SI: "Behind the scenes with CBS on Sergio Garcia's winning putt"

SI's Richard Deitsch gives us a behind the scenes look at how CBS captured Sergio Garcia's winning moment at the 2017 Masters. It's easy to forget the role television production plays when a moment like Sergio's comes off so seamlessly, particularly given the difficulty of covering golf courses.

Add in Augusta National's 18th hole limitations--no crane, blimps, helpful topography--and covering the moment becomes a huge challenge. Oddly, the best shot may have been the view from down the fairway with Sergio and putting surface just a blip amidst the patrons (screen captured).

Deitsch writes:

Milton said during the live coverage of Garcia’s winning putt, he went through a familiar sequence for a golf director: First, you go wide, then you go tight. The goal is to capture every reaction you can from the scene.

“I was lucky in the sense that Sergio gave those primal yells after the putt went in,” said Milton, who also serves as the lead director for SEC football on CBS. “Then he composed himself and we went wide, so you could see all the crowd celebrating. Then he composed himself to shake Justin Rose’s hand. We stayed on Sergio for quite awhile because I did not want to miss any emotion coming from him after trying to win this thing for 20 years.”

Milton said the CBS production compound at the Masters (which sits next to the Par-3 course) had roughly 12 staffers in the main control room working the final holes. There was also an adjacent room with 12 people working on graphics. As the final shot was made, Barrow and Rikhoff were filtering the best replays. Rikhoff watches all the isolation shots directed by Milton and notes what will work for replay; Barrow decides in what order the replays will sequence to create narrative.

The last minute or so of this CBS highlight reel captures the incredible coverage work described in Deitsch's story. Also, seeing these clips again makes you realize (A) how much of a slope the 16th hole cup is on (B) how long Rose's putt was on 17 for par, (C) how close Rose's in-regulation putt on 18 was to going in, and (D) how great Sergio's final putt was both in execution and in ending the Masters on a high note.

"García’s Masters triumph reveals the secret of sportsmanship"

The Guardian's Andrew Anthony nails down what was so satisfying about Sergio Garcia's Masters playoff win over Justin Rose.

He writes:

He could have started his familiar antics at that stage, snapping at his caddie, grumbling at the crowd, chucking clubs, remonstrating with the heavens, demonstrating that he was, as Padraig Harrington has said, “a very sore loser”.

But instead he accepted the possibility of defeat, made his peace with it, and realised life would go happily on if his Ryder Cup mate Rose emerged the winner. Suddenly the lavishly talented man who wilted against the iron character of Tiger Woods, and twice cracked as the grittier Harrington snatched major victories from his grasp, looked comfortable with – even happy for – his opponent. And finally García won.

Gamesmanship stems from a desire to avoid defeat at any cost. The secret of sportsmanship is that learning how to lose can also teach you how to win.

Market Watch: "How much longer can golf survive?"

It's been a while since we've had a golf-is-dead piece to consider and as much as it pains me to say it, this one from Jason Notte at Market Watch scores a few points. Thanks to reader Blake for sending and sharing some thoughts on how, unfortunately this resonates with him as a 30-year-old golfer.

Looking at The Masters and other recent data Notte notes the many issues golf faces are related to demographics and a change in what people want to watch.

In 2014, Nielsen noted that 63% of the PGA’s television audience was over the age of 55. Some 87% of that audience was white, while only 12% was younger than 35. By comparison, only 25% of the National Basketball Association’s audience is 55 or older, 47% is younger than 35, and 57% is nonwhite.

The LPGA’s key demographic isn’t all that different from that of its male counterparts. Both the PGA and LPGA have a viewership that’s about 63% male. Roughly 64% of the LPGA’s audience is 30 or older, and 84% is white.

Golf’s core audience is literally dying, and it’s affecting golf far beyond its television broadcasts.

This conclusion will sting for many of us, and while an exaggeration, serves as a good wake-up call to keep up the current dialogue about livening up the game and how it is presented on television.

