Colonial 2022: Another Rough Ratings Week On The PGA Tour

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The 2022 Charles Schwab Challenge featured World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler as the third round leader and Jordan Spieth in contention, but that was not nearly enough to help CBS’s ratings.

Eventually won by Sam Burns in a playoff over Scheffler, the final round telecast drew a 1.46/2.43 million average audience, down 2021’s 1.79/3.11 million for Jason Kokrak’s win over Jordan Spieth. All numbers courtesy of ShowBuzzDaily’s weekly sports report on a busy weekend for viewers.

Saturday’s CBS broadcast from Colonial and all Golf Channel telecasts showed declines. The LPGA’s match play event at Shadow Creek was also down across the board and did not draw a top 150 rating for Sunday’s final match.

The NCAA Women’s Championship earlier in the week on Golf Channel also failed to rate.

The same week in 2021 courtesy of Showbuzzdaily:

Texas Captures Its Fourth NCAA Title With Win Over Arizona State

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The team was inspired by a young man named Sonny Santrelli, who is battling cancer and was able to be on hand to watch. Quite a moment after:

The full highlights package:

The final day also marked another sad chapter in Golf Channel and NBC Sports, as the network’s coverage was off air for around 50 minutes of the final match and viewers let them have it. Not the synergy and support the NCAA signed up for but life in the world of Comcast chintziness.

Freshman Wins NCAA Individual Title, NCAA Elite Eight Set

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Adam Woodward reports on a wild finish to the men’s individual title chase that ended in a four-man playoff won by Vanderbilt’s Gordon Sargent. The true freshman joins a small group to have won the title in their first year, including Ben Crenshaw and Phil Mickelson.

The final eight teams are set, with Tuesday featuring 36-holes of matches concluding with Wednesday’s final. It was a remarkable show by top ranked teams backing up their season-long efforts to reach the elite eight. Woodward previews the bracket and morning matches.

The teams and TV Times:

"Rebirth at Riv: 2012 NCAAs, an oral history"

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As the NCAA men’s championship has been cut to 15 teams and decides the individual title Monday, carve out a few minutes for Brentley Romine’s oral history of the 2012 matches at Riviera.

With the rise of several players who participated and the success of the team match format, Romine has done a fantastic job documenting the epic Texas-Alabama finale. This one happened before Golf Channel started doing full coverage but Romine has enough recollections, images and even YouTube clips to capture what was a match play classic. The premature celebration by Alabama coach Jay Seawell has not, well, aged particularly well.

It’s a three parter and you’ll see my name pop up in there Part 3 but only because UT’s coaches left no stone unturned. But I don’t ever want to hear crap from a Longhorn again.

Part 1.

Part 2.

Part 3.

"A Week In The Life Stanford Women's Golf"

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Led by the super-duo of Rose Zhang and Rachel Heck, the Stanford women take on Oregon in today’s NCAA Women’s final. Adam Woodward and Lance Ringler preview what should be a stellar all-Pac 12 match.

The Cardinal women are profiled and trailed at a recent even in a tremendous film by No Laying Up. It’s directed by D.J. Piehowski and edited by Matt Golden, and a tremendous piece of work!

125 Years Ago: America's First Collegiate Championships Were Played

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With the NCAA men’s and women’s championships upon us, it’s been 125 years since the original college golf championships.

From May 12-14, 1897, Louis P Bayard Jr. won the first day individual title at Ardsley Casino in Dobbs Ferry, New York.

Day two consisted of semi-final team matches between Yale and Princeton and Harvard and Columbia.

Yale beat Harvard for its first of 21 championships by a score of 24 to 4.

Thanks to Yale’s Colin Sheehan for providing these cool clips looking back when they wore real joggers and played the ball down!

"After fatal West Texas crash, University of the Southwest community turns to faith"

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Anthony Olivieri travels to Hobbs, New Mexico and explains how the University of the Southwest community is turning to faith in the face of unimaginable grief. Carve out a few minutes to read this and remember the innocent lives lost.

Inside the ropes at Rockwind Community Links is another memorial. Just outside the pro shop and next to a covered outdoor patio, there are golf balls with messages of prayer and bouquets of flowers with cards attached addressed to both the school and the course.

USW's golf teams were at Rockwind every day, working on their games. Golf pro Ben Kirkes knew every player who died. Two players on the roster who didn't make the trip to the tournament in Midland worked at the course. Kirkes had trouble putting it all into words. Everyone grieves differently.

During his time as a resident on the dorms staff, Joshua Garcia-Matta oversaw Jackson Zinn and Karisa Raines and Travis Garcia. He affectionately referred to Tiago Sousa as TT. He said Laci Stone was bright and funny and humble.

"Words don't describe the pain and the loss everyone is experiencing as a whole," said Garcia-Matta, who also is on the cheer team. "All those people on that bus, I knew personally."

