Arnold Palmer Invitational 2018: Time, TV schedule for Tiger Woods on Friday

The first two days of the NCAA tournament should be a national holiday. No one is really working. We wait all year for the uniqueness of that two-day, 32-game celebration of basketball. There really should be no other sports competing with the tournament, but Tiger Woods is at least putting in the effort.

Woods’ opening round on Thursday served as the perfect appetizer to make the day completely unproductive. He had an 8:23 a.m. ET tee time and it took only a couple holes to jump into a share of a the lead, restarting all the mania from last week in Tampa. It was at the Valspar Woods made a big Friday move to get in sole possession of the lead and capture the entire sports world at an often sleepy golf tournament. Thursday’s morning’s fireworks came during the only window for productively before the tourney tipped off at noon.

This week, Woods is in the Friday afternoon side of the draw so Big Cat and the PGA Tour will be directly up against four NCAA tournament games. Woods tees off with Jason Day and Hideki Matsuyama at 1:08 p.m. ET at Bay Hill, adding a fifth screen for you to watch. The distraction and un-productivity should be at an all-time high!

Woods’ opening round at Bay Hill was an uneven 18-hole march. The finishing number, the 4-under 68, is impressive by any measure. It’s still surreal to see him this competitive this soon in his first real sustained stretch on the PGA Tour in three years. But there was also plenty of wildness and inconsistency off the tee and that got him in trouble. It caught up with him on his 12th hole of the day, when a wayward drive bounced off a cart path and out of bounds. The result was a double bogey but Woods quickly responded with three birdies in his next four holes to get back on the horse. In the prior more depressing comebacks, that would have been the end of the round.

The Friday round has the potential to at least compete for eyeballs with the NCAA tournament. I’d expect another solid score. Woods knows this place too well, even though it’s been five years since he made a start at Bay Hill. It’s going to be an afternoon show that should wrap up around 6 p.m. ET on Golf Channel. The threesomes off split tees these first two rounds is leading to about a five-hour pace of play.

Here’s your coverage schedule for Friday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational:

2 to 6 p.m. ET — Golf Channel

7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. — PGA Tour Live starts with coverage from range and opening holes

• 7:30 a.m. - 8:45 a.m. — Free PGA Tour live stream on Twitter

Featured Groups (PGA Tour Live subscription required)

3 to 6 p.m. — PGA Tour Live featured holes Nos. 14 and 16 coverage (No subscription required)

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

12 to 6 p.m. — PGA Tour Radio on Sirius-XM (Ch. 92/208 and streamed here)