For Your Consideration: Bryson DeChambeau's "Quarantine"

I’m not particularly sure why Bryson DeChambeau chose Day One of the PGA Tour’s return to drop his take on quarantining in the COVID-19 era. But he did. While the length, caused by 13 minutes or so of moody filler, might make you hate “Quarantine”. I see it as a profound insight into the life of a 2020 professional golfer.

Whether it’s the bold decision to convert the garage into a gym, the 12 pieces of bacon for one man in one sitting, the convertible Bentley offering a needed respite from the Fox News viewing at home, or countless other bizarre moments, I promise you will thank me. Sure, it’s 15 minutes you’ll never get back but come on, how often do you get to see an Instagram video in all its almost-Terence Malick self-indulgence? With a side of Bobby Joe Grooves stuffing?

Or you can just read Sean Zak’s highlights here at Golf.com.

Or read about his body work as reported by Rex Hoggard following DeChambeau’s opening 65 (T7).

But live a little! Plus, be thankful you are not Bryson’s next home architect. It already has a name. And he’s wanting to see the limestone in person. And…oh just watch.

View this post on Instagram

Started quarantine feeling a little lost but slowly found ways to connect with things I haven't done in a while, refocused on new business ventures and found a renewed appreciation for the game and fitness. Ready to make the most of this week and what's to come on tour! The wait is over 💪🏼

A post shared by Bryson DeChambeau (@brysondechambeau) on Jun 11, 2020 at 5:21am PDT

"PGA Tour players already refusing to wear microphones are missing multiple points"

As the PGA Tour players grapple with viewers hearing their conversations, players were asked about efforts to enhance what we eavesdrop on. Reportedly, Rickie Fowler and Graeme McDowell have volunteered this week, but several other top players want no part of wearing a microphone. And the reasons seem to not have anything to do with the actual equipment, but the “content” potentially overheard.

Awful Announcing’s Jay Rigdon considered the comments of Justin Thomas and Jon Rahm in shooting down interest in letting us hear more and rebuts why they are point-missing.

Justin Thomas, it should be clear, plays a spectator sport for a living. And in a world without fans in attendance (a world that might become the new normal, for the foreseeable future), any way to remove more of a filter between the at-home audience and the action is a good idea. It also rings hollow considering the nature of the game itself; there are no signs or plays for competitors to steal, nor is there much of a strategy that other competitors could find useful for themselves.

There’s also the fact that other sports already do this! Not necessarily with a live microphone that broadcasts can throw to throughout coverage, but NBA, NFL, and MLB players routinely wear microphones that networks use for quick replay looks or for edited packages, even as the game progresses. Just as a random example, David Ross was mic’d up during Game 7 of the 2016 World Series and still managed to perform just fine, but Justin Thomas thinks that Saturday at the Charles Schwab Challenge is a stage too important for that kind of distraction.

This ultimately seems to be the divide here: players view the intrusion as harming the sanctity of events that fans do not regard with the same respect.

Schwab Challenge Tourney Director Predicts Huge TV Ratings For Colonial Return

Art Stricklin reports this bold prediction for ratings this week.

Fifteen of the top 20 players in the world are in the field, including all of the top five. Earlier in the week, Colonial tournament director Michael Tothe said he expects huge TV ratings.

“It’s won’t be the best ever [in golf], because we don’t have Tiger in the field and he drives everything, but I think we’ll do a 6.0 or higher,” Tothe said, referring to the Nielson [sp] ratings. “If we had Tiger we could do a 10.”

In the last decade, Colonial has never drawn better than a 2.0 rating.

6’s and 10’s would put the event in very elite ratings company.

Coverage windows and other broadcast details are here.

No COVID-19 Cases At Colonial, But Four Test Positive Within Korn Ferry Tour

Commissioner Jay Monahan told assembled media at Colonial that the players and caddies on site all tested negative for the COVID-19 virus. However, as players so far displayed signs of not taking all precautions as meticulously presented by the PGA Tour, one player and three caddies tested positive at home and will not be part of this week’s Korn Ferry Tour return.

