Our live coverage starts on BBC Two. Over the course of the four days we will have over 40 hours of coverage on BBC One and BBC Two. BBC Red Button will also broadcast comprehensive coverage on each day of The Open, providing viewers with the choice to select a three-hole option where you can see play exclusively through holes 9, 10 and 11.

For those of you who want to stay up to date with the latest action during the day, while at work, BBC Sport Online will be carrying live streaming of all of the action from the course, along with rolling highlights, live leaderboard, live text commentary, blogs, news and archive footage from previous Opens.

In addition to all of this, John Inverdale will be presenting extensive coverage on Radio 5 live including 45 hours of scheduled coverage bringing all of the build up ahead of the tournament and four days of live action.

Even if you still manage to miss any of the live action, you can log onto BBC iPlayer where you can access all of the coverage from the day's play.

While I'm writing about the Open and what you can expect from the BBC's coverage, it seems right for me to address an issue that has been covered in some of the papers in recent days regarding the size of BBC teams at Outside Broadcasts. I think it's important to provide some context as to why we have the level of staff that we do here at Turnberry.

As the official broadcast partner for The Open we provide coverage both to audiences in the UK and over 100 countries around the world. As part of that responsibility the BBC has to ensure that the entire infrastructure is in place before coverage can begin. This involves miles and miles of cable being laid and maintained, feeding 69 cameras, across a course 7,200 yards long, covering a tournament over four days featuring 160 players. All of this must be put in place before any pictures can be brought to your screen.

The Open Championship is a major British sporting event and undoubtedly one of the highlights of the international golf calendar; as you can see it is also one of the most complicated outside broadcasts that we do at the BBC. Unlike other broadcasters the BBC coverage, as outlined above, is also unique in that it brings comprehensive coverage across a radio network, TV, Red Button, Online and iPlayer. Through all this extensive output, every member of the BBC team has a clear and accountable role, working very hard and long hours to offer the unparalleled coverage that you tell us you want.

The final point I wanted to clarify on this subject is that of accommodation. No member of the BBC staff will be staying in a hotel during the Open. The Open Championship is often held at venues such as Turnberry, where there is very little accommodation. We therefore use caravans, university halls accommodation and rented houses, which present the most cost-effective solution for housing the team. This applies to all BBC staff at the Open, including presenters and commentators.

It just remains for me to say that we hope you enjoy our coverage of what promises to be another classic Open Championship. Can Padraig complete the hat-trick? Will Tiger take the plaudits once again? Or will someone else make their own piece of history at Turnberry? Could that even be Tom Watson, after his superb opening round? All will be revealed come Sunday...

The Australian Open starts in the early hours of Monday morning and Andy Murray is favourite to win according to many bookiesafter a fantastic finish to the end of last season and claiming the first ATP title of the year in Doha.

In doing so he beat former World number one and three-time Australian Open Champion, Roger Federer, for the fourth time in their last five matches. Perhaps crucially, Murray`s last defeat to Roger came in his first Grand Slam Final - the US Open 6-2, 7-5, 6-2.

Murray is in great form - as he was at this stage last year - but it is hoped he learned a lot from last year's surprise first round defeat to Tsonga, who then made it all the way to the final. He should be prepared for an "in form" outsider this year, but I am confident he should do better than his performance in 2007 too - an epic, marathon defeat in the fourth round to Rafael Nadal.

The great news is that BBC One and BBC Two have bought in to the great buzz and the real possibility that Andy Murray could go all the way in 2009, by announcing that all of his matches will be shown live on terrestrial TV.

The time and channel for these programmes is dependent on the order of play which is drawn up at the end of each day's play in Australia. This will then be publicised through all BBC outlets - online/radio/television - as soon as the information is available, so we will do our best to make sure you know when he is playing.

There will be live simultaneous streaming of the Murray matches on the red button and web or you can listen to the action via Radio Five Live or Radio 5 Live Sports Xtra.

Beyond the Murray factor, there will be extensive coverage of the rest of the championship across the BBC. TV coverage will be available every morning from 0830 on the red button as well as online.

Radio 5 Live Sports Xtra will also carry live coverage from 0830, and both Radio 5 Live and the web will keep you informed of all the stories. Chris Bailey, John Lloyd and Sam Smith will lead the TV team with Jonathan Overend, Alastair Eykyn and David Law delivering radio commentary live from Australia.

