Players Championship 2015: Tee Times, TV and Live Stream Schedule for Saturday
From favorites missing the cut to unheralded golfers climbing the leaderboard, the 2015 edition of The Players Championship has brought plenty of twists and turns as the action heads toward Saturday's third round.
Americans Kevin Na and Jerry Kelly shared the top spot on the leaderboard following Friday's Round 2 play, while a handful of other surprises—Branden Grace and David Hearn among them—sit just two strokes back. But they only make up a couple of the 60 players who enter Saturday with an under-par score.
Meanwhile, the likes of Justin Rose, Matt Kuchar, Jason Day and even 2015 Masters champion Jordan Spieth missed the cut and couldn't keep their tournaments going through the weekend. But as Saturday's action gets ready to unfold, all of the focus shifts to those still very much in the hunt.
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With that said, let's take a look at how to catch Saturday's action and when the top golfers will hit the first tee box.
Day 3 Tee Times
| Kevin Na (-8), Jerry Kelly (-8) | 2:40 p.m. |
| Branden Grace (-6), David Hearn (-6) | 2:30 p.m. |
| Chris Kirk (-6), Rickie Fowler (-6) | 2:20 p.m. |
| Chris Stroud (-5), Bill Haas (-5) | 2:10 p.m. |
| Zach Johnson (-5), Troy Merritt (-5) | 2 p.m. |
| Ben Martin (-5), Scott Brown (-5) | 1:50 p.m. |
| Kevin Kisner (-4), Sangmoon Bae (-4) | 1:40 p.m. |
| Russell Henley (-4), Brendon Todd (-4) | 1:30 p.m. |
| Charles Howell III (-4), Jim Furyk (-4) | 1:20 p.m. |
| Brian Harman (-4), Derek Fathauer (-4) | 1:10 p.m. |
| Cameron Tringale (-4), Marc Leishman (-4) | 1 p.m. |
| Billy Horschel (-4), Rory McIlroy (-4) | 12:50 p.m. |
| Ian Poulter (-4), Ryo Ishikawa (-4) | 12:40 p.m. |
Full list of tee times can be found at PGATour.com
Day 3 TV Information
| 12 p.m. - 2 p.m. | The Players Third Round Coverage | Golf Channel |
| 2 p.m. - 7 p.m. | The Players Third Round Coverage | NBC |
Live Stream
Day 3 Golfers to Watch
Kevin Na
American golfer Kevin Na has gone from up-and-comer to PGA Tour veteran over the last several years, but he has only one tour victory to show for it. Through two rounds at TPC Sawgrass, he's showing plenty of reason to believe No. 2 could be on the way this weekend.
After setting the pace in Thursday's opening round with a 67, Na bounced back to shoot three strokes under par on the back nine Friday. That gave him a share of the lead with Kelly, and it could lead to the biggest victory of his career, as ESPN Stats and Info showed:
A majority of the field at the Players undoubtedly came to win, as told by the whopping 60 players below par. But only one has been able to match what Na has put together through 36 holes. His approach play has been incredible and is more than making up for a lower-than-average driving distance.
As Cameron Morfit of Sports Illustrated quipped, Na and Kelly are stealing the headlines once claimed by Rory McIlroy and Spieth:
Perhaps Na and Kelly's budding rivalry won't make the headlines in a similar fashion regardless of what happens this weekend. But if Na is able to continue atop the leaderboard and win his second career tour title, nobody will be overlooking him heading into the year's final three majors.
Rory McIlroy
Staying just close enough to be dangerous but just far enough away to fly under the radar, McIlroy is in position to strike over the weekend.
McIlroy started out his tournament with a three-under round, and he followed it up Friday by shooting one stroke under par—easily making the cut in the process. His deficit went from two strokes to four strokes, but it did nothing to quell his chances entering moving day.
If he's going to beat the odds and make a late run to the title, though, McIlroy will have to shore up some huge issues on the front nine. ESPN's Jason Sobel reported how McIlroy's back-nine prowess has only made up for problems on the front:
The Northern Irishman's majors streak ended in Augusta last month, but he undoubtedly showed his ability throughout a ferocious weekend at the Masters. After following that up with a win at the WGC-Cadillac Match Play Championship, he entered this tournament intent on continuing his recent form.
It will take a memorable weekend to do so, but McIlroy is far from out of the running to win the year's unofficial fifth major.
Rickie Fowler
As if a golfer of Rickie Fowler's talent needs anything else to light a fire under him, it seems the 26-year-old has taken an extra bit of motivation into the tournament. And so far, it's paying off.
Prior to this weekend's tournament, a poll conducted by Sports Illustrated, and voted on by PGA Tour pros, resulted in Fowler and Ian Poulter being named the most overrated golfers, per Coleman McDowell of Golf.com. What has he done in the process? He's just shot two straight rounds of 69 to enter Saturday two strokes back of the lead.
As Fowler told Golf Channel's Kelly Tilghman, he's not done using the vote as motivation:
Even though he's been a mainstay on the leaderboard of majors, Fowler's one PGA Tour victory has plenty of folks wondering whether he's more sizzle than steak. But to suggest winning the Players would begin to put an end to that talk would be a massive understatement.
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