Though Hoggard says it was “just” four results, the number highlights how pro golfers and those handling their golf course luggage are not immune.

One positive test was from a player and three were from caddies. All four of the positive results were from tests players and caddies took before traveling to the tournament city.

The Tour also administered 487 in-market tests at the Charles Schwab Challenge with no positive results. At the Korn Ferry Tour event, there were 407 in-market tests with no positive results.

Also noteworthy and important: the PGA Tour’s transparency in revealing numbers of tests and the positives.

The news is also vital since after the Tuesday practice round signs were not exactly encouraging on the caution/distancing front. Not coincidentally, the PGA Tour sent out this text to players, as reported by ESPN.com’s Michael Collins:

Spoke to a PGA Tour player last night who told me it was business as usual yesterday on the golf course. This morning the tour sent this out text: https://t.co/2thf0jWDdv pic.twitter.com/JcoTZrSDzr

— Michael Collins (@ESPNCaddie) June 10, 2020

Ryder Cup Debate Dominates Early "Return To Golf" Week Chatter

The PGA Tour’s “Return to Golf” at Colonial features influencer-enhanced global live content executions, predictions of record-shattering ratings and all-star field. Yet on the eve of coming back after three months of hiatus, the Ryder Cup remained a a bigger topic in press conferences.

While threatening to becoming as tedious as Major League Baseball’s bickering, the debate over a Ryder Cup with or without fans continued the Charles Schwab Challenge. Team USA Captain Steve Stricker suggested a compromise might make all sides happy.

From Rex Hoggard’s GolfChannel.com report.

Although no decision has been made on that front, Stricker was confident a compromise could be reached, pointing out that if Wisconsin were to allow 50-percent occupancy, that would be good enough for players.

Where that falls with two-time Ryder Cupper Brooks Koepka is not clear. The World No. 2 reiterated his belief that money is the only reason the matches would be contested without fans, and his view that players will not play if fans are not there, fist pumps would not be forthcoming.

From Brian Wacker’s GolfDigest.com item:

“If we’re not playing in front of fans, it’s just like us playing a game in Florida,” Koepka said. “If there's no fans out there you're not going to see guys fist pumping and that passion behind it.

“The Ryder Cup is a true sporting event. It’s different than any other golf tournament we play. It’s a true sporting event, and I think if we can have fans, that’s perfect, and if we can't, it just seems kind of like an exhibition—which it kind of already is. I just don’t want to play it without fans.”

Cohesion: McIlroy Suggests More Points Chasing Across Tours

Things I have not heard while the game has been on a COVID-19 break:

“When does the FedExCup chase start again?”

Another: “who is leading the Race to Dubai?”

And you’ll be shocked to learn no one has asked what a late fall finish for the LPGA means for the Race to the CME Globe. But I don’t get out much.

Yet Rory McIlroy mentioned the possibility of tour’s having more “cohesion” post pandemic and possibly leading to a streamlining. It just wasn’t quite the way that will put a many fans in seats unless he thinks this will consolidate schedules and bring top players together more (theoretically it could).

From Doug Ferguson’s AP story:

McIlroy had an idea, just not a solution.

''Whether it's European Tour events offering FedEx Cup points and some PGA Tour events offering Race to Dubai points, I don't know,'' he said. ''But just a little bit more cohesion, and then I think trying to figure out the schedule going forward this year.''

''The major bodies, they're thinking about one or two weeks a year,'' he said. ''And I think speaking to the PGA Tour, speaking to the European Tour, having everyone together and trying to figure this out has definitely opened some people's eyes to what actually goes on and how many moving parts there is. So I think the more that all these bodies can sort of work together for the greater good of game can only be a good thing.''

Well on the latter point, he is certainly correct.

And Then There Were Six: U.S. Increases Captain's Picks Due To Shortened Schedule

Team USA Points as of June 10, 2020

Certainly the rules and norms have changed in 2020 and questions remain if there will even be a Ryder Cup. Still, it’s hard to imagine why the change to six captain’s picks announced Wednesday prior to the PGA Tour’s restart was really necessary just looking at the current standings. Unless there is something we don’t know, such as some players signaling an unwillingness to play much due to the pandemic? Only great task force minds will know.

