If Tiger Woods wins this week, U.S. fans will get to watch it in prime time

UPDATE: Woods leads by three with seven holes to play in the fourth round, which was suspended due to darkness. The final round will resume at 6:30 p.m. ET Sunday.  

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The chaotic weather that dumped nearly 10 inches of water on Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club on Friday and caused the postponement of the second round until Saturday has a silver lining for U.S. fans: The tournament is now scheduled to conclude on Monday morning in Japan, which means it will be Sunday evening on the U.S. east coast. That also means, in the event that Tiger Woods does manage to claim his 82nd career victory at the Zozo Championship — an achievement of historic proportions — American viewers will get to watch it happen in prime time.

The third round begins at 5:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, with the players grouped in threesomes off of both sets of tees. After the third round is complete, players will head straight back out to the course to begin the fourth and final round in the same third-round groupings. Coverage of the third round will air live on Golf Channel from 7:30 p.m. until 3:30 a.m. ET. Tiger Woods is in the final group that tees off at 7:30 p.m. ET, alongside Gary Woodland and Keegan Bradley.

After the third round, the field will play as much as the final round as possible until darkness falls. That means play will have to conclude once and for all on Monday morning local time, and Golf Channel will again be airing living coverage beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET on Sunday.

Woods currently has a two-shot lead over Gary Woodland, and a four-shot lead over Hideki Matsuyama and Keegan Bradley heading into the third round.

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