to write home about, as his fairway percentage as well as his GIR is under the field-average. However, once he gets to the green, he has been able to knock down his putts with ease.

Fairways Hit: 57.14%
Greens In Regulation: 66.67%
Average Number of Putts: 1.61

Jordan Spieth (+1600)

Jordan Spieth is only a PGA Championship away from completing his grand slam and came close to winning that tournament in 2015, where he finished second. As for the British Open, he has won the event once (2017) when the tournament was held at the Royal Birkdale Golf Club.

Through two rounds, Spieth is -5 and amongst the top of the field. His round 1 score was -1 and he showed his improvement in round 2 by finishing -4 for the day.

He will head into the weekend despite missing the fairway many times so far. Still, Spieth has been able to stay amongst the top with his low average number of putts.

Fairways Hit: 35.71%
Greens In Regulation: 66.67%
Average Number of Putts: 1.5

How To Watch The Open Championship

The tournament is being broadcasted on a variety of television channels as well as on TheOpen.com. Whether you are looking for highlights, the ability to follow a certain hole / a featured group, or radio coverage of the event, you can find all of this on their site.

As for TV, NBC bought the rights from ESPN a few years back and paid $50 million for the ability to broadcast the event this year.

Saturday, July 20
Channel: GOLF
Time: 5 am – 7 am EST

Channel: NBC
Time: 7 am – 3 pm EST

Channel: Universo (Spanish)
Time: 1 pm – 3 pm EST

Sunday, July 21
Channel: GOLF
Time: 4 am – 7 am EST

Channel: NBC
Time: 7 am – 2 pm EST

Channel: Universo (Spanish)
Time: 12 pm – 2 pm EST

News tags: Brooks Koepka | Francesco Molinari | JB Holmes | Jordan Spieth | Northern Ireland | PGA | Royal Birkdale Golf Club | Royal Portrush Golf Club | The Open Championship