Anyway, from Bob Harig’s ESPN.com story:

"With all the various changes to the 2020 schedule, it quickly became apparent that we would need to amend our selection criteria," Stricker said Wednesday in a news release. "After many deliberate discussions, we collectively agreed that a smaller sampling of 2020 events -- including just one major championship -- would justify a one-week extension of the qualification window and an increase in the number of captain's selections from four to six.

Expectations? Who Knows Says Rahm At Quiet Colonial

Lots of good stuff from Kevin Robbins who is covering the Charles Schwab Challenge for GolfDigest.com, including noting the bizarre quiet across Colonial and this from Jon Rahm

“Expectations?” asked Rahm. “Who knows?”

Rahm has never played in a professional golf tournament that looks like a Sunday skins game. He actually hasn’t even played golf in seven weeks, he said, so the matter of expectations isn’t only about what Colonial will look like, or sound like, when the shots matter Thursday morning.

But it’s what he was thinking at his remote press conference (also a first). “Can you imagine if somebody makes a 30-foot bomb on 18 to win the tournament? Nothing? Crickets?” said Rahm, the 2017 champion at Colonial who, like everyone here, had more questions Tuesday than answers.

Here’s one answer he did have: “It’s going to be a little weird.”

For the punters of the world who are bullish on Rahm this week given his strong run prior to the play stoppage, news of how little he’s playing might have you reconsidering.

Bamberger Reports From Day One Inside The PGA Tour's "Bubble"

Golf.com’s Michael Bamberger is one of the few regular media members on site at the COVID-19 era’s first fan-free tournament and reports on day one.

The “bubble” at the Charles Schwab Challenge has some durability issues from the outset, starting with Bamberger noting not three, but FOUR hotels inside the player bubble, in addition to may stay in rental houses.

As always with Bamberger you’ll want to read the full thing. But there was this:

Some players and caddies, as they gathered on the 1st tee or 10th tee at the start of a practice round, made no effort to keep six feet apart. Likewise, some players and caddies were handing clubs back-and-forth as they normally would. They’re outside, in a hot wind. Nobody has ever confused tournament golf with meal-distribution at a nursing home. Around the clubhouse, in the club’s traditional milling areas, there was one instructor wearing his mask around his left upper arm, like an old-school USGA arm bandage. A few caddies wore them. The players did not.

Pepperdine's Sahith Theegala Wins The Ben Hogan Award

Pepperdine’s first Ben Hogan Award nominee is also the university’s first winner: Sahith Theegala.

Brentley Romine at GolfChannel.com on Theegala taking two of the more prestigious awards in golf and in the season after redshirting due to a wrist injury.

He won twice, at the Alister Mackenzie Invitational and Southwestern Invitational, and added four other top-6 finishes before his college career was cut short because of the coronavirus pandemic. In amateur competition, Theegala won the Sahalee Players Amateur and SCGA Amateur last summer and captured the Australian Master of the Amateurs in December, while also qualifying for match play at the U.S. Amateur and Western Amateur.

Before turning professional last week, Theegala was ranked fifth in the World Amateur Golf Ranking and third in the Scratch Players World Amateur Ranking.

The Chino Hills, California, native headed to Chandler, Arizona, for his pro debut, at the Outlaw Tour’s Lone Tree Classic, where he opened in 62 and eventually tied for third. His first check amounted to $1,850.

He has already accepted a sponsor exemption into next month’s Rocket Mortgage Classic, which will mark his PGA Tour debut as a pro.

Here he is accepting the award:

Here's more reaction from @SRTheegala winning the @BenHoganAward:#WavesUp pic.twitter.com/WIfaOaHaWe

— Pepperdine Men’s Golf (@PeppGolf) June 10, 2020

Not What It Sounds Like: PGA Tour, Twitter Launch "Global Live Content Execution"

After hearing about cumbersome task facing CBS in returning during a pandemic and social unrest, it’s noteworthy that the first events back appear to be anything but a soft re-launch.

