Tiger Woods live stream 2018: How to watch Valspar Championship Round 1 online

I am told, reliably, that This is March. And with it being March, you will have plenty of options to ignore your work and watch college basketball on Thursday afternoon. Every major conference, save for the Big Ten, which was weird and stupid and held their conference tournament a week early so it could be in New York, will be playing games during your workday. This is what these two weeks in March are for, it’s why they exist. You are supposed to be unproductive and ignore your work and watch conference tournaments and the NCAA Tournament. It’s damn near a right of every American.

But maybe your team has already been bounced from your conference tourney. Or maybe Championship Week just isn’t your thing and you save all your time for the big dance (a predictably mainstream but incorrect allotment of your time imo). Well, I have some suitable counter-programming for you and another grand way to ignore your work this Thursday afternoon.

Tiger Woods is back in action after an enthralling appearance at the Honda Classic two weeks ago. Woods will play the Valspar Championship for the first time and is making just his first stop in Tampa in 22 years following that 1996 JC Penney Classic. That was so long ago most of the field still used balata balls and a bunch of persimmon woods. Tiger added the Valspar simply because he needs reps with Augusta coming so soon. He looked fantastic at the Honda but he’s not qualified for WGCs given his low world ranking. That left only a few options before the Masters. We knew he’d go to Bay Hill next week and we knew he likely wouldn’t play the week immediately preceding the Masters in Houston. So that left Tampa as a likely option and he committed to the Valspar and Bay Hill last week.

The addition of Tampa to the schedule means Woods will play four times in five weeks. It’s a steady test of his game and his fused back, but unlike prior comebacks, we’ve seen no real indications of an imminent breakdown. Tiger just seems to be getting better with each start and that’s what makes this week so exciting, even if he’s totally unfamiliar with the course.

Tiger will play in the late wave on Thursday, which is the opposite of his last few starts, when he’s gone early-late over Thursday/Friday. He’s paired with Jordan Spieth and Henrik Stenson for the first 36 holes and they’ll start it at 12:46 p.m. ET. PGA Tour Live should stream the trio’s opening holes, and then Golf Channel will be up and running at 2 p.m. for the rest of the round. If you want to ignore your work and watch golf from your cubicle, GC will have a simulcast stream of the first round.

Here’s your coverage and streaming schedule for Thursday’s at the Valspar Championship:

2 to 6 p.m. ET — Golf Channel

6:45 a.m. to 6 p.m. -- PGA Tour Live starts with coverage from range and opening holes

• 6:45 a.m. - 8:15 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. 15 and 17 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)