There is no second coming of Tiger Woods. There is no burgeoning generation of children longing to play a four-hour game filled with nitpicky, self-policing rules. There is no city in the U.S. willing to trade density and tax ratables for divots and rough. If golf has little to offer this country but televised shots of manicured greens and galleries and living rooms of cranky, aging diehards, then it should prepare to take a seat beside horse racing among U.S. sports antiques.

My main quibble with these types of stories and all other stories: golf has been around for centuries and will continue to be because it's a sound, interesting and unusual sport that can be enjoyed by all age groups.

The current cycle we are in is certainly not a positive one given that millennials, obsessed with their phones or other activities that do not extend their stay by more than ninety minutes, are the center of the business world's attention. So even though the folks with the buying power haven't cooled to the sport, the young but small audience is given too much weight in evaluating the viability of golf as a pastime.

Golf has been slow to keep its facilities up-to-date and this generation, which has high standards when it comes to food, beverage and experience, is understandably not enthused by golf's experience. There has been a shocking lack of imagination in offering promotions, incorporating technology or simply adjusting to basic societal shifts by golf facilities.

Golf's various tours and governing bodies are increasingly aware of these issues and making strides. Yet remain stubborn about addressing issues that will return the sport's ideal scale and pacing. Worse, there is often an air of desperation around initiatives that is noticed by those on the outside looking in.

And while golf on television has never been a young person's game or one that will attract mass audiences,  the right amount of broadcast modernization and incorporation of technology can at least keep viewers more engaged while serving players and sponsors better.

The question, however, remains: are all of these efforts just a bit too late?

Urgent Rory-Wedding Music Plea: Not Coldplay!

I have no problem admitting I own Coldplay music and certainly understand, barring a reunion of Rory buds One Direction, they would be a huge get for the McIlroy-Stoll nuptials.

Ivan Little details those wedding plans for the Belfast Telegraph, set for Saturday at the beautiful Ashford Castle.

The Sun is reporting that Coldplay is the musical choice and while I have every reason to doubt that publication, I'm going to give them the benefit and assume the bride and groom will be serenaded by Yellow, Clocks and, gulp, Viva La Vida.

Rory you've had him perform at your foundation dinner. Furthermore, Have I Told You Lately that Someone Like You is moving Into The Mystic with this marriage, living on the Bright Side of The Road and most of all, marrying a Brown-Eyed Girl? So for this Wild Night of Crazy Love, there is only one man for this wedding: Van Morrison.

I know, the kids will wonder who that cranky old geezer is cranking out the tunes, but you know Van and the band can still bring it.

If nothing else, my suggestion was better than Feinstein's. (He apparently thinks you are marrying the daughter of a Long Island hedge fund billionaire.)

Tiger Unveils New "Public Course" Design As Only He Could

I'm trying to be positive, and like many, struggling to decide how much energy to give Tiger these days given the dramatics and public indifference (noted by John Strege based in part on book sales for the 1997 Masters book). But he's still Tiger and I was still excited when he Tweeted last week about a public course design unveiling.

Most of us were hoping this meant the funds had been raised for the Chicago re-imagination project near the Obama library, but it turns out this was, as Andy Johnson at FriedEgg.co predicted a few days ago, another course at Big Cedar Lodge for Johnny Morris.

Open to the public yes, but calling it a public course with an unspecified green fee is a tad ambitious.

Jim Connell reports that Woods is also doing a par-3 course as he has at several of his projects and that Payne's Valley, named in tribute to Springfield's late Payne Stewart, is to be built on the site of Murder Rock Golf Club, a John Daly course "that has been closed since it was purchased by Morris in October 2013."

Joe Passov's Golf.com account includes more details and the course routing plan.

Sporting the makings of a beard and cargo pants that earned Twitter...scorn...Woods tried to hit a green without much apparent warm up and donated a ball to the water.

That, and Woods's comments on his back, seemed to overshadow the golf course opening proceedings. Oh and the cargos.

Ko's Caddie Still Worked One More Week Even After He Was Fired

Caddie-player foibles are one thing, but while we'd like to laugh at Lydia Ko trying to keep her caddies-fired pace up with her LPGA win total, the latest details suggest this is not a safe working environment.

