Tiger Woods is Back and We Deserve to be Able to Watch Every Shot

Tiger Woods is back and you would think that the biggest name in the sport of golf, who has been away from the sport for 15 months, would get live TV coverage for the entirety of his round, but nope.

Woods teed off before Golf Channel’s live coverage on both Thursday and Friday, and some people are pissed.

I find it unreal that in 2016 I can't watch every live swing Tiger Woods takes in a tournament. pic.twitter.com/sRbAg8cwju
— Taylor Bearanowski (@Bearanowski) December 2, 2016

Are you guys really not showing @TigerWoods live this morning @GolfChannel??? Way to miss out on ratings.
— Moody One ? (@TVMoody) December 2, 2016

Tiger woods T4 through 6. Can't believe I'm getting to watch this man play again.
— Tyler Gaetzke (@JamesGaetzke) December 1, 2016

I understand your frustration; if you are a golf fan and like Tiger, or even if you dislike Tiger and want to see if he is still struggling, you’re probably upset. Of course with things like this we have to remember this is the PGA Tour, and even though it is 2016 we still don’t get to see every single minute of the Masters.

I'll never understand why The Masters isn't shown on live TV from start to finish...
— Zack Leggett (@zdl95) April 7, 2016

Most PGA Tour tournaments begin on the Golf Channel and then shift over to CBS/NBC for the rest of coverage on the weekends, but even then there are 30-minute gaps between when CBS switches over which in this day and age seems ridiculous.

This time, though, I’ll give the PGA Tour a pass. The Hero World Challenge is not a big deal to those outside of the golf community. It’s not the Masters, Players, U.S. Open, Open Championship, PGA Championship, or even a FedExCup event. It’s not even an official event. Normally, people couldn’t care less whether or not the entire event is shown live on their TV’s or streamed through the PGA Tour’s website, but this year is different because Tiger has been absent for 15 months and this is the first time anyone other than his buddies at Medalist has seen him play.

One would think the PGA Tour would recognize that people want to see Woods play, and that broadcasting a tournament with 18 players – 17 now after Justin Rose withdrew – in which Tiger is the first off the tee and is playing quite well should probably be broadcast in its entirety.

Alas, instead of live golf commentary we are subjected to live look-ins during the Golf Channel’s pre-tournament show, “Golf Central.” The show has been fairly good at cutting to Tiger’s shots, but we’re also being subjected to anti-Tiger sentiment from talking heads like Brandel Chamblee.

Get it together guys, this is 2016, and even if this isn’t being shown live on TV, it should be streamed live through the PGA Tour’s website like every other tournament of the year.