If you enjoy carnage when you watch golf, then the Honda Classic was the tournament for you on Thursday. The wind was up at PGA National and that’s not a particularly fun condition to play a course that has water running everywhere. This is the start of the Florida swing, so there’s going to be wind, storms, and water hazards. That’s a constant of Florida golf, but the Honda Classic was particularly brutal in the first round.
How to watch Friday’s round at the Honda Classic live online, TV schedule and more
Rory McIlroy will play his second round of the PGA Tour season before Friday’s TV broadcast goes live, but fear not, there’s a livestream dedicated to his group throughout the morning. Here’s how to ignore your work and watch golf on Friday.
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The most loaded (at the top) field of the season so far quickly revealed just how rough it was out there. There was Phil Mickelson, holding on for dear life and trying to stay around even par. There was Sergio Garcia, opening with a bogey and a triple bogey in his first three holes. There was Rory McIlroy, the No. 1 player in the world by a significant margin, beginning his PGA Tour season with a double bogey. In fact, McIlroy’s entire group, which was the marquee tee time of the first two rounds, was a complete mess. They were a combined 20-over as they rolled to the 18th tee. Brooks Koepka finished with an 8-over 78 while Dustin Johnson carded a 7-over 77. Those two bombers will be going home early, but Rory, who finished birdie-biride to post a 3-over 73, has a chance to hang around for the weekend.
The second round will start with just 19 players under par, which is a major-championship kind of scoring situation. PGA National is a resort course loaded with water hazards and that “Bear Trap” stretch you hear about nonstop, but it’s actually not a terribly difficult track. By score, it was one of the easiest on the PGA Tour last season. Things just got extreme on Thursday.
A combined 116 players were under par after the 1st Rd @TheHondaClassic in '13 & '14. Today: 19.
— Justin Ray (@JustinRayGC) February 26, 2015 It got to a point where it no longer became fun or enjoyable to watch. Sure, those blowup holes and shanks can be entertaining. But it seemed like we were just watching ripples in the water over and over as players lost tee balls and approach shots.
The wind is supposed to be more favorable on Friday, so scores should improve. McIlroy, the headliner here in his debut, will be out in the morning draw before TV coverage goes live on Golf Channel. He tees off at 7:45 a.m. ET and Golf Channel does not go live until 2 p.m. Unless there’s a major storm delay, he’ll be long done with his second round.
But if you want to ignore work on a Friday morning and watch the best player on the planet, McIlroy will be the focus of the PGATOUR.com featured groups stream. That will be up and running around 7:30 a.m. ET and follow McIlroy’s group for their entire 18 holes, then switch to a “featured holes” stream when they’re done and the TV broadcast picks up at 2 p.m. Not a bad deal.
Mickelson, Garcia, and Martin Kaymer should be the headline group for the afternoon broadcast on GC. Here are all your media options for the second round:
Friday’s second round coverage
Television:
2 to 6 p.m. -- Golf Channel
Online streams:
7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. -- PGATour.com featured groups/featured holes (Nos. 13/15) stream
2 to 6 p.m. -- Golf Channel simulcast stream
Radio:
Noon to 6 p.m. -- PGA Tour Radio on Sirius-XM (Ch. 93/208 and streamed here)
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