When you come to think of it that is the secret of most of the great holes all over the world. They all have some kind of a twist. C.B. MACDONALD
Thinking about Tiger's putt today, I kept marveling at how dark it must have been since the photographs were so dark. Bob Harig sets the scene and explains just how difficult the conditions were...at least for seeing the ball and the cup.
Alan Shipnuck on the LPGA event at Papago last week:
At Papago an autograph booth was set up behind the 18th green, and even the most high-profile players signed until their fingers were numb, repeatedly thanking fans for waiting in line. Throw in reasonable pricing — a one-day pass in Phoenix cost $16 — and it's no accident that attendance was up by 24% through the first four tournaments of this year. Michelle Wie's presence had given the LPGA more than a little box-office appeal. Last Saturday, Wie had dew-sweeping duty as the third time off, at 7:56 a.m., but about 300 fans turned up to follow her, and the Wie group was chaperoned by four armed Phoenix cops.
Not that those shares would get his attention, but hey, it's a gesture for making the putt and averting a disastrous Monday playoff.
From the PR folks at NBC/Universal/GE/Sheinhardt Wigs (that's for all 3 of you fellow 30 Rock watchers).
Woods Sixth Title at Bay Hill Scores Highest Event Rating in 7 Years & 23% Increase Over Last Year
NEW YORK – March 30, 2009 - NBC Sports' final round coverage of the Arnold Palmer Invitational yesterday (2:30-8 p.m. ET), which stretched into primetime, earned the best overnight rating for a golf event since the 2008 U.S. Open and the highest for any PGA TOUR event (excludes major championships) in more than two years (Jan. 28, 2007, Buick Invitational) according to Nielsen Media Research. The 4.9 overnight rating and 10 share was the best for the final round of Bay Hill in seven years (2002 - 5.7/11, Woods victory) and an increase of 23 percent over last year (4.0/9) which Woods also won with a birdie putt on the final hole.
The rating peaked at a 7.8/13 from 7:30-8 p.m. ET as Tiger Woods secured the one-shot victory with a birdie putt on the 18th hole as the sun was setting, his sixth Bay Hill title and first since last year’s historic U.S. Open victory.
The Bay Hill rating outperformed two of last year’s major championships: 48 percent higher than the final round of the British Open (3.3) and 75 percent greater than the final round of the PGA Championship (2.8).
Saturday’s third round coverage on NBC delivered a 2.7/6, 17% higher than last year (2.3/6).
Top metered markets for Sunday’s final round coverage of the Arnold Palmer Invitational on NBC are as follows:
1. Fort Myers, 11.6/20
2. Orlando, 10.6/20
3. West Palm Beach, 8.8/15
4. Tampa, 7.6/15
5. Providence, 7.4/12
6. Buffalo, 7.1/13
7 Milwaukee, 6.9/13
T8. Minneapolis, 6.4/14
T8. Baltimore, 6.4/11
10. Cleveland, 6.1/11
Dan Bickley talks to Christina Kim about how Papago held its own in hosting the LPGA without the usual bells and whistles.
Yes, we're starting the Masters coverage early here, with all due respect to this week's first ladies major, the Nabisco. After lengthy discussions with my staff, it was determined that most of the site content and daily quotes will be Masters or Augusta related. Therefore I made the executive decision to subject you to Masters green with hints of red and yellow.
I'll be posting more about what's coming up tournament week, but expect daily live blogging using CoverItLive's interactive format, daily clippings from the five newspapers remaining, and everything else you need to know to make your pool picks get you through what has the makings of an exciting week. In the mean time, notice the sidebar links to just some of the major media and official sites. More to come!
And to get us going, check out Will Hersey's short piece on why he loves Butler Cabin. I love it for slightly different reasons.
Overcoming absurdly slow playing partners, too much sand raked into the bunker faces, really dated looking pitch out rough, pesky grain on nearly shot according to Johnny and Arnold, wind, rain and a grueling course setup, Tiger Woods captured his sixth Arnold Palmer Annuity Invitational to the relief of NBC executives who normally would have shipped the delayed finish off to the Golf Channel if it weren't for Tiger contending gambled and kept the final round coverage on in east coast prime time.
ESPN.com featured Phelan Ebenhack's AP photo as well as this video of the putt. Doug Ferguson reports on the win, the third Tiger has secured on Bay Hill's 18th green.
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
