PGA Championship 2014 live stream: How to watch Thursday’s round online

So Tiger Woods dramatically parachuted into Louisville Wednesday afternoon and announced that he was going to play in the PGA Championship. It was a chaotic, surreal scene ending a few days of persistent and uninformed speculation on whether Woods, just a couple days removed from injuring his back and struggling just to put on his shoes, would be able to play. The frenzy was the perfect boost and lead-in for the PGA to the first round.

But guess what? Tiger will play his first round before the TV coverage even starts.

Woods is set to tee off at 8:35 a.m. ET, so he should be finished right around 1 p.m. TNT, in about their only annual foray into golf broadcasting, does not come on the air until 1 p.m. If it’s a slow 5-hour round, which is possible given the jammed 156-man field, then the broadcast may cover Tiger’s last hole or two. But that’s it. All that hype and all the build-up from Wednesday, and he’ll play his first round in relative obscurity.

Fortunately for the Tiger fans, PGA.com will have a “Marquee Groups” stream running throughout the day. That starts right before Tiger’s tee time, and should cover his every shot. You’ll just need to find an Internet connection. If you’re on mobile, the PGA of America has a specific app that provides a direct connection to their livestreams on those devices.

It’s definitely frustrating that there will be no TV coverage. The U.S. Open and British Open run their first round broadcasts for the full day, about 10 or 11 hours each. But at least the PGA stream is more than the Masters, which has the same setup but doesn’t put the same player on it twice -- there’s always a day where Woods plays one of his rounds at Augusta and you’re unable to see a majority of it.

In addition to the marquee groups stream, there will also be a featured holes stream running in the afternoon. The PGA is calling it a par-3 stream, so you if you’re stuck in the office, you can watch that in the afternoon as well. Unfortunately, TNT will not have a stream simulcasting the afternoon TV broadcast. That’s a pretty standard practice on the PGA Tour through both Golf Channel/NBC and CBS, and ESPN always provides that for the U.S. Open and British Open. So the first two rounds of the PGA leave much to be desired in the way of stream coverage. That lack of a simulcast stream on TNT, especially on weekdays when much of the audience is stuck at work without a TV, is a significant digital omission.

On the weekend, CBS will have a simulcast of their afternoon broadcasts running for the final two rounds. Here’s hoping Tiger Woods plays well enough and stays healthy just to make it to the final 36. For now, you’ll have to settle for those two specific PGA.com streams. Here are all your media options for the opening 18 at Valhalla:

1-7 p.m. -- TNT

8:30 a.m-7 p.m. -- Marquee groups on PGA.com

1-7 p.m. -- Par 3 stream on PGA.com

Noon-7 p.m. -- SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio

8 a.m-7 p.m -- Marquee groups via the PGA Championship app

1-7 p.m. -- Par 3 stream via the PGA Championship app