It's Ridiculous That We Can't Watch Tiger Woods Play At The Masters Tomorrow

He tees off at 10:45 a.m., but live TV coverage on ESPN doesn't start until 3 p.m.

He won't be shown online either. Masters.com plans to stream a ton of live golf, but for some reason Tiger's group isn't one of the "featured groups" that will be shown live in its entirety online tomorrow.

Masters.com is streaming holes No. 11 through 15 online, so you'll be able to watch him play those holes live (and he's in a featured group Friday), but that's it.

That's insane.

Only four golf tournaments a year are truly must-watch events. For most fans, these 16 total rounds are the only rounds that matter.

Tiger Woods is the most important golfer in the world, I should be able to watch him play those 16 rounds.

This isn't just some dumb oversight either. The Masters chose not to live-stream Tiger's group last year too. This is a calculated decision to de-emphasize him.

The Masters, more than anything else, is a celebration of old traditions. That's why food is ridiculously cheap, caddies wear silly jumpsuits, and TV announcers are required to use a goofy, outmoded vocabulary (fans are "patrons").

Augusta National is a golf Renaissance Fair with a modern sporting event taking place inside of it.

And that leads to inherent conflicts.

The people who run the Masters want the star of the tournament to be the tournament itself, but the nature of sports in 2013 (where interest is driven by characters and narratives) means there are players and stories that are bigger than the tournament.

And that's why we can't watch Tiger Woods tomorrow.

Augusta's official explanation for why they can't show him is that a player can only be in a featured group one day. But they could have worked around that rule by featuring his group on Thursday (which will be over before TV coverage starts) rather than Friday (most of which will be shown on live TV).

I love the Masters. But when the traditionalist mission of the tournament means that we can't watch the best player in the world, it has gone too far.