Tim Bradbury/Getty Images
NORTON, MA – SEPTEMBER 04: Justin Thomas waves to the crowd after making a putt for par on the 18th green to win the Dell Technologies Championship at TPC Boston on September 4, 2017 in Norton, Massachusetts.

By Christopher Powers
The PGA Tour makes the short trek from New Jersey to New England this week for the second leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, the Dell Technologies Championship. For the 16th straight year, TPC Boston will play host to the event, and it will be the last year it hosts its own playoff event. Starting in 2019, the playoffs will be reduced to three events, and the first leg will rotate between a New York Course, a New Jersey course and TPC Boston.

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Fortunately, the chowdaheads can expect a great tournament this week before the tour leaves them for a couple of years. For the first time since 2013 they’ll see Tiger Woods, who had an underwhelming week at Ridgewood Country Club, struggling with the putter and finishing T-40. If he can fix his problems with the flat stick, Woods should have a good chance to contend this week at a course he’s fared well at in the past, winning in 2006 and posting T-2s in 2004 and 2007.

Boston fans will also get to see Rory McIlroy, who skipped the Northern Trust in the hopes of re-assessing his game and coming back for a strong finish to a season that had so much promise following a victory at Bay Hill for the Northern Irishman. Then, with a chance to win Sunday at Augusta, McIlroy faded away, and has not recaptured that Bay Hill final-round magic since. Like Woods, he too has good memories at TPC Boston, winning here in both 2012 and 2016.

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Justin Thomas, the defending champion, is also in the field and will play on Thursday in one of the marquee groupings alongside Dustin Johnson and Northern Trust winner Bryson DeChambeau.

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TV Schedule
OSN Sports 3HD will carry live coverage all four days. Tune in from 9.30pm (UAE tIme) Friday, 10pm Saturday, 8pm Sunday and 6.30pm Monday.

Thursday Tee Times (all times ET). Note:  The United Arab Emirates is 8 hours ahead of Boston, MA, so add 8 hours to the times below.

Tee No. 1
8:15 a.m. — Daniel Berger, Chris Kirk, Stewart Cink
8:27 a.m. — Ryan Moore, Whee Kim, Ted Potter, Jr.
8:39 a.m. — Beau Hossler, Byeong Hun An, Keegan Bradley
8:51 a.m. — Jordan Spieth, Xander Schauffele, Brandt Snedeker
9:03 a.m. — Pat Perez, Rory McIlroy, Chesson Hadley
9:15 a.m. — Jon Rahm, Patton Kizzire, Kevin Na
9:27 a.m. — Troy Merritt, Satoshi Kodaira, Kevin Tway
9:39 a.m. — Jhonattan Vegas, Kevin Chappell, James Hahn
12:40 p.m. — Louis Oosthuizen, Kevin Streelman, Tyrrell Hatton
12:52 p.m. — Charles Howell III, Henrik Stenson, J.J. Spaun
1:04 p.m. — Brendan Steele, Alex Noren, Kevin Kisner
1:16 p.m. — Billy Horschel, Aaron Wise, Cameron Smith
1:28 p.m. — Tony Finau, Brooks Koepka, Justin Rose
1:40 p.m. — Phil Mickelson, Patrick Cantlay, Patrick Reed
1:52 p.m. — Keith Mitchell, Jamie Lovemark, J.B. Holmes
2:04 p.m. — Russell Knox, Scott Stallings, Ollie Schniederjans
2:16 p.m. — Brian Stuard, Jason Dufner

Tee No. 10
8:15 a.m. — C.T. Pan, Bronson Burgoon, Matt Kuchar
8:27 a.m. — Brian Gay, Adam Hadwin, Zach Johnson
8:39 a.m. — Emiliano Grillo, Si Woo Kim, Ryan Palmer
8:51 a.m. — Marc Leishman, Tiger Woods, Chez Reavie
9:03 a.m. — Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas
9:15 a.m. — Bubba Watson, Jason Day, Webb Simpson
9:27 a.m. — Charley Hoffman, Joel Dahmen, Michael Kim
9:39 a.m. — Russell Henley, Anirban Lahiri, Danny Lee
12:40 p.m. — Jason Kokrak, Nick Watney, Jimmy Walker
12:52 p.m. — Scott Piercy, Hideki Matsuyama, Rafa Cabrera Bello
1:04 p.m. — Andrew Putnam, Adam Scott, Ryan Armour
1:16 p.m. — Austin Cook, Gary Woodland, Ian Poulter
1:28 p.m. — Andrew Landry, Luke List, Brian Harman
1:40 p.m. — Paul Casey, Kyle Stanley, Tommy Fleetwood
1:52 p.m. — Brice Garnett, Kelly Kraft, Peter Uihlein
2:04 p.m. — Tom Hoge, Branden Grace, Abraham Ancer