Depending on who you ask, the men’s major championship season starts Thursday morning in Northeast Florida. We are now in about year 15 of the “fifth major” discussion at The Players Championship, but the debate does not seem to be quieting. Rather, the move from May back to March brought with it a new theme song, new trophy, new hashtags, re-worked imaging, and some creative marketing about the “season of championships.”
Players Championship 2019 live stream: Tiger Woods and the field’s tee times
Tiger is back at The Players, which is back in March. Here are your nuts and bolts for the start of five straight months of loaded golf.
Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images
It is not, technically, a major championship. The Tour does not officially argue that it is one. But some Players put it in that class. Media members yell at each other about its status as a major. The Tour, well, they may be more subtle about slowly wedging its way into some greater category. Whatever place it holds in your heart and head — I argue it is not a major but may be even better occupying some weird random place all its own — it begins Thursday morning at TPC Sawgrass, one of the instantly recognizable venues in the world.
The field is once again loaded, with almost every player from the top of the world rankings showing up in Florida. Tiger Woods, a two-time winner, is back after withdrawing from last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational with a sore neck. Woods played well enough here last year in his first start at The Players in five years. This is a ballstriker’s course and this was right about when Tiger showed signs that he was back to being among the best in the world at that area of the game in his incredible comeback 2018 season.
Tiger’s record here is better than anyone in the field, but by his standards, it’s not great. If Tiger has had an event on his schedule throughout his career, there’s a good chance he’s won it four and five and even eight times. But at The Players, Tiger has been a mixed bag. Still, any other player in the field would take two Players titles.
What Tiger can boast, however, is a win at this championship when it was played here in both March and May. After 12 years, we’re back in March. It’s part of a multi-pronged schedule overhaul, with the biggest pieces being this Players move to March, a PGA Championship move from August to May, and the FedExCup now running through August and concluding before football season begins.
The biggest on-the-course impact will be the wind, which always played a far greater role when this tournament was in March. We’re already seeing players have to hit much more club coming down TPC Sawgrass’ famed finishing stretch. The course will not be as firm and bouncy, but the winds could make it a much more fun test to watch. Here are some nuts and bolts details for the opening round.
Thursday’s media schedule
The Players is the biggest event on the PGA Tour schedule. They don’t own and operate the majors, so this is their baby. As such, they make sure it gets wall-to-wall treatment and their entertainment division, which runs their PGA Tour Live production unit, is on the spot. PGA Tour Live is well done and has been a reliable OTT streaming service for a few years now. Tiger will play on both PGA Tour Live’s streaming and the TV broadcast in the afternoon. With the field strength at The Players, there are many options for their featured groups streams. Here’s that schedule, along with your traditional programming, for Thursday.
Television:
1 p.m. to 7 p.m. ET — Golf Channel
Online streaming
7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET: PGA Tour Live starts with coverage from range and opening holes
7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. ET: Free PGA Tour live stream on Twitter
Featured Groups (NBC Sports Gold subscription required)
- 8:32 a.m. ET: Justin Rose / Xander Schauffele / Justin Thomas
- 9:04 a.m. ET: Phil Mickelson / Matt Kuchar / Rory McIlroy
- 1:27 p.m. ET (on DirecTV): Tiger Woods / Webb Simpson / Patrick Reed
- 1:59 p.m. ET (on DirecTV): Rickie Fowler / Brooks Koepka / Jordan Spieth
1 to 7 p.m. ET -- fuboTV, Golf Channel simulcast stream
Radio
Noon to 7 p.m. ET: PGA Tour Radio on Sirius-XM (Ch. 92/208 and streamed here)
Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images
Tee times
Tiger will tee off in the afternoon wave on Thursday, playing alongside Webb Simpson and Patrick Reed for the first 36 holes. They go at 1:27 p.m. ET off No. 1. Golf Channel’s TV coverage will be up and running by then so if you do not have an NBC Sports Gold subscription, you’ll be able to see his full first round the old fashioned way.
