This Week In Golf Channel Ratings: Thanksgiving Is For Golf Films!

Son of the Bronx makes his usual great contribution to charitable causes (like this blog) and to Tylenol sales in greater Ponte Vedra Beach, posting Golf Channel's ratings from November 24-December 1st 2013.

And in another reminder for PGA Tour players who get chippy with courtesy car drivers all because they labor under the delusion that what they do is important and watched by millions, look no further than another week of steady Big Break ratings and even some healthy numbers for re-runs of October's World Long Drive Championship.

More eye-opening is the second place finish by a movie re-run on Thanksgiving morning when people were clearly so desperate to avoid talking to family that they watched a golf-themed film (.1, 156,000). The film drew a bigger number than all but one round of the PGA Tour's "wraparound" events this fall.

The Wednesday-Saturday night airings of the Australian Open (listed as "Misc. Tournament") also did well, with Saturday's finale drawing 122,000 viewers for the live final round telecast, with more via the subsequent re-airing. And all a smidgen of the rights fees Golf Channel pays for lesser performing PGA Tour events!

Euro Tour Alternate Shoots 66 Carrying Own Bag, And That's The Least Bizarre Thing About The Hong Kong Open's First Round

Now, I know a lot of you are not too impressed that a member of the white belt set posted a 66 in the Hong Kong Open lugging his bulky tour bag. But the circumstances around Lam Chih Bing's 66 were rather extraordinary and will not go down as the finest in European Tour operations history.

Alvin Sallay of the South China Morning Post story merely touches on the oddity of Bing's round, which left him in a tie for third, two shots behind David Higgins.

Higgins leads by one from Italy's Andrea Pavan and by two shots from a bunch of seven players, including Singaporean Lam Chih Bing, who was second on the reserve list, but found himself suddenly in the thick of the action after Finland's Joonas Granberg was disqualified for not making his tee-off time after his caddie had gone to the wrong tee.

Lam still might not have made it if not for his friend Anthony Kang, the first alternate, deciding to caddy for Unho Park thinking that no place would open up. All this added to the surreal surroundings on the opening day.

But GolfCentralDaily's Donal Hughes (Twitter: golfcentraldoc) reports that the situation was far more bizarre, with Joonas Granberg the victim of a DQ and Jeppe Huldahl trying to replace Granberg before getting stopped from starting because he's not an Asian Tour member, opening the door for Lam.

It kicked off when Joonas Granberg was left standing on his first tee box, the 11th, about to start.  His caddie had gone to another tee (presumably the first or tenth) with his clubs, leaving Granberg holding his putter and panicking as the clock ticked up to then past the official tee off time.  With several referees scrambling about, Granberg’s caddie eventually made it to the tee, three minutes too late.  The luckless Fin was summarily disqualified and sent on the long journey home.  “It was like something out of a nightmare,” the fellow player who witnessed the entire incident said.

Had Granberg had his wits about him, he could have teed off using his putter, but such was the calamitous scene, the moment passed.  Understandably he took his frustration out on his golf bag before leaving the tee.

And then the fun began!

Then first reserve Jeppe Huldahl is called to the tee, gets there and is about to drive off when he is stopped mid swing and told to step aside.  The Dane turns around in shock as he too is ushered off the tee and told the first reserve must come from the Asian Tour.

With that player, Chih Bin LAM, nowhere to be found, officials scurry off to find him and the other two players drive off.  Eventually LAM is found and runs onto the tee in a sweat carrying his own bag.   He smashes one away then runs down the fairway to catch up with his playing partners who were preparing to hit their second shots.

And a good time was had by all!

Update on 2013-12-05 16:35 by Geoff

**Here's a great European Tour video interview with Malaysian Open winner-turned caddie Anthony Kang and Bin Chih Lam, talking about the "debacle" with all smiles! Lam revealed that on top of carrying his bag, he had only old balls in his bag and no yardage book. And still shot 66!

Viewer Discretion Warning: Two 19th Hole Episodes This Week

Not one, but two all-new Grey Goose 19th Holes air Thursday and Friday nights. They feature former USGA Executive Director David Fay, author John Feinstein and yours truly all gracefully refereed by Golf Channel's Steve Sands.

Topics will cover the incredible 2013 season's best players, favorite moments, best rounds, and of course plenty of commentary about Tiger, Rory, Phil and others.

The first show airs Thursday, December 5th and the second show on Friday, December 6th at 8:30 PT, 11:30 PM ET.

Earlier this year, the trio debated Bethpage as a Ryder Cup venue back in August before it became official. A similar discussion this time around will include places we'd like to see golf return to ala Merion and The National Golf Links. 

Hope you'll tune in!

Video: Top 10 PGA Tour Moments Of 2013

Like the rest of the viewing public, it's great to see that PGA Tour Entertainment ignored the wrap-around schedule flop and chose to use the traditional end the season to put together the top 10 moments of the 2013 season.

Not surprisingly, the forgettable "calendar year" events didn't make the list because there were just too many great moments from the real calendary year to savor.

Henrik Stenson's FedExCup win didn't really fit into this group, but people do need to keep their jobs and I get that. But pretty much everything else here from Sergio's tree climbing to Patrick Reed's win to Tiger's umpteenth win at Firestone to Phil and Adam's unforgettable major triumphs, it's all here in a nice tight package: