NBC Promising "Most Live Coverage Ever" For The Open

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140 hours of The Open...night owls rejoice!

For Immediate Release:

NBC SPORTS TO DELIVER MOST LIVE COVERAGE EVER FOR A MAJOR AT THE 145TH OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP, JULY 14-17

From First Tee Shot to Final Putt, NBC Sports’ Live Coverage Includes Golf Channel’s First-Ever Telecast of a Men’s Major Championship and Return of The Open to Broadcast Television on NBC

ORLANDO, Fla. (May 17, 2016) – With the most live hours of tournament coverage ever dedicated to one of golf’s major championships, The R&A and NBC Sports Group’s long-term media partnership kicks off its inaugural year with a record number of planned programming hours. The 145TH Open will return to U.S. live broadcast coverage through Golf Channel and NBC’s nearly 140 hours of television coverage from Royal Troon Golf Club throughout the week. It also will represent Golf Channel’s first coverage of a men’s major championship.

“The unprecedented coverage of The Open will provide a unique showcase of the world’s best golfers on an iconic links course, navigating the often dramatic weather conditions and ultimately adding to the history that embodies golf’s original championship,” said Mike McCarley, President, Golf, NBC Sports Group. “We’re honored to provide complete coverage of The Open for the first time on Golf Channel and NBC. Fans will be able to see the opening tee shot through the final putt, culminating with the ‘Champion Golfer of the Year’ raising the Claret Jug.”

“We are delighted to be working with NBC Sports Group and are looking forward to their comprehensive coverage of The 145TH Open,” said Martin Slumbers, Chief Executive of The R&A. “Our fans in the United States will be able to enjoy every shot over the four days of the Championship and will be part of a true celebration of golf at Royal Troon.”

NBC Sports Group Tournament Coverage: 78.5 Total Hours: NBC Sports Group will devote 49.5 live hours of tournament coverage to The 145TH Open from July 14-17, including 14.5 live hours on Golf Channel over each of the first two rounds on Thursday and Friday; 10.5 live hours across Golf Channel and NBC during the third round on Saturday; and 10 live hours across Golf Channel and NBC during the final round on Sunday. In total, NBC Sports Group will provide 78.5 hours, including the live coverage of all four rounds, as well as two highlight specials on NBC from 4-6 p.m. ET on Saturday and Sunday, and encore presentations of each round on Golf Channel. All coverage will be streamed via NBC Sports Live Extra and Golf Live Extra, and additional digital extensions will be announced at a later date.

Golf Channel’s Wraparound News with Golf Central Live From The Open: 59 Total Hours: Golf Channel’s signature news programs, Morning Drive and Golf Central Live From The Open, will provide 31.5 live hours of comprehensive news coverage the week of The Open. Golf Central’s Live From The Open will be onsite throughout the week with 25.5 live hours from Royal Troon, which will be hosting The Open for the ninth time in its history. Morning Drive will kick things off from 11:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. ET before The Open’s first round to lead into live coverage of the opening tee shot. Coverage will be complemented by comprehensive news and highlights via NBC Sports Digital, Golf Channel Digital and social media platforms throughout the week.

Tournament Team: In order to cover this unprecedented coverage of a major championship, Johnny Miller (1976 Open Champion), Nick Faldo (1987, 1990, 1992 Open Champion) and Frank Nobilo will rotate as lead analyst in the 18th tower. In addition, a team of NBC Sports’ analysts will contribute to the nearly 50 hours of coverage, including David Feherty, Peter Jacobson, Gary Koch, Roger Maltbie, Mark Rolfing, Tom Abbott, Notah Begay, Billy Ray Brown, Curt Byrum, and Jerry Foltz. And Dan Hicks, Terry Gannon, Jimmy Roberts, Steve Sands and Todd Lewis will handle announcing and reporting duties.

Women's NCAA: The Unprecedented Accommodation For BYU

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Kevin Casey for Golfweek.com reports on the decision to allow the BYU women to play their third round before the first round of the NCAA Women's Golf Championship due to the school's no-competition-on-Sundays policy.

While it's not Eric Liddell or Sandy Koufax on the sports spectrum, it's still a fascinating situation that has led to some consternation.

“I find it interesting that people are coming up with these scenarios (for us) at NCAAs, and it’s like, ‘How do you know?’ ” Roberts said. “You’ve never seen a team in this situation.”

When it comes to college golf, Roberts is spot on. The situation on-hand has never before come about in either the men’s or women’s game.

BYU has a strict no-competition policy for its student-athletes on Sunday, as the university, affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Provo, Utah, cites the fourth commandment: “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy,” in explaining the no Sunday play. For BYU, Sunday is a day of rest, and, according to its bylaws, the NCAA must accommodate this Sunday exception – even if it means altering an NCAA Championship schedule.

Rory: “Back to a nice traditional U.S. Open, not like we’re playing on the moon this year.”

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From Brian Wacker's GolfDigest.com assessment of the state of Rory McIlroy comes a fun line from the lad after a rough week at The Players, indicating the lingering resentment toward the Chambers Bay setup a year later.

He won’t have to wait long for another crack. McIlroy’s next start comes this week at the Irish Open, followed by the Memorial tournament two weeks later, and then the U.S. Open two weeks after that.

“I’m looking forward to it,” he said of the year’s next major. “Back to a nice traditional U.S. Open, not like we’re playing on the moon this year.”

Mitzvah Files: Less Bermuda Rough At TPC Sawgrass

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Rusticize the place! 

As previously reported, changes are coming to the TPC Sawgrass after The Players. And great news, the clubhouse is getting bigger!

As I write for Golf World, my Sawgrass sources say we will see Bermuda roughs reduced and more sand/pine needle/scrub areas brought closer to the fairways to recapture some of the original Swamp Golf aesthetic.

Longtime readers know I feel a Pinehurst-like restoration to the original Pete Dye vibe would look livelier, more interesting, more environmentally-responsible and more visually intimidating. Done right, it might even justify the price of golf here in the way that Pinehursts's renaissance has restored a singularity to No. 2.

Check out the aerial comparison from 1982 at Golf Course Histories. It speaks for itself.

As difficult as the TPC remains, today's equipment and conditioning means the TPC Sawgrass has been left behind and green speed is one of its last defenses. It's an unfathomable notion given that this course was viewed as too tough when it opened, and the bermuda rough lining the fairways has not instilled much fear.

Jason Day hitting iron-3-wood to the once unreachable 9th? Dustin Johnson launching a 372 yard drive there as well, and too many other instances of players able to bomb and gouge has to be an alarming sight for those insisting the course should not be updated. I will argue until I'm blue in the face that there was not an intentional effort to reverse the low scoring by the tour staff on Saturday, but a strong case can be made that the green speeds we saw are motivated by a desire to keep an immacutely-groomed, scoreable course relevant.

As for the look of the TPC, two-time former Players Champion Steve Elkington noted this on Twitter:

Ultimately, the weird dynamics we saw at TPC Sawgrass boil down to one thing: the fear factor has been lost.

Getting that back won't be easy because of modern driving distance prowess, but at least bringing back some of the rusticity to TPC Sawgrass--and a few back tees--would help for the long term good of The Players.

Russell Knox Offers A Textbook Study In Handling A Nine

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Doug Ferguson on Russell Knox's Saturday 9 and the affable way in which Knox handled the catastrophic 17th hole play.

The good news? He holed an 8-foot putt to make a 9.

''I had no idea what I was going to make,'' Knox said. ''I ended up making an awesome putt for 9. After I was walking through the tunnel (toward the 18th tee) I was like, 'Whoa, that was to avoid a 10.'''

The Scotsman's Tweets were fun:

 

 

 


Here was the massacre, followed below by the brief scare Sunday:

 

Watch the initial reaction Sunday...

 

Players Saturday: Two Hole Locations Changed, Apologies Shared, Move On?

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If you didn't see any of the coverage or believe me from my post yesterday that the PGA Tour rules staff genuinely didn't try to push TPC Sawgrass over the edge, note from Rex Hoggard's report that they changed two Sunday hole locations and expressed their regret.

PGA Tour VP Mark Russell appeared on both Morning Drive with Damon Hack and Todd Lewis on Live From to explain how sickened they were to lose control of the course.

I'm not sure many will believe him given the sense that scoring drove the changes. I certainly understand given my view that the overall push for green speeds is an intentional or subliminal movement in golf to combat the overmatched nature of courses.

Thoughts?

Registered Voters: Spieth Barely Edges Tiger As World's Best

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David Whitley points out that in a poll of over 1200 registered voters by Public Policy Polling, the American public isn't exactly keeping up with the elite golfers.

Whitley writes for the Orlando Sentinel:

"Who do you think is the best golfer in the world?"

Jordan Spieth won with 22 percent of the vote. No argument there as long as we pretend the Masters never happened. But guess who was only one point behind Spieth?

Our old friend Tiger Woods. Yes, the same Tiger Woods who currently resides at No. 515 in the Official World Golf Rankings.

Elephant In The Room Files: Green Speed Push Blows Up Again

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While I never enjoy seeing a course setup go bad--especially when I know how sick the PGA Tour rules staffers and weather forecasters will be following Saturday's TPC Sawgrass putting bloodbath--it's good to have days like this to remind people how close golf courses are taken to the edge in the name of resisting technological advances that no architecture can keep up with.

When Stimpmeter speeds hover in the 12-13 neighborhood, the slightest bit of drop in humidity mixed with little root structure and unexpected wind can send greens that just days before were said to be too soft (but still wickedly fast) into a state of goofiness. We reached a point in the sport where the green is taken up to extreme speeds and allowed to play too prominent of a role at all levels in part because agronomists are so good at what they do. But mostly, it's about, but the professional game having outgrown just about every course on the planet.

As the 2016 Players joined the list of tournaments influenced by a setup gone wild, we are reminded again that the modern golf ball, when hit by the world's best, goes distances not foreseen by designers and therefore is not something manageable by any design under 8000 yards.