Down the road I see the merit here, but I’m not sure anyone really wants to hear from the influencer/presenter/personality sector just yet. But good news, it’s totally optional.

Though I am wondering how, after all those Zoom meetings, someone didn’t squelch the “execution” word. For Immediate Release:

PGA TOUR, Twitter announce innovative fan engagement initiative
TOUR’s return to golf to feature celebrity and athlete commentary across nine different live video streams

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA, AND SAN FRANCISCO – To mark the PGA TOUR’s return to competition at the Charles Schwab Challenge, June 11-14 at Colonial Country Club in Ft. Worth, Texas, the TOUR and Twitter today announced a global live content execution that will be a first-of-its kind for the social media platform.

“Twitter Multicast” will take place on Thursday, June 11, from approximately 1-2:30 pm ET and will showcase athletes, celebrities and other personalities creating their own live, audio/video commentary in conjunction with PGA TOUR LIVE Featured Groups coverage during the first round of the Charles Schwab Challenge. Twitter Multicast will feature the likes of Danny Kanell, Dude Perfect, Darren Rovell, Darius Rucker, Annika Sorenstam, Golden Tate and others.

“The PGA TOUR is proud to be among the first major sports leagues to return to competition,” said Rick Anderson, Chief Media Officer of the PGA TOUR. “With no spectators on site, we want to work harder than ever to connect our fans to the event, across numerous platforms and devices in addition to the PGA TOUR LIVE, Golf Channel and CBS broadcasts. Working with Twitter on this all-new fan engagement initiative is a nod to how important fans are to the TOUR and our players.”

The Charles Schwab Challenge features the top-five ranked players in the world and 17 of the top 20 in the FedExCup Standings. The Twitter Multicast will offer nine versions of the live stream with distribution from more than 20 different Twitter accounts. The video streams will cover pre-game, practice sessions, and the first two holes of competition of players such as Rory McIlroy, Brooks Koepka, Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth. Each stream will carry PGA TOUR LIVE featured groups coverage complemented with live audio/video commentary from commentators who will provide their point of view on the return of the TOUR.

A full list of the guest commentators across nine video streams:
CBS Sports:  Charles Davis (@CFD22) and Danny Kanell (@dannykanell) 
SKY Sports/NBC Sports:     Kevin Pietersen (@KP24) and Conor Moore (@ConorSketches)
Discovery/GOLFTV:    Henni Zuel (@hennizuel) and Eddie Pepperell (@PepperellEddie)
Golf Digest:     Hally Leadbetter (@hallylead) and David Leadbetter (@davidleadbetter)
The Action Network/GolfBet:Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell), Jason Sobel (@JasonSobelTAN) and guest
LPGA: Annika Sorenstam (@ANNIKA59) and Brittany Lincicome (@Brittany1golf)
Celebrity Stream:  Darius Rucker (@dariusrucker) and Golden Tate (@ShowtimeTate)
Celebrity Stream:  Dude Perfect (@DudePerfect)
Celebrity Stream:  Paige Spiranac (@PaigeSpiranac) and Wells Adams (@WellsAdams)

“This first-ever Twitter Multicast will give golf fans a viewing experience they won’t find anywhere else,” says TJ Adeshola, head of U.S. sports partnerships for Twitter. “By adding conversation and commentary from a range of Twitter notables to premium golf content, the Multicast will have something for everyone, regardless if you’re looking for real-time reactions, analysis or just some laughs to pair with live footage from Colonial. This is a prime example of how to create a richer, more customized fan experience through the power of Twitter.” 

The Shack Show With Guest Gil Hanse

Gil Hanse

While the Colonial focus for this week’s Charles Schwab Challenge is rightfully on the “challenge” of putting on the first major COVID-19 era golf tournament, the course is always an integral part of Colonial week.

So I called up Gil Hanse, recently commissioned to do a master plan for the oft-changed classic (you won’t believe the list!). We also chatted about a few other topics I hope you’ll enjoy, plus me questioning his world top 10 published this week on Golf.com.