Tim Rosaforte reports for Golf World on Gary Matthews' firing, which came before he guided Ko to a second place finish in the Lotte Championship.

"In all honesty, there is no communication in the whole camp. You never know anything or are told anything," said Matthews. "The agent [Michael Yim of IMG] called me on the Monday after Palm Springs and said, 'She needed a change, we’re going with somebody else, but you can caddie in Hawaii.'

"I’m like well, never in 19 years have I been fired, and I’m still working for the person. What was so strange for me, we worked unbelievably well in Hawaii, the communication and everything was just phenomenal."

Until it wasn't. Wow.

John Feinstein and I considered the Ko caddy situation on today's Golf Central:

USA Walker Cup To No Longer Require Two Mid-Ams

While there was a backlash from some over-25-year-olds, the USGA's abandonment of two automatic mid-amateur Walker Cup team slots will actually turn out to be a positive for the mid-am world. Bear with me geezers before you angrily comment.

Jim Nugent revealed in Global Golf Post that the automatic two-spots--another lousy idea from the lousy Tom O'Toole USGA days--will be abandoned.

There is some irony in yet another impeccably-timed USGA move (given that 26-year-old Stewart Hagestad was low amateur at the Masters and may be America's top amateur right now).

Given the depleted college ranks this year, the 2017 team has a chance to see at least two mid-ams without the requirement. Or maybe more.

While the concept was probably well-intentioned it should never have been enacted and remained an unwritten rule. That didn't stop some mid-ams from complaining. From Ryan Lavner's GolfChannel.com  assessment:

That prompted passionate responses on social media from 2015 Walker Cupper Scott Harvey, who tweeted that it was “very, very sad” for mid-ams, and fellow mid-am Patrick Christovich, who said that the “USGA is probably a big fan of the One-and-done college basketball rule too…Support the ‘Real Amateurs’ and the game will grow.”

While I get that reaction, ultimately the requirement suggested that mid-ams needed help making the team. But without that crutch the mid-amateurs who make the team will actually receive even more respect. They will stand out less as recipients of a special exemption, and fit in more naturally as U.S. Walker Cup team members.

Wesley Bryan's Impressive Rise Up The World Rankings

Kyle Porter at CBSSports.com does a nice job laying out Wesley Bryan's historic rise to No. 37 in the Official World Golf Rankings after his win at the RBC Heritage.

One month ago, Bryan was ranked No. 72. Three months ago, he was No. 134. One year ago, he was No. 364. At the beginning of February 2016, he was No. 1,127.

Right now, the No. 1,127 golfer in the world is a guy by the name of Daehyun Kim. So how does one go from outside the top 1,100 in the world to the No. 37 golfer who will now be invited to all the WGCs, the Players Championship and all the majors?

Great stuff here on Bryan's move from outside the top 1000...

Amazing ascendancy for @wesleybryangolf! In 57 weeks moves from below 1000th in the #OWGR into the top40. @RBC_Heritage pic.twitter.com/Kz9oPJp9iW

— Nosferatu (@VC606) April 16, 2017

It's Come To This: Now College Golf Coaches Have To Pretend They Are Happy About Early Defections

Spring means flowers, the Easter bunny and college basketball coaches pretending to be happy for not-ready-for-primetime freshmen declaring for the NBA draft. And now that absurd fake joy, which in no way helps a coach put forward his best lineup, must apparently be expressed in college golf.

Colorado has its best hopes of reaching the NCAA Men's Championship since 2012 but with a Web.com Tour exemption in front of him, Senior Jeremy Paul is leaving school a few months early, Golfweek's Kevin Casey reports.

“Jeremy has determined turning pro at this time is in the best interest for his budding professional golf career,” Colorado head coach Roy Edwards said in a release. “We respect his decision. He has a tremendous future in front of him.”

No you probably don't but we understand that if you were to say what you really think, some recruit will think you are not going to be the ideal place to prep for the PGA Tour. Let the dreadful cycle begin!