The New Look Of Amateur Status: Stanford Golfer Announces Agent For NIL Deals

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With name, image and likeness opportunities now available to college golfers, it’s not a surprise to see golfers landing agents or deals.

The first I’ve seen to go public in announcing an agent signing: Stanford’s Rachel Heck, class of 2024 and joining the Excel stable of golf clients that includes Tiger Woods, Justin Rose and Gary Woodland. Heck notes her agent contact bio in her Twitter bio as any good NIL pursuer would, but it’s still surreal to see amateur golfers open for business for any number of reasons. Starting with the inconsistency of non-collegiate elite amateur golfers not able to similarly benefit, merely because they do not go to an NCAA institution.

Meanwhile, Heck has competition on the already loaded Stanford women’s team. Freshman Rose Zhang has won the individual title in her first three starts, reports Ryan Herrington, who shares some wild stats from Zhang’s blazing start.

"She’s Playing College Golf. She’s 63."

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WSJ’s Jason Gay profiles Debbie Blount, an underclassman and Georgeia’s Reinhardt University and playing on the golf team. The sophomore is 63.

Now she longed for a change. “After my husband passed away, I was getting stale,” Blount said. “I love golf, but I’d lost my passion for it, and I was looking for something fun and different.” 

Her path returned her to Reinhardt, a school she considered more than four decades ago. “It was the combination of golf and getting a degree,” she said. “I probably would not have gone back to school if I couldn’t play golf.”

It was a momentous choice. Blount’s the first person in her family to attend college. 

“She’s doing something that she’s always wanted to do,” said Blount’s mother, Loraine Seidel, now 95. “Debbie, when she makes up her mind to do something, she does it.”

There is lots more and it’s not behind the paywall, so enjoy.

Barbara Nicklaus Cup To Feature Mixed College Team Event

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While golf’s CEO types greenlight ad campaigns to show they care about the women’s game, some in the sport are actually delivering what folks might find “worth watching” on occasion: a mixed competition.

While the European Tour pushes individual formats of interest, college golf’s Barbara Nicklaus Cup provides another intriguing blueprint for something like the Olympics or perhaps an event not yet created.

From Dave Shedloski’s report on Ohio State coach Therese Hession’s effort to create the event and its format:

Each school will field six players from each men’s and women’s team to compete in four mixed foursomes and four singles matches in head-to-head contests against each of the other three schools. Each match counts for one point with a maximum of eight points per contest. The school with the most points after the three separate rounds will be the winner.

Members of the winning school will receive Muirfield Village Golf Club pin flags signed by both Jack and Barbara Nicklaus, said Hession, who hopes that a trophy might be created for the occasion in the next few years.

And two days at Muirfield Village should make for some fascinating match play.

College Golfers May Have To Delay Their Brand Rollouts

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Hoping to buy a line of logoed stuff from your favorite college golfer now that the NCAA has been forced to let them cash in?

According to GolfChannel.com’s Brentley Romine, the rules of amateur status will likely slow down efforts by any college golfer to begin their brand unveiling until the USGA and R&A update their Jan. 1, 2022 softening of amateur status.

The NCAA's interim guidelines, which defer rule-making to the states and individual universities, will remain until official NCAA and/or federal legislation is passed.

However, college golfers must still abide by the Rules of Amateur Status set by golf's governing bodies. Though the USGA and R&A back in February announced modernized rules that don't figure to conflict with any state or school policies in regards to NIL, those new rules aren't slated to go into effect until Jan. 1, 2022.

So, what will college golfers do for six months?

Talk to their prospective agents about fine tuning their logos and online shops? Sorry, go on…

"While the NCAA’s announcement is not directly related to our own work to modernization the Rules of Amateur Status, we applaud the NCAA for making a positive step forward for collegiate athletics and note that their interim policy is closely aligned with where the Rules of Amateur Status will be come January 1, 2022," the USGA statement read. "We are now in contact with NCAA staff to seek clarity on a number of items related to their interim policy and will provide an update to the entire golf community as to how NIL related activities will affect a student-athlete’s amateur status no later than Tuesday, July 6."

Programs are already letting recruits know that if they are looking to help players grown their name, image and likeness, oh and help them get an education, too:

Pepperdine Wins The NCAA Men's Golf Championship!

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I wasn’t blogging back in 1997 when the Pepperdine Waves took the title in front of ESPN’s cameras, but the 2021 title win was no less stressful to watch knowing what was at stake.

Pepperdine edged Oklahoma 3-2 in one of those shame-someone-had-to-lose deals. But I’m glad Pepperdine hit just a few more clutch shots under the match play’s intense pressure.

