How to watch Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass live online, TV schedule, radio and more

The PGA Tour hypes THE PLAYERS Championship as the “fifth major” in golf and the coverage it gets from Golf Channel/NBC all week would corroborate that. This is the deepest and strongest field of the year, on a venue that’s instantly recognizable, and with the largest purse in the game up for grabs. The event is also the main attraction in Golf Channel’s season long coverage of the Tour, so they blow it out to major championship levels (except this time, they get to show live golf).

Golf Channel has camped out at their usual perch above the renowned island par-3 17th at TPC Sawgrass all week, carrying their “Live From” show basically from sun-up to sun-down during the practice rounds. That will continue during the tournament days each morning, so even though there is not an official broadcast early in the competitive rounds, expect to see many of the most important players and most important shots during this all-day pregame show.

With the U.S. Open taking the money and running to FOX, The Players is now the premier golf event on NBC during non-Ryder Cup years. The Ryder Cup is still a massive international competition, but it also runs up against football and obviously isn’t an official PGA Tour event. NBC catches a few above-average tournaments on the Florida swing, but they missed out on the Tiger Woods bonanza this year. They also have control over the FedExCup but those events also go head-to-head with football and aren’t close to the caliber of The Players. So this week features Golf Channel/NBC’s prime property for 2015.

Even with Tiger back in the fold, the Comcast duo of NBC and Golf Channel are dialing down some of the coverage this year. There will be no “Spotlight Coverage,” a concurrent broadcast opposite the normal broadcast on NBC that focuses on just a few holes while peppering the screen with all the new analytics data and tracer technology. It’s a pretty popular and forward-looking coverage option that they provided earlier in the year on the Florida swing and at this event last year, but it’s been cast away this week. There’s also less early-round coverage on the weekends compared to last year. Instead, we just get the “Live From” show (9 a.m. to the start of TV coverage each day) with occasional highlights and live look-ins before the main broadcast comes on the air at 2 p.m.

Even though TV will not go live until later in the day, you will still be able to watch the marquee players who are on the morning side of the draw. On Thursday, that’s the headline group of Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, and Jason Day. This is about as juicy a tee time as we’ve seen on the PGA Tour that didn’t include Tiger Woods.

Spieth and McIlroy, despite what they might say, are being billed and hyped as two great rivals for the next couple decades. That may fizzle out, but they’re No. 1 and 2 in the world and have won the last two big events on Tour over the past month. We all wanted to see this and the Tour delivered. They go off at 8:39 a.m. ET on Thursday and a PGATour.com featured groups stream will show their every shot. This is the best way to avoid work on Thursday morning.

After the McIlroy-Spieth-Day group finishes its round, a TBD afternoon tee time will come on the featured groups stream on Thursday. The Friday morning featured group is, as you might expect, the 8:39 a.m. trio of Tiger Woods, Adam Scott, and defending champ Martin Kaymer. They will get all the love on the Thursday afternoon Golf Channel broadcast, but you’ll have to rely on the PGATour.com stream to watch their second round on Friday. It’s another excellent way to dodge work and entertain yourself in your cubicle.

In addition to that featured group stream all day, PGATour.com will also show every shot at the island green on a separate stream. That’s the signature hole at Sawgrass, and everyone loves to watch the best players in the world sweat over what would be a basic and easy shot in any other circumstance. And if you can’t get in front of a TV, Golf Channel and NBC will simulcast stream all the TV coverage via their LiveExtra service.

Here are all your media options for the week at the game’s “fifth major” (all times ET):

1 to 7 p.m. -- Golf Channel

8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. -- PGATour.com featured groups stream -- McIlroy/Spieth/Day in AM, TBD in PM

1 to 7 p.m. -- Golf Channel simulcast stream

2 to 7 p.m. -- NBC

2 to 7 p.m. -- NBC Sports LiveExtra simulcast stream