Here’s the full tee sheet for Thursday’s opening round at TPC Sawgrass (all times ET):
Morning wave off No. 1:
- 7:40 a.m. Charl Schwartzel, Tyrrell Hatton, Thorbjørn Olesen
- 7:50 a.m. Lucas Glover, Louis Oosthuizen, Talor Gooch
- 8:01 a.m. Chris Kirk, Brian Gay, Matt Wallace
- 8:11 a.m. Charles Howell III, Aaron Wise, Scott Piercy
- 8:22 a.m. Adam Long, Danny Willett, Vijay Singh
- 8:32 a.m. Cameron Champ, Michael Kim, Cameron Smith
- 8:43 a.m. Marc Leishman, Ian Poulter, Adam Hadwin
- 8:53 a.m. Kevin Tway, Grayson Murray, Brian Harman
- 9:04 a.m. Brice Garnett, Patrick Cantlay, Ryan Armour
- 9:14 a.m. Ollie Schniederjans, Abraham Ancer, Seamus Power
- 9:25 a.m. Kevin Streelman, Harris English, Peter Uihlein
- 9:35 a.m. Nick Watney, Bronson Burgoon, Eddie Pepperell
Morning wave off No. 10:
- 7:40 a.m. Chesson Hadley, Michael Thompson, Corey Conners
- 7:50 a.m. Scott Brown, Byeong Hun An, Beau Hossler
- 8:01 a.m. Ryan Palmer, Trey Mullinax, Sungjae Im
- 8:11 a.m. Ted Potter, Jr., Patton Kizzire, Brendan Steele
- 8:22 a.m. Keith Mitchell, Austin Cook, Tommy Fleetwood
- 8:32 a.m. Justin Rose, Xander Schauffele, Justin Thomas
- 8:43 a.m. Bryson DeChambeau, Bubba Watson, Billy Horschel
- 8:53 a.m. Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm, Sergio Garcia
- 9:04 a.m. Phil Mickelson, Matt Kuchar, Rory McIlroy
- 9;14 a.m. Harold Varner III, Sam Ryder, HaoTong Li
- 9:25 a.m. Alex Cejka, Tom Hoge, Brandon Harkins
- 9:35 a.m. Scott Stallings, Rory Sabbatini, Joel Dahmen
Afternoon wave off No. 1:
- 12:35 p.m. Brian Stuard, Chez Reavie, Patrick Rodgers
- 12:45 p.m. Danny Lee Rotorua, Jason Kokrak, Scott Langley
- 12:56 p.m. Aaron Baddeley, Branden Grace, John Huh
- 1:06 p.m. J.B. Holmes, Jason Dufner, Jason Dufner
- 1:17 p.m. Brandt Snedeker, Troy Merritt, Jimmy Walker
- 1:27 p.m. Tiger Woods, Webb Simpson, Patrick Reed
- 1:38 p.m. Henrik Stenson, Adam Scott, Martin Kaymer
- 1:48 p.m. Francesco Molinari, Jason Day, Tony Finau
- 1:59 p.m. Rickie Fowler, Brooks Koepka, Jordan Spieth
- 2:09 p.m. Bud Cauley, Sam Saunders, Matthew Fitzpatrick
- 2:20 p.m. Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Sung Kang, Tyler Duncan
- 2:30 p.m. Anirban Lahiri, Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Ryan Blaum
Afternoon wave off No. 10:
- 12:35 p.m. Charley Hoffman, Luke List, Kelly Kraft
- 12:45 p.m. Vaughn Taylor, Nick Taylor, J.T. Poston
- 12:56 p.m. Alex Noren, Richy Werenski, Dominic Bozzelli
- 1:06 p.m. Andrew Putnam, Gary Woodland, Russell Knox
- 1:17 p.m. Keegan Bradley, Andrew Landry, Si Woo Kim
- 1:27 p.m. Kyle Stanley, Daniel Berger, Kevin Kisner
- 1:38 p.m. Hideki Matsuyama, Zach Johnson, Stewart Cink
- 1:48 p.m. Satoshi Kodaira, Paul Casey, Jim Furyk
- 1:59 p.m. Martin Trainer, Kevin Na, Jhonattan Vegas
- 2:09 p.m. Emiliano Grillo, Shane Lowry, Martin Laird
- 2:20 p.m. Ryan Moore, J.J. Spaun, C.T. Pan
- 2:30 p.m. Denny McCarthy, Wyndham Clark, Lucas Bjerregaard
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