2020 Tokyo Olympics golf schedule: Live stream, watch online, dates, TV times, format, full coverage, channel - CBSSports.com

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You thought you were finished dealing with wildly different time zones for golf viewing? Well, you better guess again. Men's golf in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics will begin on July 28 and last through August 1 at Kasumigaseki Country Club just outside of Tokyo, and several of the biggest stars in the world will compete.

The group of 60 golfers in this year's golf competition -- just the second since 1904 -- is highlighted by the No. 1 player in the world, Jon Rahm, who will be representing Spain alongside Adri Arnaus, who is ranked No. 166. Other top 25 players joining Rahm in Tokyo are Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Xander Schauffele, Bryson DeChambeau, Rory McIlroy, Viktor Hovland, Hideki Matsuyama and Paul Casey.

Olympic golf format

The format for this year's golf competition is the same as it was at the 2016 Rio Olympics when Justin Rose went on to win the gold medal. The 60 competitors will play four days of stroke play. This is a big switch from how golf looked in the Olympics 120 years ago. In the last competition before golf took a century-long hiatus, golfers had to play 36 holes of qualifying stroke play and five matches that were 36 holes each. The 1904 champion, George Lyon of Canada, played 197 holes over the course of six days.

This year won't be as much of a grind, but it will be a ton of fun to see the best in the world in a situation we don't normally see them in. The closest professional golf gets to playing for country throughout the normal rhythms of a season is the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup. Throw in some huge names who were absent in Rio, and this should be a fantastic event as a great summer of golf starts to come to a close.

Here's how you can watch and follow along for all four days. Note that though the event starts on Thursday in Japan, that's actually Wednesday evening in the United States. It will conclude extremely early on Sunday morning.

All times Eastern