The Barclays 2015 live stream: How to watch online, TV coverage and more

Last week, Tiger Woods delivered a boon to the PGA Tour and its television partners in a completely unexpected start at the Wyndham Championship. Woods delivered a third-round rating for the typically sleepy stop in Greensboro that was higher than the third round of the PGA or British Open. Sunday was the highest-rated non-major since the 2013 Players Championship. It was an astounding windfall for an event that’s usually overlooked and gains no mainstream appeal the week after the season’s final major.

Amazingly, the going now gets tougher for the PGA Tour, which is supposed to be climaxing during this “postseason.” The FedExCup Playoffs tee off on Thursday at The Barclays, the traditional opener of the four-tournament postseason circuit. The event will not have Tiger and it will not have Rory McIlroy either.

The playoffs have always struggled going up against the start of football season, which overwhelms everything on TV. Golf has no chance to even dream of competing against football on Saturday and Sunday. This Barclays event, however, was one they could get under the wire before college football and the NFL started their regular seasons. Another Tiger-less year, especially after all the hype he generated last week and could have provided this week, is not ideal.

Jordan Spieth is still here though and he’ll be front and center early Thursday morning on PGA Tour Live, the new(ish) subscription streaming service the tour is running in conjunction with MLB Advanced Media. Spieth is playing with Jason Day and Bubba Watson, the two closest to him and his dominant lead in the FedExCup Standings. They go off at 8:26 a.m. ET and are the second of the featured groups on that new service. Each week, PGA Tour Live will pick concurrent tee times with bigger names, and stream their entire round on Thursday and Friday.

PGA Tour Live is about a month old now and obviously Tiger getting in the mix last week was a huge boost for this new paywalled service. The FedExCup should be another barometer for how much interest and how successful it will be heading into next season. The stream is definitely high quality and the coverage is great -- it’s just that these marquee groups streams were often provided for free at the biggest events in the past.

After those two morning groups finish their round, the coverage will switch to whatever the biggest story is out on the course until moving to a featured holes stream at 3 p.m. In addition to that streaming service, the Golf Channel broadcast, which goes live at 2 p.m., will also be simulcast streamed online. Here are all your media options for Thursday at The Barclays:

2 to 6 p.m. -- Golf Channel

8 a.m. -- PGA Tour Live starts with coverage from range and opening holes

Featured Groups (PGA Tour Live subscription required)

3 to 6 p.m. -- PGA Tour Live featured holes coverage (No subscription required) -- Plainfield’s 14th/17th holes

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

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