Over the past two years, the opportunities to watch Tiger Woods at golf's biggest events have been sparing. But Tiger appears to have his health in order, and now his game is at least competitive enough to show up and not embarrass himself. After missing last year's Players following his back surgery, the two-time winner at TPC Sawgrass is back again this week, "defending" his 2013 title.
But while Tiger's opening round on Thursday fell squarely in the Golf Channel broadcast window, his Friday round should be largely finished by the time TV goes live again at 1 p.m. ET. Fear not, PGATour.com is here to provide a "featured groups" stream for the second round that will show all of Tiger's loop around TPC Sawgrass. Woods is set to tee off with Martin Kaymer and Adam Scott at 8:39 a.m. ET and will be the morning tee time featured on that stream.
It's a nice change from the last time we saw Tiger playing competitively. At the Masters, Woods played his second round in obscurity as the green jackets of Augusta enforced their obscenely outdated and restricted media coverage rules. There were featured groups streams, but Tiger wasn't on them on the day he played before the telecast -- a most frustrating and trolly Augusta move that had folks on Twitter furious. The Players and the PGA Tour, however, are embracing the fact that everyone wants to watch game's biggest moneymaker and the most popular player in its history. The PGATour LiveAt stream will be running by 8:30 a.m. ET, setting up for Tiger's first tee shot from No. 10 several minutes later.
In addition to the "all-Tiger" stream, PGATour.com will also have a "featured holes" stream that shows every shot at the famous island par-3 17th hole. That's the signature hole at TPC Sawgrass, and maybe on the entire PGA Tour schedule. A total of 21 golf balls plunged into the water there on Thursday. The wind was up, coming from a different direction than many players were used to, and some simply came nowhere close to getting on the front edge of the island. The PGA Tour tweeted this GIF late in the day of every shot at the 17th:
Every shot hit at 17 today. #THEPLAYERS pic.twitter.com/7CVBxvb3z3
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 7, 2015
So that is certainly another stream you can toggle to when the Tiger stream is dead or in-between holes. Those are your two best options for ignoring your work and distracting yourself on a Friday morning.
In the afternoon, those streams will stay up but they'll be accompanied by a simulcast stream of the entire Golf Channel broadcast. The TV coverage window is from 1 to 7 p.m. ET, so Tiger should have two-to-four holes left when they come on the air. That's another option for streaming late in the day, which will feature the headline tee time of Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth and Jason Day. They tee off at 1:49 p.m. ET and will get all the love from the GC cameras.
Here are all your media options for the second round:
Friday's second round coverage
Television:
1 to 7 p.m. -- Golf Channel
Online streams:
8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. -- PGATour.com featured groups stream -- Woods/Scott/Kaymer in AM, TBD in PM
9 a.m. to 7 p.m. -- PGATour.com featured holes stream (every shot from famous island No. 17 par-3)
1 to 7 p.m. -- Golf Channel simulcast stream
Radio:
Noon to 7 p.m. -- PGA Tour Radio on Sirius-XM (Ch. 93/208 and streamed here)
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