How to watch the Masters
If you’re planning viewing, live Masters coverage runs April 9–12 and organizers have posted tee times and streaming info for Rounds 1–2 to help you schedule viewing windows. Golf.com’s viewer guide lists tee times, TV windows and streaming options so you can catch early‑round action and follow leaders into the weekend (golf.com). Practical note: with an open field, early tee times matter — don’t base picks only on late round highlights. (golf.com)
The Masters starts on Thursday, April 9, and runs through Sunday, April 12 at Augusta National in Georgia. In the United States, the broad shape of the broadcast is simple: ESPN has the first two rounds, CBS has the weekend, and streaming now fills in the gaps that television used to leave open (golf.com, golfchannel.com). That matters because the Masters is still one of the few events where the most interesting golf can happen long before the main TV window begins. This year, that gap is smaller than it used to be. Prime Video is carrying exclusive early coverage on Thursday and Friday from 1 to 3 p.m. Eastern, before ESPN takes over those days from 3 to 7:30 p.m. Eastern. On Saturday and Sunday, Paramount+ has the early window from noon to 2 p.m. Eastern, and CBS then airs the main broadcast from 2 to 7 p.m. Eastern (golfweek.usatoday.com, pgatour.com, golf.com). If you only tune in for the late network coverage, you are choosing to miss the front half of the tournament. That is why the tee times matter more than casual viewers often realize. As of Tuesday, April 7, full first- and second-round tee times were still expected just before the tournament begins, with several outlets noting they had not yet been posted in full earlier this week (golfdigest.com, nationaltoday.com). Once they are out, they will do more than tell fans when to watch a favorite player. They will tell you when the course is likely to be quiet, when featured groups begin, and which contenders may be done before the largest TV audience even sits down. The Masters also remains unusually generous online, at least by modern sports standards. Masters.com and the Masters app will again offer featured groups, featured holes, simulcasts, and the tournament’s “Every Shot, Every Hole” product, which lets viewers follow any player through the round. PGA Tour coverage notes that many of those options are free, even as the overall package now stretches across Prime Video, Paramount+, DirecTV, and the ESPN app (golf.com, pgatour.com, si.com). In practice, that means the smartest way to watch is no longer to wait for the polished evening narrative. It is to decide in advance which windows you care about and use the streams to build your own. That shift changes the tournament even for people who never touch a betting app. The Masters field is deep, the course rewards patience, and the leaderboard can move before the television broadcast starts telling a coherent story. Early-round coverage is where you catch the tournament before it hardens into a highlight reel. This year, the first of those windows opens Thursday at 1 p.m. Eastern on Prime Video, with ESPN picking up the broadcast at 3 (golfweek.usatoday.com, golfchannel.com).
