TPC Boston is hosting the first tournament of the FedExCup Playoffs right now as the 2020 PGA Tour season starts its journey towards crowning a winner at the Northern Trust. It’s round 4 in Norton, Massachusetts this Sunday with Tiger Woods among those playing to secure a place at September’s season-ending Tour Championship – though few if any stand a chance of catching the leader heading into the final round, Dustin Johnson (-22), barring something extraordinary. Read on as we explain how to watch a Northern Trust live stream and catch all the PGA Tour golf action online this Sunday.
Still, we have seen plenty of the extraordinary this week, namely on Friday when DJ carded an incredible 60 – narrowly best a nearly record-breaking Scottie Scheffler on 59. The lowest ever PGA Tour single-round score is 58 – registered by Jim Furyk in 2016 at the Travelers Championship. Highlights for Dusty included a 41-foot eagle putt on the par-5 second, while Scottie’s 59 was only the 12th sub-60 round in professional golf history.
2020 Northern Trust live stream
The Northern Trust 2020 is taking place at TPC Boston in Norton, Massachusetts from Thursday, August 20 through Sunday, August 23. Coverage is split between NBC’s Golf Channel and CBS in the US, while Sky Sports has the rights in the UK. All the streaming and TV details you need to watch are below – or if you just need to know how to watch your home feed from abroad, then the try 5-star reviewed ExpressVPN at up to 50% off today.
The Northern Trust is the first of the PGA Tour’s three season-ending FedExCup playoff events. As well as boasting a $9.5 million purse, it will whittle down the world’s 125 best golfers (as judged by FedExCup standings after the Wyndham Championship) to a top 70 that progresses to next week’s BMW Championship. That tournament will the give us a final field of just 30 golfers to contest the 2020 Tour Championship.
It’s not a perfect system, but it makes for some awesome end of season PGA drama for golf fans. Big names like Tommy Fleetwood, Jordan Speith, Justin Rose, Rickie Fowler and Ian Poulter all entered the tournament just outside the top 70 in the FedExCup standings and therefore needing a strong performance to make it to next week’s BMW Championship. So far, Fleetwood, Fowler and Poulter have all played well – if not quite matching the otherworldly golf of a couple of their peers.
Tiger is well placed to book a ticket to Illinois and started the Northern Trust ranked 49th according to the delivery service, thanks to a big win in Japan last year at the Zozo Championship. Still, he needs two good tournaments to catapult himself into the top 30 and this year’s Tour Championship in September. Saturday didn’t go according to plan, however, with the legend scoring a disappointing +2 score.
With so much at stake and no margin for error, the 2020 Northern Trust is turning out to be an absolute treat for golf fans. Follow our guide as we explain how to get a Northern Trust live stream and watch PGA Tour golf online wherever you are today.
2020 Northern Trust: selected final round tee-times
All times are US Eastern Time (ET) and apply to round 4 this Sunday
- 8:55 a.m. — Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy
- 10:35 a.m. — Tommy Fleetwood, Ian Poulter
- 1:45 p.m. — Tyrrell Hatton, Alex Noren
- 1:55 p.m. — Danny Lee, Bubba Watson
- 2:05 p.m. — Harry Higgs, Daniel Berger
- 2:15 p.m. — Scottie Scheffler, Louis Oosthuizen
- 2:25 p.m. — Dustin Johnson, Harris English
How to watch the Northern Trust from outside your country
We’ve got a full breakdown of country-by-country PGA viewing options below, but the first thing you should know is that anyone who might be abroad at the moment can still tune into the action as usual by using one of the best VPNs.
This nifty bit of software allows you to get around geo-blocking restrictions and watch golf online using the same PGA live stream you normally would at home. Best of all, they only take a few minutes to set-up – and are seriously affordable.
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How to watch the Northern Trust: get a FREE PGA Tour golf live stream in the US
In the US, coverage of the Northern Trust, 2020 FedExCup Playoffs, and PGA Tour golf in general is shared by CBS and NBC’s Golf Channel.
The Golf Channel is broadcasting rounds 1 and 2 from 3-7pm ET (12-4pm PT) on Thursday and Friday, as well as providing early coverage of round 3 on Saturday (1-3pm ET / 10am-12pm PT) and round 4 this Sunday (12.30-2.30pm ET / 9.30-11.30am PT) Streaming coverage is hosted on its website, where you’ll need to log-in with details of your cable provider for access.
CBS drives into things for the heart of the action on Saturday (3-6pm ET /12-3pm PT) and Sunday (3.30-6.30pm ET / 12.30pm-3.30pm PT) so CBS All Access has your streaming needs covered and can be enjoyed commitment-free from just $5.99 a month.
How to watch the Northern Trust: live stream PGA Tour golf FREE without cable
Cord-cutters can easily watch the 2020 Northern Trust online without cable. There are a number of options, but as an all-in-one solution, we’d highly recommend that most golf fans check out FuboTV.
Fubo offers both NBC’s Golf Channel (and other NBC channels) and CBS as part of its core package. This costs $64.99 a month, which might sound like a lot, but golf fans can enjoy a mulligan this week thanks to the service’s FREE 7-day trial – essentially meaning you can watch the Northern Trust and live stream PGA golf for free right now.
Signing up for FuboTV is a tap-in, too, with the platform accepting a wide range of international credit and debit cards for quick online payment. You need to register with a valid email and provide your US zip code so you get the right local programming, but that’s it – this isn’t one of the services that ask for unnecessary personal details like your home address.