The TPC Sawgrass, once a beast, is often overmatched in today's game. It's final defense, short of 5 inch rough and and adding new tees: extreme green speeds that are manageable until they're not.

Unlike every other professional sports league, the PGA Tour will never get in the business of regulating the equipment played at its events to keep courses relevant and green speeds at a sane level. So there is sweet irony in watching yet another position taken with profit margins in mind bubble to the surface at the Tour's marquee event.

The unfortunate takeaway most will have from Saturday's debacle will believe that the tour was angry at the low scoring and did this. But having been around the TPC all week, I didn't encounter one PGA Tour official even the least bit bothered by Jason Day breaking the 36-hole scoring record. This was a greater-than expected change in the weather that took greens so precariously close to the speed edge and turned them silly.

It's funny that a sport which self congratulates itself repeatedly for having more integrity than any other looks the other way when it comes to protecting the integrity of its playing fields, solely in fear of (potentially) costly regulatory fights that also might call into question golf's devotion to the gospel of unfettered capitalism. How is this sad state of affairs any less ridiculous than looking the other way on a doping scandal?

But I digress...

In Brian Wacker's GolfDigest.com round up of player comments, note Justin Rose's comment about the ball gliding over the greens. That's what happens when all moisture has been sucked out of the blades from mowing, rolling, heat, lack of humidity and perhaps some influence from the Precision air units underneath (assuming they were in use). Also note these numbers:

Over the first two days, there were 122 combined three-putts among the 144 players in the field. On Saturday there were 149 three-putts among the 76 players who made the cut, and 15 of those players had at least 34 putts for their round including McIlroy, who had 37.

Rex Hoggard has some eye-opening putting stats as well, and has this from PGA Tour VP of rules and competitions Mark Russell.

“We have done the same thing all week. We have been double cutting these greens and double rolling them and trying to get them firmed up,” said Mark Russell, the Tour’s vice president of rules and competition. “What happened today was just kind of a perfect storm with the weather. We weren't expecting a 20 mph wind all day, and the humidity 30 percent, not a cloud in the sky. And they just, you know, sped up on us.”

But then that doesn’t explain a three-putt percentage of historic proportions?

The Tour average for three-putts in a round is 2.93 percent, and on Thursday and Friday the field hovered around the norm with a 2.08 and 2.67 percent average, respectively. On Saturday that number skyrocketed to 11 percent.

Rory McIlroy had one of the worst days on the green, reports Will Gray at GolfChannel.com.

“I mean, it’s like a U.S. Open out there. I can’t really describe it any other way,” McIlroy said. “I just found I had a really difficult time adjusting to them. I stood up here yesterday and I said it’s amazing how differently the course plays from morning to afternoon, but I didn’t expect it to be like that out there this afternoon. That was borderline unfair on a few holes.”

McIlroy opened his round with a birdie, but he realized conditions had changed when his 85-foot eagle attempt on No. 2 raced nearly 18 feet past the hole. It led to the first of five three-putts on the day, including three such instances in a four-hole stretch on Nos. 10-13 that dropped him off the first page of the leaderboard.

Jim McCabe says the Shinnecock word came up a lot after the round.

“A lot of caddies kept asking, ‘What’s this remind you of?’ ” said James Edmondson, the caddie for Ryan Palmer. “Everyone said, ‘Shinnecock.’ ”

And when his back-nine 42 and round of 79 was complete, Ian Poulter blurted out “TPC Shinnecock,” only to catch himself and shake his head.
“I’ll refrain from saying anything,” Poulter declared, and wisely he moved to the autograph area and signed for a long line of youngsters.

ESPN.com's Bob Harig says players were not buying the tour's stance on greens getting the same treatment as the previous days. Technically that is true with one extra rolling between the conclusion of round two and the start of round three.

"It was a massive change -- it wasn't very subtle,'' Scott said.

"That was borderline unfair on a few holes,'' Rory McIlroy said.

"I felt like I was putting on dance floors out there,'' Billy Horschel said.

"It was crazy tough,'' Matsuyama said.

There were just three rounds Saturday in the 60s and only six under par. There were seven in the 80s. The 76 players in the field combined for 149 three-putts or worse -- a record for the course. There were 86 double-bogeys or worse.

Sergio's six-putt should not be watched by young children...

 

Spieth: "I’m beating myself up a little bit too much on the golf course and it’s affecting me"

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Jim McCabe at Golfweek.com on the 2016 Players Championship missed cut by Jordan Spieth, who was his usual brutally honest self.

“I just think that, you know, I’m beating myself up a little bit too much on the golf course and it’s affecting me and I realize that now,” Spieth said after 72-71 produced his second missed cut in 10 tournaments this season.

Brian Wacker noted this for GolfDigest.com.

Spieth took 59 putts over two days, twice three-putting, and ranked 122nd in strokes gained putting.

It would be easy to pin the poor performance as a Masters hangover but the 22-year-old world No. 3 insists that’s not the case.