The Apple podcast option for listening and subscribing, or you can listen here on iHeartRadio:

**Here is one of the lost Colonial golf holes discussed in the show by Gil, courtesy of Mr. Maxwell! ;)

One of the holes lost Gil mentions, #8. https://t.co/e1aLBadAYv pic.twitter.com/dD6wcXdNiR

— Perry Maxwell (@DornickMaxwell) June 9, 2020

CBS Previews The "Return To Golf" At Colonial: More Sound, Multiple Working Locations, Drones & More

My main takeaways from the CBS call previewing this week’s Charles Schwab Challenge from Colonial:

—The crew this week will work like no TV team ever has in stifling heat with a severe reduction in on-site personnel. Drink those fluids!

—This is going to cost more despite keeping a production team working in six locations (including New Zealand!) and announcers in two spots (Colonial and Orlando). CBS Sports President Sean McManus confirmed the crew’s locales and increased cost element late in the call.

—Players still haven’t come around on the idea of us hearing more of what they say, a problem that can (and will) be solved my market forces.

—The “confession cam” as dubbed by Jim Nantz smells like one of those really swell ideas when it started before the committee turned a thoroughbred into a camel.

—Expect a ton of commercial breaks. But “Eye on the Course” will be used more than ever, according to McManus.

—Nantz has a tough task on his hands both in crafting words and the right tone, though seems up to it.

—Crews will work two weeks and then get replaced by a new crew for the next two weeks during a grueling 11-week stretch for CBS.

—Without fans a live drone sounds like it’s going to happen, pending a bit more testing.

Regarding the details, here is Bob Harig at ESPN.com on the confession cam where a camera will be positioned and players will answer a question on a printed card:

The "inside the ropes'' feature also will be experimented with and staged perhaps on the 10th tee or after the 10th hole. Players can answer a quick question to be taped and used later, possibly compiled with other answers.

"I think that can make a big difference,'' Nantz said. "It's a wonderful opportunity for the game. They have a chance to go before a sports-starved nation and create a wider audience. But we need the players' help.''

The primary issue seems to be the idea of asking players to break their concentration.

With 148 players, hot weather, four a robust senior division and a golf course too short for the modern game there should be some good logjams where players will run for the confines of a shaded tent.

Doug Ferguson on how the announce situation will work:

CBS is doing its part of reduce health risks with a production crew that McManus said will be roughly half of what it is for a normal PGA Tour event, with operations such as graphics and video shading in six locations.

Faldo will be at Golf Channel studios in Orlando, Florida, along with Frank Nobilo and Ian Baker-Finch, who usually are in towers on the course. The other talent at Colonial will be Dottie Pepper and Mark Immelman as on-course reporters.

There will be smaller production trucks spread across the compound to promote social distancing. Nantz will call the action all four days, as the same production will be used for the weekday coverage shown on Golf Channel.

Ryan Lavner with this from McManus regarding players and sound.

A few players have already agreed to wear a microphone during this week’s telecast, part of what CBS chairman Sean McManus described as an “aggressive” push with the Tour. With no spectators for the first five events, McManus said there’s “a little bit more of a willingness” among the players to be mic’d up. 

As many have noted, we should naturally get more sound with no crowd noise. Oh, and on the topic of possibly supplementing the sounds, Nantz shot that down as Dave Shedloski reported in his roundup of the call:

• While there will be no fans watching the action at Colonial, the network will eschew piping in any audio enhancements—another way of saying it will not add fake crowd noise or reactions. As Nantz said, appropriately, “The key word is ‘fake.’ As a fan … just take it for what it is, give me the real scene and let me deal with it.”

Here is the full press release, noteworthy in itself as a joint venture of CBS, Golf Channel and PGA Tour.

THE PGA TOUR RETURNS WITH THE CHARLES SCHWAB CHALLENGE ON THURSDAY, JUNE 11-SUNDAY, JUNE 14

WITH 59 HOURS OF LIVE COVERAGE ACROSS CBS, GOLF CHANNEL AND PGA TOUR LIVE 

The 2019-20 PGA TOUR season returns with the Charles Schwab Challenge, beginning on Thursday, June 11 and concluding with final-round coverage on Sunday, June 14, with 59 hours of live coverage across CBS, GOLF Channel and PGA TOUR LIVE.

