Memorial Tournament live stream: How to watch Tiger Woods online, TV coverage and more

The last big tune-up tournament before the U.S. Open tees off Thursday morning at Muirfield Village. The Memorial tournament remains one of the better non-major events on the annual PGA Tour rota. It’s Jack Nicklaus’ party -- he hosts, he designed the course, it’s held in his hometown, and, now at 75 years old, it’s probably his most out-in-the-public week of the year.

Nicklaus’ presence alone commands a strong field and pushes the event past many others on the Tour schedule. It’s argued that the Byron Nelson, which was played just last week, lost momentum when he passed and players opted to use that week to take a break during the start of a busy stretch on the schedule. Nicklaus, the greatest player ever, is still a force and the face of this event.

Of course, every tournament on the PGA Tour schedule can split off into two neat and simple categories -- Tiger events and non-Tiger events. The Memorial holds an annual slot on Tiger Woods’ schedule, and his patronage is likely due in part to Nicklaus but also because Muirfield is a major championship-caliber course that provides some nice prep before the U.S. Open. Tiger set a busier-than-normal schedule for this summer, coming on the heels of another interrupted winter and spring -- this time due to an embarrassing chipping game and not injury.

We don’t really know what to expect from Tiger this week. He had his moments at the Masters, which was more than anyone expected given the sorry state we saw his game in before that self-imposed hiatus. But he still struggled to hit fairways and find consistency with his irons. That continued at The Players and TPC Sawgrass, a course that hasn’t always treated him well. There he was just happy to make the cut. He repeatedly missed his tee shots wide left, and after a third-round 75, went quietly on the weekend while some of the younger stars exchanged blows down the stretch.

Tiger says his swing is in a better plan than it was three weeks ago at The Players. That’s good, but it’s still probably not good enough to contend at Memorial. He starts his week alongside two of those 20-something stars, Jason Day and Patrick Reed, at 8:15 a.m. on Thursday. Golf Channel does not come on the air until 2:30 p.m., so Tiger’s round should be over by at least an hour when TV coverage starts.

But fear not, the PGA Tour is here to facilitate your Tiger addiction. They will have a “featured groups” stream running all day for all four rounds. And they didn’t get cute for Thursday morning, putting Woods-Day-Reed on the stream at 8:15 a.m. It does not require a subscription service so if you want ignore work and watch every single Tiger shot, head to PGATour.com.

In addition to that featured group stream, the afternoon broadcast will also be simulcast online via Golf Channel’s LiveExtra service. Here are all your options for Thursday’s first round:

2:30 to 6:30 p.m. -- Golf Channel

2:30 to 6:30 p.m. -- Golf Channel simulcast stream