Players Championship 2016 live stream: Time, TV schedule and how to watch online

The most manic summer in recent golf history starts this week at The Players Championship. It’s not officially a major championship, but the depth of the field, the cash, and the familiarity with this TPC Sawgrass course make it a big-time event and a perfect bridge from the Masters to the U.S. Open. Its newer May slot makes it the biggest event of the month and kicks off a compressed summer that will feature The Players, U.S. Open, British Open, PGA, Olympics, and Ryder Cup.

This will be the biggest event to date for the PGA Tour’s over-the-top streaming service, PGA TOUR LIVE. The Tour does not have the rights to or control any of the four majors. This is their flagship event and it’s the best field of the year. They launched their subscription service in late summer last year, testing it out in August and throughout the FedExCup. It’s been tweaked and improved in the first quarter of this year, but this is an opportunity to go big with every top player in the game in attendance at the Tour’s home ballpark.

And PGA Tour Live will deliver right out of the gate on Thursday morning, with world No. 1 Jason Day, Jordan Spieth, and Phil Mickelson all playing in the early featured groups stream. That’s the portion of their service that they charge for -- those Thursday and Friday morning featured groups. They had every star to choose from this week, wisely grouped them together, and put them on those streams for the first two rounds. It’s $6 per month and this will be the best event to get your money’s worth all year.

If you do not have the subscription service portion of PGA TOUR LIVE, there will be a free featured holes stream running from 9 a.m. ET throughout the day. This second stream will focus mostly on the famous island par-3 17th hole, then add coverage of the 13th when the TV broadcast goes live. This is the first time the service has added a second stream in the morning. A second free featured holes stream will be available on top of that during the afternoon, when the featured groups stream goes off the air to yield to the TV coverage.

The TV broadcast is expanded as well, as you’d expect, bumping the usual Thursday window of three hours up to six. Golf Channel and NBC now have the rights to the Open Championship, which was a quick pickup after losing the U.S. Open. So The Players is just the start of a pretty huge summer for them that includes The Open, Olympics, and Ryder Cup. Dan Hicks and Johnny Miller are still the top duo for NBC, but Terry Gannon and Nick Faldo will have most of the early round coverage on Thursday on Golf Channel. Oh, and also, this is another big event debut for David Feherty in a summer full of them on his new network.

Here are all your media options for the opening round at Sawgrass:

9 a.m.-1 p.m. -- Golf Channel “Live From” The Players
1-7 p.m. -- Golf Channel

7:30 a.m. -- PGA Tour Live starts with coverage from range and opening holes

Featured Groups (PGA Tour Live subscription required)

1-7 p.m. -- PGA Tour Live featured holes coverage -- Nos. 12 & 16 (No subscription required)

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