The men's final will be shown live on Sunday 1 February from 0830 on BBC Two, and will be live on Radio 5 Live Sports Extra.

Andy Murray will be the sole British representative in the men's draw after Alex Bogdanovic's defeat in his second round qualifying match but two British women have gained direct entry - Anne Keothavong and Melanie South - so good luck to them.

Qualification for the women is still in progress so at the time of writing it is hoped Elena Baltacha, Katie O`Brien and Georgie Stoop might make it to the main draw too.

The women's final will be live on the red button, and on Radio 5 Live Sports Extra, from 0830 on Saturday 31 January, and highlights will also be shown from 1300-1400 on BBC One.

I hope you enjoy the tournament, and our coverage, and of course do tell us what you think about both!

He will, for many, be most associated with his wonderful rendition of the aria "Nessun Dorma", which was used famously as the theme tune for the BBC's 1990 World Cup coverage.

Watch the BBC's Italia 90 titles

Since the announcement of his death, we have had quite a few queries as to how this piece of music came to be chosen for that event.

But taking up this beautiful excerpt from an Italian opera (Turandot by Puccini) seemed to chime perfectly with the very stylish staging of the World Cup in Italy; and the sense of lament in the music also struck a chord with the most potent image of the tournament, when Gazza cried as England lost to Germany in the semi-final on penalties.

Normally the choice of music for such a big event involves a series of discussions, and this was no exception. I will try to give the best account of the process here I can recall.

In 1989 I was working as a producer in TV Sport. As the build up to Italia 90 gathered pace, I made a 30-minute film looking at Italian preparations, with the excellent Gerald Sinstadt as the reporter.

I had been poring over various music options for this film, and had heard Nessun Dorma being played as someone's choice on Radio 4's Desert Island Discs - I am afraid I can't remember who was the castaway.

In the end, I did not use Nessun Dorma in that film, but a few weeks later did decide it would go very well with some video inserts I was making for the draw for the World Cup - I think this was December 1989.

In particular, I could see a really strong music to pictures tie-up. In the aria, probably the most celebrated moment is the climax, when the word "Vincero" (meaning "I will win") is sung three times, with the third being the most dramatic - and this was where Pavarotti hit his most thrilling, highest note.

This seemed to me to fit perfectly, both in terms of the word and the intensity with an especially memorable image from Italian football: when Marco Tardelli scored the crucial goal in the 1982 World Cup final for Italy against Germany, he ran away, arms spread and mouth wide open in utter exultation.

The idea of this image matching Pavarotti's climax in "Nessun Dorma" seemed compelling.

So that is why I used the music for a montage of great World Cup moments, ending with that Tardelli clip married up to the final "Vincero".

This item seemed to go down well in the course of the usual interminable World Cup draw... The following week I had a chat about it with Brian Barwick, then editor of the BBC's football and now of course the chief executive of the FA, when I said we should definitely use it for the World Cup itself.

I was appointed to be assistant editor in TV Sport in 1990, and took this role for the World Cup. I was also asked to make the opening titles.

I was, however, not at the meeting when the music was actually decided; what I have been told about that meeting is Desmond Lynam was an ardent advocate for using Pavarotti - and such was Des's stature that his position would have been crucial to the decision.

I have to say also that, as well as being an exceptional broadcaster, Des's judgement on these matters was usually excellent.

There was some debate, I believe, on which piece of Pavarotti to use, and Brian was instrumental in settling on Nessun Dorma; in the end, of course, Brian, as editor, would have had the final say anyway, so both he and Des deserve proper credit for going with Nessun Dorma.

So I made the titles using Nessun Dorma, and once again for the climax had the final "Vincero" over that stunning celebratory image of Tardelli - the key to pointing up the music's resonance to the event, I thought.

Interestingly there was a bit of a stir initially from the record company about our use of the music; but it was settled pretty swiftly and amicably, and, once they realised how much the tune had caught on, they became extremely positive about it!

So I am responsible for a wide range of sports including rugby, golf, tennis, racing and snooker, as well as other programming such as Sports Personality of the Year and the new sports show Inside Sport.

My role is to oversee all this output, make sure that we are covering the right areas in the right way and to keep looking ahead to see how we can improve what we do.