This years British Open Golf Tournament kicks off on Thursday at the Royal St George's Course in Sandwich, south-east of London.  Hot favourite Rory McIlroy will be hoping to repeat his record breaking performance at this years U.S. Open when he tees off with Rickie Fowler and Ernie Els at 9:09am (GMT).

Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa, who won the British Open last year, will be in an afternoon group along with America’s Phil Mickelson and Germany's Martin Kaymer. Also teeing off in the afternoon will be US Masters champion Charl Schwartzel.

Two notable absent players from this years British Golf Open will be Tiger Woods who is still recovering from a knee injury and Colin Montgomerie who failed to qualify for the British golf major.

The British Golf Open Championship 2011 will be broadcast in the U.S. on ESPN and on Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland.  If you do not have a subscription to either of these sports channels you can still watch the British Open Golf tournament on your iPhone or iPad for free.  We put together some simple instructions below on how to watch free live streams of this great sporting event.

The second of golf’s major tournaments of 2011, the U.S. Open, tees off this morning at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland.  Unfortunately Tiger Woods will not be taking part due to an injured left leg which threatens to rule him out for the rest of the year.

The recent dip in Wood’s form has meant opened the door in the last 10 majors being won by 10 different champions.  All eyes will be on Rory McIlroy after his collapse at the Master with nine holes to play,  while many favour Steve Stricker and David Toms following their recent PGA Tour wins.

Live coverage is expected to begin on Thursday at 10AM EST.  In the US the golf tournament will be broadcast on ESPN and NBC.  In the United Kingdom and Ireland you can follow all the action on Sky Sports.

You can also watch a live stream on the US Open Championship 2011 on your iPhone and iPad for free.  These webcasts will be particularly useful for golf enthusiast who want to catch some of the action while at work or travelling.

WATCH THE US GOLF OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP 2011 ON THE iPHONE & iPAD

1. iPhone and iPads do not support Flash videos or streams so the first thing you need to do is install the Skyfire browser app that allows you to watch flash videos on the iPhone.   You can find the Skyfire app in the App Store by searching for Skyfire.  Skyfire is just a browser similar to Safari or Internet Explorer except it supports Flash.
   
   
2. Launch the Skyfire app and browse to any of the following websites where you will find a free stream of the US Open golf tournament 2011.
   
   http://www.sportlemon.tv/c-8.html
   
   http://www.firstrowsports.eu/sport/golf.html
   
   http://livetv.ru/en/allupcomingsports/37
   
   
3. The Skyfire app should automatically detect the flash video stream and a smaller players window should open at the bottom of the screen.  Select the “Play” button and the stream should begin to play after about 20 or 30 seconds once it has buffered.  Sometimes pop-up advertisements may block the screen but these usually close automatically after 30 seconds.
   
   

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