With live coverage returning, the health and safety of all involved at CBS Sports, NBC Sports Group and PGA TOUR Entertainment is paramount. With that as the top priority, a plan was developed to resume production of live golf, implementing health screenings and safety protocols, utilizing more technology, minimizing travel and reducing the on-site footprint, maximizing social distancing, all while allowing for a best-in-class production.

CBS Sports and GOLF Channel will present a unified, linear broadcast production. The same production and announce team during Saturday and Sunday’s coverage on CBS also will work Thursday and Friday’s coverage on GOLF Channel –  allowing for fewer than half of the normal contingent on site for a typical PGA TOUR production. In addition to Fort Worth, there will be members of the team working remotely from GOLF Channel studios in Orlando, Los Angeles, New York, Stamford (Conn.) and New Zealand. 

Many of the production elements, including the scoring graphics, remote editing, video shading, multiple replay devices – including the new multichannel Hawkeye system – and editorial support, will come from these remote locations. 

In addition to reducing on-site personnel, the plan will be promoting greater social distancing by adding television mobile units to limit the number of people in each one and reconfiguring the trucks to provide more space and physical barriers.

Live television coverage of the Charles Schwab Challenge will begin Thursday at Noon ET on GOLF Channel with an extended live “look-in” to PGA TOUR LIVE featured group streaming coverage. Traditional television coverage will start on Thursday at 4:00 PM, ET on GOLF Channel and conclude on Sunday beginning at 3:00 PM, ET on CBS.

For all four days Jim Nantz will anchor coverage from the 18th Tower at the Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas. Nantz will be joined on site by on-course reportersDottie Pepper and Mark Immelman. Lead Analyst Nick Faldo, Ian Baker-Finch and Frank Nobilo will offer analysis remotely from Orlando and Amanda Balionis will contribute reports from her home. 

The CBS Sports production team will lead coverage utilizing 23 cameras including 10 hard cameras, six mini RF cameras, plus robotic cameras and more. The team will return with its industry-leading Production and Technology elements including:

• Toptracer - Using 3D radar tracking to provide the viewer with a true sense of distance, height, curvature and more. Tracing live tee shots on various holes showing the apex, ball speed, distance and curve will once again be staples of this technology.

• Toptracer RF - Toptracer will outfit two RF mini-cameras in order to provide ball tracking graphics and statistics on a player’s second shot from the fairway anywhere on the course.

• ARL Virtual Eye - Virtual Eye uses Toptracer ball tracing capabilities on tee shots within a 3D Hole Model, while simultaneously showing the golfer hit shots from the tee. Virtual flyover animations also return, giving a second shot perspective once the ball comes to rest including GolfTrax information providing key statistical information for both individual players and holes. 

• SwingVision - CBS’ Emmy Award-winning technical innovation, SwingVision, featuring super-slow action to break down players’ swings and demonstrate shots from various locations on the course to capture the dramatic high speed replays of various shots.

• Live Aerial Coverage

Debuting during coverage will be:

• ARL Virtual Signage – Augmented Reality technology will be utilized to virtually place statistics, player information and sponsorship partners on the course with full trackable camera moves so that the images appear to be actually on the course.

• Hawkeye Replay Source – While Hawkeye has contributed to CBS golf coverage on digital platforms in the past, this event will feature for the first time this replay technology integrated into the linear broadcast, with an operator controlling every camera angle remotely from home and contributing with real time replays from action on the course.

CBS Sports' broadcast coverage also will be available to stream live on the CBS All Access subscription service.

GOLF Channel’s Thursday and Friday coverage also will stream live via GOLF Channel Digital. 

GOLF Channel will carry 10 scheduled hours of live tournament coverage Thursday through Sunday, which will be complemented by live pre and post-game analysis and commentary on Golf Central across all four days. Rich Lerner will host Golf Central coverage and be joined by analyst Brandel Chamblee, with Todd Lewis reporting from on-site at Colonial Country Club. Additionally, GOLF Channel will offer expanded opening round live coverage on Thursday, offering viewers an extended live “look-in” of feature group streaming coverage (Noon – 4:00 PM, ET) via PGA TOUR LIVE on NBC Sports Gold. 

