Golf

How to watch the Farmers Insurance Open live online, TV schedule, radio and more

The PGA Tour returns to Torrey Pines, one of the early season’s marquee events, with Tiger Woods, who has owned this course, nowhere in sight.

by Brendan Porath

Updated Jan 29, 2016, 2:00 PM UTC

Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

For the past 15 years, the PGA Tour season did not really start for the larger mainstream audience until the annual stop at Torrey Pines. That’s because it was (almost always) the first stateside event for Tiger Woods, who owns this tournament and course with seven career wins, including his last major -- the 2008 U.S. Open.

It’s now completely clear that the Tour is in the post-Tiger era and this event will take on a new identity as well. For so long, Torrey Pines was synonymous with Tiger. Last year’s Farmers Insurance Open, however, was maybe the clearest demarcation that his reign was over. Jason Day, a post-Tiger era face who bombs it in a way that Tiger can only dream about now, won his first of five events in what would become a monster breakout season. On the other end of the spectrum was Tiger, who was seen shanking balls on the range during practice and then withdrew in the first round citing “deactivated glutes” after a series of more ignominious shots.

So the Farmers has certainly entered a new era with a new identity, a microcosm of the larger movement that happened as a whole on Tour.

Day is back to defend his title and he’s joined by Rickie Fowler, Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed and Justin Rose, among others. Fowler is probably the hottest player in the field, coming off a win in Abu Dhabi over names like Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy, and Henrik Stenson. Fowler’s early-season win led to an avalanche of “Big Four” comments and articles, which we tried to slow down this week. He’s one of the Tour’s most popular #brand men and marketing stars, and counts Farmers as a partner, so he jetted quickly from the Middle East to Southern California to try and go back-to-back.

We’ll see what Fowler has in the tank when he starts in the morning wave on Thursday with Reed and Hideki Matsuyama. That trio is one of two groups who will be in the spotlight on PGA Tour Live’s early coverage. That’s the subscription service the Tour started at the end of July in conjunction with MLB Advanced Media. While these streams used to be free this time last year, the service is high quality and lets you watch the biggest names in the field before the TV coverage window on Thursdays and Fridays. After almost four months off, the service returned last week in Palm Springs but these groups this week are much more appealing.

If you’re not into paying for that subscription, you will have to wait until the afternoon to stream the first couple rounds. Golf Channel’s coverage window will run from 3 to 7 p.m. ET each day and they will have their usual simulcast stream up and running if you’re stranded in an office. Here are all your media options for the week at Torrey: