One solution that was not mentioned earlier is to use a single link in a cell and some CSS to extend this link over the cells:
table {_x000D_
border: 1px solid;_x000D_
width: 400px;_x000D_
overflow: hidden;_x000D_
}_x000D_
_x000D_
tr:hover {_x000D_
background: gray;_x000D_
}_x000D_
_x000D_
tr td {_x000D_
border: 1px solid;_x000D_
}_x000D_
_x000D_
tr td:first-child {_x000D_
position:relative;_x000D_
}_x000D_
_x000D_
a:before {_x000D_
content: '';_x000D_
position:absolute;_x000D_
left: 0;_x000D_
top: 0;_x000D_
bottom: 0;_x000D_
display: block;_x000D_
width: 400px;_x000D_
}
_x000D_
<table>_x000D_
<tr>_x000D_
<td><a href="https://google.com">First column</a></td>_x000D_
<td>Second column</td>_x000D_
<td>Third column</td>_x000D_
</tr>_x000D_
<tr>_x000D_
<td><a href="https://stackoverflow.com">First column</a></td>_x000D_
<td>Second column</td>_x000D_
<td>Third column</td>_x000D_
</tr>_x000D_
</table>
_x000D_