PGA TOUR digital platforms will provide additional coverage to support the Charles Schwab Challenge. PGA TOUR LIVE, the TOUR’s Over-The-Top subscription service, will provide free access to the first round of the Charles Schwab Challenge on Thursday, June 11, with a total of 43 hours of coverage during the week. Coverage on Thursday-Friday runs from 7:45 A.M.–7:00 PM, ET, and from 7:45 AM–6:00 PM, ET Saturday and Sunday, ET. New subscribers can sign up via NBC Sports Gold by visitingwww.pgatourlive.com.

Additionally, the TOUR and Twitter are unveiling “Twitter Multicast,” an innovative live content execution that has never been attempted on the social media platform. Twitter Multicast will take place on Thursday from approximately 1:00-2:30 PM (EST) and will showcase athletes, celebrities and other personalities creating their own live, audio/video commentary in conjunction with PGA TOUR LIVE Featured Groups. Finally, the TOUR will launch an all-new TOURCast (https://www.pgatour.com/tourcast.html#/) product that will allow fans to follow every shot from each group with a beautiful 3D rendering of the golf course and shot trails, available on the PGA TOUR’s mobile apps and website for every event on the PGA TOUR schedule through the FedExCup Playoffs.

THE CHARLES SCHWAB CHALLENGE TELEVISION AND DIGITAL SCHEDULE

Thursday, June 11                 

7:45 AM-7:00 PM, ET   PGA TOUR LIVE

Noon-4:00 P.M. ET        GOLF Channel (PGA TOUR Live)

4:00-7:00 PM, ET           GOLF Channel

Friday, June 12                      

7:45 AM-7:00 PM, ET   PGA TOUR LIVE

4:00-7:00 PM, ET           GOLF Channel

Saturday, June 13                  

7:45 AM-6:00 PM, ET   PGA TOUR LIVE

1:00-3:00 PM, ET           GOLF Channel

3:00-6:00 PM, ET           CBS

Sunday, June 14                     

7:45 AM-6:00 PM, ET   PGA TOUR LIVE

1:00-3:00 PM, ET           GOLF Channel

3:00-6:00 PM, ET           CBS

Nantz: “I consider this to be perhaps the most important moment in our country in my lifetime...We have to get this right."

From the lengthy (but-worth-it) CBS conference call preparing us for what to expect with the return of golf coverage.

Jim Nantz on the moment, as reported by Doug Ferguson:

“I consider this to be perhaps the most important moment in our country in my lifetime,” the 61-year-old Nantz said. “We have to get this right. We can't let this opportunity pass. I hope to express that at the top” of the broadcast.

Sigh....What's Going On At (Still Closed) Yale GC?

Joseph Morelli reports on the suspicious (continued) closure of America’s No. 1 college course due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Given how the university has neglected the course through the years, it’s hardly a surprise to see more odd events taking place. Currently, the course is closed through the end of July.

Worse, Yale’s longtime superintendent and head pro have recently moved on to greener pastures. While this is a first world matter in the most first-world way, Yale GC offers the best course at the most affordable membership in a state not known for great or affordable golf.

Morelli writes:

The Yale Golf Course will remain closed through at least the end of July, according to the course’s website and correspondence sent to the course members last week.

“As COVID-19 guidelines regarding the opening of facilities at Yale University are established, the Yale Golf Course will remain closed through July 31, 2020. We will provide an update as soon as additional information becomes available to us. Should the Yale Golf Course re-open after July 31, detailed information on policies and procedures for golfers coming to play will be provided,” the course’s website reads.

The story goes on to try and unravel why the course remains closed while others in the area have reopened.

Thanks to Anthony Pioppi for highlighting this story and also for checking in on the course, which, contrary to the claim of one person in Morelli’s story, still is getting its fairways mown.

I’m here. Green, tees, fairways mowed. Rough has not been touched in a while. #18. pic.twitter.com/Ii4pN9wSxK

— Anthony Pioppi (@AnthonyPioppi) June 6, 2020