British Open live blog: Let's follow Tiger as he tries to make a move in Scotland

We’ve got a good leaderboard for the second day at the British Open. The rain is expected to come to Scotland following a burnt out and brown Thursday. Tiger will play earlier in the day, going at 5:21 a.m. Golf Channel will have the monster 14.5-hour broadcast again from the very first group through to the end of the day (or night in Scotland). The rain may make things more predictable, but Carnoustie is the toughest course in the Open rota and doesn’t just start yielding a bunch of low rounds. We would have seen more on Thursday if that were the case, but the R&A still knows how to set up this tough course to defend it when there’s minimal wind.

Follow along here all day as Tiger anchors things on the earlier side of the draw.

Updates!

1:30 a.m. — We’re getting and going to get some proper Scottish summer weather today. It’s damp and raining and expected to stay that way for most of the morning wave. The course is what it is at this point. A half-day rain isn’t going to make it soft after almost six weeks of drought. But it may help things become more predictable.

2:05 a.m. — The best part of these early hour broadcasts remain Justin Leonard in the booth and Billy Ray Brown walking out in front of the first group and showing us the setup of each hole. Also, the world feed is a fantastic jump-around production showing a ton of golf shots. Leonard doesn’t sit in the tower that much, and BRB showing us the course at the crack of dawn is becoming a nice open tradition.

3:30 a.m. — Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas are probably the two biggest names that are in the red during the morning wave. Rory is notorious for going one way or the other depending on his start, so the 2-under 69 has to be a promising start. This kind of touch early on is also a boost for his Friday prospects.

4 a.m. — Some notable movers in the morning wave appear to be Frank Molinari, Tom Fleetwood, and Zach Johnson. Those are three preeminent ballstrikers we knew were playing well. They just don’t make a lot of mistakes and it’s unsurprising to see them in the red on Friday.

4:50 a.m. — Tiger Woods is back with the KT tape all over his neck. He’s also decked out in the full rain gear, and I hate my colleague Sean Martin for bringing up the similarity in looks to one of the ugliest rounds of his career.

5:35 a.m. — Rory is, as they say, comin’. The 2014 Open champion has rolled in a couple birdies from longer distances and is now 2-under on the day. He’s also one shot off the lead. McIlroy making birdies and Tiger on the course is an alternative form off espresso if you’re just waking up.

5:45 a.m. — We’re off and running with the Big Cat, who appears to be getting more aggressive on day two. Woods pulled driver at the second, a club he did not use in the first round, and immediately pumped one way right onto the side of a hill. It led to this awkward play into the crowd from the sidehill lie, and an eventual bogey.

Maybe that’s why that club has stayed in the bag. He’s giving some of the longer hitters an advantage when he lays back, but if the driver is going to put him so far out of position, it makes sense to keep it in the bag. Now whether he can actually win that way is a different question.

6:15 a.m. — Tiger three-jacks the third hole and that’s back-to-back bogeys to drop to 2-over. We’re going the wrong way and precipitously close to the cut line. A wild driver and another putter letdown for two bogeys in his first three holes. Those have been the weaknesses all year and they popped him on back-to-back holes.

Leaderboard and scores

The scoring may actually be easier on Friday because of the rain. The course seems softened — not soft, just softer — and the winds are still minimal at the moment. So the precipitation may be an annoyance, but it’s making the rollouts more predictable at the moment. Here’s your live, updating leaderboard for the day:

Friday tee times

Scotland summer affords the golfer some 17 hours to play and The Open is always a beneficiary of that luxury. The tee sheet overs some 10 hours with everyone rolling off No. 1 tee from 6:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. local. Here are some of the marquee groups in from that sheet:

2:30 a.m.: Henrik Stenson, Tommy Fleetwood, Jimmy Walker
2:52 a.m.: Rory McIlroy, Marc Leishman, Thorbjorn Olesen
3:03 a.m.: Dustin Johnson, Alex Noren, Charley Hoffman
3:14 a.m.: Zach Johnson, Adam Scott, Brendan Steele
3:25 a.m.: Justin Thomas, Francesco Molinari, Branden Grace
4:58 a.m.: Ian Poulter, Cameron Smith, Brooks Koepka
5:09 a.m.: Sergio Garcia, Bryson DeChambeau, Shubhankar Sharma
5:20 a.m.: Tiger Woods, Hideki Matsuyama, Russell Knox
8:04 a.m.: Phil Mickelson, Satoshi Kodaira, Rafa Cabrera Bello
9:59 a.m.: Jordan Spieth, Justin Rose, Kiradech Aphibarnrat
10:10 a.m.: Jon Rahm, Rickie Fowler, Chris Wood
10:21 a.m.: Louis Oosthuizen, Paul Casey, Patrick Reed

Media schedule

Golf Channel will once again have coverage from the very first group at 1:30 a.m. and running all day until about 4 p.m. ET. This slot covers everything, absolutely everything, in the second round. Every player falls within the coverage window, from the very first tee. Producing and showing everything is a taller task but Golf Channel makes sure they’re on the air for the entire day. It’s the longest broadcast in golf and there will be a host of stream offerings too if you don’t have a cable account and want to ignore your work all day.