Golf

How to watch the 2014 PGA Championship online, TV schedule, radio and more

TNT makes their annual appearance in golf, while Jim Nantz gets one last major to work himself into full lather on CBS.

by Brendan Porath

Aug 6, 2014, 8:22 PM UTC

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Jeff Gross

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PGA Championship 2014: Leaderboard, live updates, scores from Thursday’s round at Valhalla

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Sunday at Valhalla

How to watch the last day of the PGA Championship

The PGA Championship got a huge boost on Wednesday afternoon when the biggest draw in the sport showed up in Louisville to give it a go at Valhalla. The TV networks associated with the season’s final major undoubtedly exhaled when Tiger Woods walked onto the driving range a little after noon ET. The first three days of the week were spent largely in a state of manic indecision as we waited for word on whether Tiger would show up. When he did, the crowd, and Golf Channel, took the coverage of his arrival to surreal depths. It was the latest, and perhaps most intense, reminder of how different Tiger is from anyone else when it comes to drawing crowds, interest and TV ratings.

Tiger’s arrival could be a windfall for TNT and CBS, the traditional broadcast partners of the PGA Championship. I say “could be” because we’re still not sure how effective Tiger will be, and whether or not he’ll stay healthy enough to get through 18 or 36 holes. It may be a challenge for Tiger to make the cut, and if he does head home early after 36 holes, then CBS will miss out on the Tiger mania. This is the high point of the summer schedule for CBS Golf, but Jim Nantz, Nick Faldo, David Feherty and crew don’t show up until after the cut is made and late in the afternoon on Saturday. TNT, which does have sole coverage of the first two rounds, could be in trouble if Tiger’s back flares up again and he can’t make it to the second round. Woods will be out at 8:35 a.m. ET on Thursday, and should be done or just about on his last hole when TNT comes on the air at 1 p.m. Friday’s round, if he makes it there, will be played entirely during the coverage window.

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While the other three majors are carried by networks who cover a variety of golf events throughout the year, this is TNT’s only real golf property. But they’ve been covering the PGA for years now, and generally do a good job all four days, intermixing a lot of the same personalities from the CBS crew. It’s never a bad thing to have more Ernie Johnson. The one complaint about TNT coverage, and of the PGA overall, is a perceived commercial-heavy and human-interest-story-laden broadcast. There were several outcries on Twitter last year at Oak Hill for the network to just show more golf shots. This is a far cry from the “four minutes of commercials for every hour” rule in place at the Masters, with PGA ads peppering you every couple minutes.

For CBS, this is their last big tournament of the season. NBC covers a large swath of the PGA Tour schedule, but it’s CBS that would probably be considered the first network of the Tour. Their biggest event is obviously the Masters, but after that, the highlight of their schedule is this 10-day stretch with the Tiger-dominated Bridgestone Invitational and then the season’s final major. Nantz and company will have the call at the Barclays, the opener of the FedExCup, but this is the last time most of the audience will watch a CBS golf broadcast in 2014.

Unlike the U.S. Open and Open Championship, which also boast full fields of 156 players, the PGA doesn’t offer early-morning coverage of the first half of the draw. The six-hour broadcast is closer to the standard PGA Tour event coverage as opposed to the 10- or 11-hour marches through the first two rounds at the Opens. It is, of course, still better than the antiquated tradition that limits coverage at the Masters, but it still means you can’t watch Tiger’s first round on TV. Fortunately, PGA.com will livestream Tiger’s round as part of their “Marquee Groups” stream, which is also carried on their mobile app. There will also be a featured holes stream focused on a Par-3, and CBS will have their usual simulcast stream up and running on the weekend.

Overall, it’s not the most comprehensive major coverage, but certainly better than the Masters. Here’s hoping they cut down on the commercials. All your coverage options for the week at Valhalla: