There is only one PGA Tour event each season that doesn't end on a Sunday evening and that's this week's Dell Technologies Championship.
Even with a handful of Monday holidays scattered throughout the interminable PGA Tour schedule, only Labor Day is used for the unorthodox wraparound Friday through Monday format. It helps that it falls in the middle of the FedExCup Playoffs, where one break week is mixed in each year among the four-event postseason. That often comes after Labor Day, so there's not a huge travel rush getting off to the next stop on Tour.
This is the first year of the Dell Technologies Championship, which takes over as title sponsor for what used to be the Deutsche Bank Championship. Not much has changed, however, aside from the name and title sponsor. The annual stop in the Boston area has held this holiday weekend on the schedule and we're back again at the same course: TPC Boston. This event, however, may not be long for the PGA Tour's rota.
The continued speculation around an upcoming schedule overhaul is that this Labor Day stop in Boston will get the boot from the FedExCup Playoffs. The reporting over this PGA Tour season has indicated that the Playoffs may be going down from four to three events. They'll also likely move to August, a corresponding change to the PGA Championship's announcement earlier this month that they were moving their major from August to May.
That leaves August open for the PGA Tour to complete its postseason before football, both college and the NFL, swallows the entire sports world whole. The new schedule would have the Playoffs ending on Labor Day weekend, as opposed to late September when everyone is watching football. To do that, it's rumored one event will be cut and the Boston stop is most likely, despite its connection to PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan.
So this may be one of the final two or three of these in Boston. (Whatever name you want to attach to it — Dell Technologies Championship is quite cumbersome, no?) The postseason field sits at 100, so we'll still need to make a cut after 36 holes but we're not exactly working with a massive group here through the first two rounds. Many pre-cut fields come in around 150 players. The 100 here gives the Tour a ton of flexibility to work around inclement weather, which has been known to hit this championship.
As is custom with these enormous cash FedExCup events, all the big names are on hand. Here are your coverage options and tee times for the opening round on Friday.
Friday's first round coverage
Television:
2:30 to 6:30 p.m. — Golf Channel
Online streams:
8:30 a.m. -- PGA Tour Live starts with coverage from range and opening holes.
Featured Groups (PGA Tour Live subscription required):
- 9:03 a.m. -- Brooks Koepka / Daniel Berger / Charley Hoffman
- 9:15 a.m. -- Dustin Johnson / Jordan Spieth / Justin Thomas
2:30 to 6:30 p.m. — Golf Channel simulcast stream
3 p.m. PGA Tour Live Featured Holes coverage (no subscription required)
Radio:
Noon to 6 p.m. — PGA Tour Radio on Sirius-XM (Ch. 93/208 and streamed here)
TEE TIMES
Here's the full tee sheet for Friday's opening round in Boston:
Off No. 1 tee:
- 8:15 a.m.: Danny Lee, Kevin Na, Kelly Kraft
- 8:27 a.m.: Sean O’Hair, James Hahn, Ryan Moore
- 8:39 a.m.: Cameron Smith, Martin Laird, Zach Johnson
- 8:51 a.m.: Wesley Bryan, Patrick Reed, Gary Woodland
- 9:03 a.m.: Louis Oosthuizen, Xander Schauffele, Charles Howell III
- 9:15 a.m.: Kyle Stanley, Marc Leishman, Jason Dufner
- 9:27 a.m.: Jonas Blixt, C.T. Pan, Jim Herman
- 9:39 a.m.: David Lingmerth, Camilo Villegas, Kevin Streelman
- 12:40 p.m.: Kevin Tway, Grayson Murray, Rod Pampling
- 12:52 p.m.: Sung Kang, Jamie Lovemark, Scott Brown
- 1:04 p.m.: Si Woo Kim, Ollie Schniederjans, Rory McIlroy
- 1:16 p.m.: Webb Simpson, Kevin Chappell, Adam Hadwin
- 1:28 p.m.: Jhonattan Vegas, Kevin Kisner, Paul Casey
- 1:40 p.m.: Hideki Matsuyama, Jon Rahm, Rickie Fowler
- 1:52 p.m.: Chris Stroud, Jason Kokrak, Rafa Cabrera-Bello
- 2:04 p.m.: Chris Kirk, William McGirt, Patton Kizzire
Off No. 10 tee:
- 8:15 a.m.: Bubba Watson, Adam Scott, Graham DeLaet
- 8:27 a.m.: Patrick Cantlay, Robert Streb, Luke List
- 8:39 a.m.: Keegan Bradley, Bryson DeChambeau, Charl Schwartzel
- 8:51 a.m.: Brian Harman, Pat Perez, Matt Kuchar
- 9:03 a.m.: Brooks Koepka, Daniel Berger, Charley Hoffman
- 9:15 a.m.: Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas
- 9:27 a.m.: Patrick Rodgers, Chad Campbell, Emiliano Grillo
- 9:39 a.m.: Cody Gribble, Branden Grace, Michael Kim
- 12:40 p.m.: Russell Knox, Anirban Lahiri, Bud Cauley
- 12:52 p.m.: Ian Poulter, Lucas Glover, Phil Mickelson
- 1:04 p.m.: Hudson Swafford, Bill Haas, Chez Reavie
- 1:16 p.m.: Tony Finau, Francesco Molinari, Mackenzie Hughes
- 1:28 p.m.: Jason Day, Sergio Garcia, Billy Horschel
- 1:40 p.m.: Russell Henley, Justin Rose, Brendan Steele
- 1:52 p.m.: Stewart Cink, Whee Kim, Morgan Hoffmann
- 2:04 p.m.: Harold Varner III, Nick Taylor, J.J. Spaun