Even better, Fubo makes cancelling easy if you decide it’s not the right OTT option for you and even sends you reminders before your free trial expires so you don’t have to pay anything you don’t want to – check it out today.
Get a Northern Trust live stream from abroad
If you’re a US resident out of the country and want to access one of the above options just like you normally would, then you can use a VPN to effectively transport your computer, phone or tablet’s IP back home – ExpressVPN being our current favorite.
Northern Trust live stream UK: how to watch Tiger Woods in the PGA FedExCup Playoffs
If you’re a UK-based golf fan, you’ll likely know that Sky Sports has the rights to most events on your side of the Atlantic – and that includes the 2020 Northern Trust and all of this year’s FedExCup Playoffs action.
Sky’s live coverage is comprehensive throughout, starting on Sky Sports Golf at 7.30pm BST on Thursday and Friday, 7pm on Saturday, and 6pm on Sunday. It’s also being shown on Sky Sports Main Event during peak times.
Sky subscribers can use the Sky Go app to live stream the PGA Tour golf this week, while anyone else can take advantage of a Now TV Sky Sports pass – the best value of which is the Now TV Sky Sports month pass.
Those who might find themselves outside of the UK for this tournament can follow our instructions above to get a VPN and watch the golf via a live stream just like they would at home.
Northern Trust 2020 live stream: watch the PGA Tour and FedExCup Playoffs in Canada
Golf fans in Canada can watch nearly all major golf events and this week’s Northern Trust is no different.
For early action, NBC’s Golf Channel has a Canadian twin airing the same coverage that’s available in the US – so rounds 1 and 2 are on-air from 3-7pm ET (12-4pm MT) on Thursday and Friday,
At the weekend, TSN takes the place of CBS in showing the final two rounds of the first FedExCup playoff tournament, picking up things on Saturday at 3pm ET /12pm MT (Pacific time) on TSN1 for round 3. On Sunday, it’s got coverage of the Northern Trust final round coverage on TSN3 from 2.30pm ET / 11.30am MT.
Best of all, those without cable can subscribe to TSN on a streaming-only basis from just CA$4.99 a month.
Remember that if you can normally access golf coverage in Canada, you can make use of a VPN to access all the services and content you would back home.
How to watch the Northern Trust and live stream the PGA’s FedExCup Playoffs in Australia
The most comprehensive golf streaming coverage Down Under is available through Kayo Sports – a great over-the-top service that offers access to over 50 sports live and on-demand, courtesy of partnerships with big-name pay TV channels like Fox Sports, ESPN, and beIN Sports.
We’ve checked this week’s Kayo listings and can confirm that the Northern Trust is fully covered and Aussies can watch this week’s PGA FedExCup Playoffs event from start to finish.
The substantial time difference means that Northern Trust rounds 1 and 2 go on air at 5am AEST – on Friday, August 20 and Saturday, August 21 respectively. The final two rounds haven’t been confirmed yet, but you can be sure they’ll be on Kayo as well – and start at similarly unsociable hours this coming Sunday and Monday.
If you can brave the less-than-sociable viewing times, Kayo can be had from just AU$25 a month and even offers a free 14-day trial, so you can watch PGA Tour golf online and catch all the FedExCup Playoffs drama from Boston wherever you are.
If it’s linear TV you want to watch on, head for Fox Sports, which is channel 503 on Foxtel.
What are the FedExCup Playoffs and how are they played?
As we’ve said, the 2020 FedExCup Playoffs are the three final PGA Tour events of this year’s season: the Northern Trust, BMW Championship and Tour Championship. Taking place in August and September, the first one (this week’s Northern Trust) features a traditional 36-hole cut and will see only 70 golfers from a field of 125 advance to the BMW Championship.
The BMW is held August 27-30 at the Olympia Fields Country Club just outside of Chicago, Illinois. The most important thing about this tournament is that is doesn’t send anyone home after the first two rounds – but does ultimately slash the number of Tour Championship invitations to just 30 players, as per the FedExCup standings after its points allocation has been added.
FedExCup points are accumulated by players throughout the PGA season and are the basis of this standings system: winners of regular PGA tournaments earn 500, WGC event victors bag 550, and Major champions get 600. Finishing in the top 10 at a tourney also earns golfers points, as does making the 36-hole cut. Winning an ‘opposite-field’ PGA tournament is worth 300 FedExCup points. These are defined as competitions played at the same time, or ‘opposite’, golf Majors and WGC events – their inevitably weaker fields the reason they’re worth so much less.
Things get turned up to 11 when the FedExCup Playoffs start, as these events are worth a whopping 2,000 points a piece – more than three Major wins. Once the final field of 30 is set for the Tour Championship, things somehow manage to get even more convoluted, as these final FedExCup standings are translated into a de facto handicap system. The No. 1 golfer tees-off the Championship on a score of -10, while those ranked Nos. 26-30 start from par.
There’s no cut in the final event of the 2019/20 PGA Tour season, either, with the 2020 Tour Championship taking place September 4-7 at the East Lake Golf Club just outside of Atlanta, Georgia.
Last year, the winner of the whole shebang was Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy, who started in fifth place on -5 but surged past Brooks Koepka and Xander Schauffele on the final day to take home an epic $15 million winner’s check along with his final score of -13.