Johnny, Faldo To Reunite In Synergy-Gone-Wild Hawaiian Extravaganza

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Michael Hiestand reports that Johnny Miller will be appearing with Nick Faldo on Golf Channel's telecast of the Hyundai Tournament of Champions from Kapalua. Meaning, (A) someone reworked Johnny's contract to pay him to go spend at week at Kapalua, (B) NBC is taking the synergy thing with Golf Channel seriously, and (C) someone wisely recognized there is little reason to tune into this event with a lackluster field at Kapalua and after such a robust fall schedule of quality golf events with stars teeing it up in exotic locales.
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Where's Marty Hackel When You Need Him? Rymer Tie Edition

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Reader Tim believes Charlie Rymer confused Thursday's Chevron World Challenge postgame coverage with a Vancouver Canuck's pre-game show from the 80s. I thought it was a coral snake rushing up his chest. Or a psychedelic take on the old San Diego Padres uniform. Either way, a viewer discretion should have been advised.

Speaking of the Chevron, Ron Sirak reports on Tiger's opening 69 that started with a retro-Tiger flash and ended in difficult winds and some bizarre shots from the field.

Who Knows What 2021 Will Bring?

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While I'm happy the PGA Tour will be on television for the foreseeable future--and more importantly, network television--I'm having a hard time getting past the notion that the new PGA Tour television contract runs through 2021.

Consider that we'll have three U.S. presidential elections between now and then.

Two World Cups.

And there will be three Summer Olympics in that time, with the location for the third set of games just narrowed down to six bids this week (and only two of those are golf friendly...or at least I don't think they have much great golf in Azerbaijan).

I point this out because it seems fair to question why either the tour or networks would want to be locked into that agreement so far in advance. Especially in light of our "flat," rapidly changing world.

Consider this wisdom from someone who many consider to be very smart about business, politics and what the digital future holds:

Who knows where -- I'll just go off a little bit here, but Tom Friedman has a book coming out this week, and in that book he cites when he wrote "The World is Flat," and he thought that was a cutting-edge book. But he says in this book, if you go back and look at that book, and it's only five years ago, you can't find Skype, you can't find Twitter, and he lists about eight different things. That's pretty amazing. That's five years ago. None of that stuff was even there.

Those comments were from Commissioner Tim Finchem while announcing the 9-year deal.

"Value" Dominates "Underpinning" 16-9 In PGA Tour Matchups, Jargon Edition

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I tracked the jargon-usage from the press conference to announce a new TV deal--starring Tim Finchem, with cameos by Sean McManus and Mark Lazarus--and Value never had to go the whip, leading gate to wire despite a nice stretch run move by 99-1 longshot Underpinning. Value you paid $2.80 to win.
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Kraig Kann Leaving Golf Channel For LPGA Gig

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Kraig Kann, who has had to act excited about more episodes of The Big Break than any other other original Golf Channel anchor, is leaving the network after nearly sixteen years to take the job as LPGA Tour Communications Director. He leaves behind Kelly Tilghman, Rich Lerner, Brian Hammond and other longtime stalwarts of the channel.
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Tip For Dealing With Sunday's CBS/PGA Telecast

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I thought I was prepared for CBS and the PGA of America's idea of a proper sporting event presentation after sitting through last year's promo and commercial-laden mess, but for some reason Saturday's boondoggle seemed far worse. At least I had Twitter to converse with like-minded folks who found the seemingly unending commercial and promo reel offensive.

I can't imagine what Golfweek's Martin Kaufman thought, since he blamed lackluster early round coverage on TNT, and absolved CBS of blame for the relentlessness of the breaks. (Of further note is the scaled back production for all rounds that includes no quality blimp camera coverage and a noticeable cutback in spotters to provide yardages.)

The real problem here is the PGA of America, which allows their championship to be ruined by an unwatchable live telecast and despite complaints the last few years, appears to have done nothing to re-work its deal with CBS. Throw in their circa-2000 website and for fans not in attendance, it looks like they could care less about what any fan thinks of them. I can't even imagine what a casual fan thinks of the game if they tried to watch any of this.

Sadly, the PGA ratings will tumble Sunday and it'll be blamed on unknown leaders, not on the product put out (sparingly) on the airwaves. Thankfully, there is the DVR.

For the first time in as long as I can remember, I will be fast-forwarding through this one entirely on "tape."  Sorry sponsors, but the PGA of America gives me (and many others) no choice but to fast forward. Consider it the television version of Tee it Forward.

DVR Alert, I Guess: CBS Presents "Next On The Tee: The Future Of Golf"

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Well at least there's Gentle Ben to listen to...

CBS SPORTS SPECTACULAR PRESENTS “NEXT ON THE TEE: THE FUTURE OF GOLF”

CBS SPORTS SPECTACULAR gives an inside look at the present and future of golf with the one-hour special, NEXT ON THE TEE: THE FUTURE OF GOLF presented by AT&T on Saturday, July 30 (2:00-3:00 PM, ET).  Featured in the special is eight-time major winner, Tom Watson, assessing his career and where he sees the game going. Also featured is two-time All America golfer from Georgia, Russell Henley, as he looks to his future as a professional. Turner Sports’ Craig Sager examines the technology of the game from the hickory shafted clubs to the models of today.  Two-time Masters champion Ben Crenshaw will examine the state of where course design is going in the coming years.  And a CBS Sports panel of golf experts including Ian Baker-Finch, Peter Kostis and Peter Oosterhuis hold a discussion on the state of today’s game today, where it is going, the young players ready to win in the future and golf technology.  CBS Sports’ Deb Boulac serves as coordinating producer.