The layers to this one run deep, from Coach Michael Beard and assistant Blaine Woodruff’s ability to pinpoint sometimes overlooked talent, to building a deep roster with nothing close to the facilities enjoyed at power conference schools, to bringing on former USC coach Chris Zambri this year and the tragic loss his family experienced mid-season.

Brentley Romine’s game story for GolfChannel.com with some great color on the final moments before Clay Feagler sealed the win at 18.

Adam Woodward’s Golfweek gamer recalls the lost opportunity last year when Pepperdine was the top team in the country before the NCAA’s were cancelled due to the pandemic.

Woodward also focused on Feagler, who did not appear to have his A game until battling back and making clutch putts at 16, 17 and 18.

Romine filed this sensational piece earlier in the week on Joey Vrzich, who was shaped by his dad’s near-death experience. While he lost his final match, Vrzich battled back from a huge deficit and then conceded to celebrate with his teammates:

Official NCAA highlights can be watched here.

GolfChannel.com’s video department shuts down when the printing presses start warming up, so some of their sensational coverage of the finale has yet to be posted online.

The final match play bracket:

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NCAA Men's Final Set: Pepperdine vs. Oklahoma

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The tiny college from rural southern California will take on the powerhouse Big 12 behemoth from Oklahoma, as Pepperdine beat Oklahoma State 4-1 to advance to the national championship. The No. 1 Sooners outlasted Arizona State in the other semi-final at Grayhawk to set up Wednesday’s title match (Golf Channel, 5 pm ET).

The teams met last fall in the East Lake Cup, with Pepperdine cruising to a 4-1 win. But a lot has changed with both teams lead by “super” seniors taking advantage of a one-time pandemic year NCAA rule allowing players to return.

Brentley Romine writes about the old guys leading their teams: Quade Cummins for OU and Clay Feagler for the Waves.

Though Cummins, Brightwell and McAllister are a combined 23-4 in match play this season, the Sooners will need more from Reband and Lorenz if they are to defeat Pepperdine, which beat Oklahoma in the East Lake Cup final, 4-1, last October. Cummins was the only Oklahoma player to win his match that day, and he didn’t even get to finish it.

“Last time we played them in match play they got us pretty good,” Cummins said. “So, you know, we're not satisfied just making it to the finals. We're here to win.”

Not present for the Waves’ victory at East Lake was Pepperdine’s Clay Feagler, another super senior. Unlike Cummins, Feagler wasn’t a shoo-in to come back to school. His game was in poor shape and he had missed two straight tournaments for the top-ranked Waves when last season was canceled.

“I was so bummed,” said Feagler, who also had watched star teammate Sahith Theegala make the leap to the pro ranks. “I didn’t really want to go back. I wasn’t making the lineup anyway and was kind of just down in the dumps.”

Pepperdine put the Cowboys away with two epic shots, Clay Feagler’s ace and Joe Highsmith’s clutch fairway bunker shot at 18:

Details Of Cancelled NCAA Women's Regionals Keep Getting Worse, TPC Louisiana Offers To Host

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While the failed NCAA Women’s Regional in Baton Rouge is unlikely to be salvaged due to timing issues, the sequence of events and lack of action to address issues just keeps getting worse.

From ESPN.com’s Tom VanHaaren, explaining that teams practiced Sunday and again Tuesday afternoon following rains and saw the lack off effort to getting the course’s flooded bunkers playable. Or to rule them ground under repair.

A similar scenario played out Tuesday, but the teams were allowed to practice on the course later that day.

The coaches were told the bunkers on the course were a concern, with standing water making them unplayable. The rules officials did have the option to mark the unplayable bunkers as such, which would give the players relief if their ball entered the marked area.

"I specifically asked the head rules official why we can't play, what do we have to do," Kieschnick said. "The answer was that 'We don't think you get the right champion if we don't play the bunkers.' I said, 'Well, you're well within your rights to make those ground under repair; that's truly your opinion.' You don't know if that determines the right champion or not -- that's an opinion."

Approximately 12 coaches from the participating teams went to the games committee Tuesday to get some questions answered. The objective was to determine whether there was a way to resume golf and a way to get the tournament in by the Thursday deadline.

Part of what confused the coaches was that the bunkers and standing water were presented as the big issue but they did not see an attempt to clear the water or repair the course. According to Kieschnick and another source, there were no pumps on site to pump the water off the course.

"A great coach said, 'If bunkers are the problem and you're doing nothing about the bunkers, we ought to leave right now,'" Kieschnick said. "That was on Tuesday. They didn't want to take the bunkers out, but this happens all the time and we can do this. When bunkers are the problem and nothing is being done, that's really hard to swallow. It was bizarre."

As noted yesterday, host LSU made it to the finals thanks to the committee simply advancing the top seeds.

Forgive my ignorance, but why did they get home course advantage to begin with? Did I miss a memo?