PGA Of America "Divesting" St. Lucie Public Course, PGA Learning Center

In a letter to PGA Golf Club members, president Paul Levy announced the planned sale of the organization-owned St. Lucie Trail Golf Club and PGA Learning Center.

The PGA is retaining ownership of the rest of the PGA Golf Club facility in Port St. Lucie.

The letter to members of PGA Golf Club:

Attention buyers: St. Lucie gets solid reviews on GolfAdvisor.com.

More disconcerting, besides the sale of a public golf course at a time the PGA of America is so focused on growing the game, is the sale of the PGA Learning Center so close to their headquarters. Perhaps there is another element in the equation, but the "optics" are not great.

Lexi Fallout: Golf's Five Families Convene At Augusta...

"How did things ever get so far?"

"This Lexi business is going to destroy us for years go come."

I'm paraphrasing of course, but it's fun to imagine the professional tours--which let their players play slow, mark their golf balls constantly (unless it's a backboard for a playing partners)--whining about the Rules of Golf not having addressed issues related to HD and DVR's.

But as Jaime Diaz reported in Golf World, the Corleonie's, Barzini's and Tattaglia's of golf got together to bark at each other about Lexi Thompson's penalty at the ANA Inspiration.

There were intense exchanges in which tour leaders, worried about the perception of their products, argued that rules changes were needed posthaste to stop situations that fans and even players found unfair and nonsensical. The most aggrieved party was the LPGA, and its commissioner Mike Whan, who had publicly called the Thompson ruling “embarrassing.”

“I understand Mike’s perspective,” USGA executive director Mike Davis said. “This was hard on Lexi Thompson, and hard on Mike Whan. But it was not bad for the game, because this is exactly the kind of dialogue that good change comes out of.”

Something tells me that did not give Commissioner Whan a warm, fuzzy feeling.

And this is why we still have cause for concern, just as we did in the days after the Lexi situation.

Golf’s leaders hope that the public will come to regard the rules as better reflections of common sense and fairness. But ultimately, it’s unavoidable that they will be applied on a case-by-case basis.

In Thompson’s case, even under a new standard of intent and reasonable judgment, it’s not clear that she would have not been penalized. As the video shows, Thompson missed replacing on the correct spot by about half a ball. Half a ball doesn’t seem like a lot, but especially on a short putt, it constitutes a pretty bad mark.

Closed circuit cameras caught the meeting:

Wesley Bryan Wins The RBC Heritage!

Completing an incredible run from college golfer to trick shot artist to reality show contestant to multi-stage Q-School grad to Web.com Tour graduate, Wesley Bryan posted a 67 to win the 2017 RBC Heritage at Harbour Town.

Kevin Casey with the full Golfweek.com roundup of the Heritage, with a partial embed of Wesley's interview with CBS's Jim Nantz and Nick Faldo.

Bryan struggled at first in his rookie 2016-17 season on the PGA Tour, missing four straight cuts at one point and not posting a finish better than T-42 in his first eight starts of the season. Bryan then caught fire, though, going T4-T4-T7 in February and March. A 69th and T-62 followed, but now there’s a PGA Tour win in the books.

Statistically it was an odd week for Bryan, as he scrambled his brains out, yet Strokes Gained tells us he passed his peers with great approach play.

The PGA Tour Entertainment highlights:

Update on 2017-04-17 03:31 by Geoff

**And because he's risen through the ranks or he's just a cool guy, Wesley took questions on Facebook Live en route home. In his Heritage tartan.

Ko Fires Another Caddie, This Time After 2nd Place Finish

Giving Michelle Wie a strong run for player with a penchant for firing luggage handlers, Lydia Ko is splitting with bagman Gary Matthews after just nine events.

More impressively, after Ko had her best start of 2017, finishing second in this weekend's Lotte Championship.

Beth Ann Nichols reports for Golfweek.

And I think I speak for us all in wishing the next caddie the best of luck later his month when Ko returns at the Volunteers of America Texas Shootout.

The move by the world No. 1 also comes not long after Ko moved from instructor David Leadbetter to Gary Gilchrist, and from Callaway to PXG.

Meanwhile Cristie Kerr picked up win number 19 in the Lotte.