Ratings Rocket Mortgage Classic Final Round Up 56% On CBS

Another very solid weekend for PGA Tour ratings with not much sports competition due to the pandemic and a late start for NASCAR’s rance, a July 4 weekend that should have substantially cut into numbers, did not.

Bryson DeChameau’s win at the Rocket Mortgage Classic was up 56% from 2019 and if you ignore the silly demographics, earned plenty of eyeballs.

Showbuzz Daily’s full numbers for CBS and Golf Channel telecasts. The weekday broadcasts on Golf Channel were CBS-produced, while the weekend lead-in coverage was produced by PGA Tour Live.

Buck Reflects On Fox's U.S. Open Run, What Kills Him Not To Have Called

Screen Shot 2020-07-05 at 9.06.44 PM.png

Fox Sports’ Joe Buck penned an uplifting serenade to five years of Fox handling USGA events and namely, the U.S. Open.

While he has fond memories of everything coming together for both parties at Pebble Beach, including a fitting Tap Room finish, only one thing really bugs the broadcaster. Not getting to call a Tiger win, or at least, contending U.S. Open week.

Regarding Tiger: We never got to see THE MAN do his thing. (MC, DNP, DNP, MC, T21 in our five years.) And that kills me.

Buck also offers this about golf on TV.

But I wouldn’t trade our five-year run for anything, because of the people I worked with (starting with our producer, Mark Loomis), what we experienced together, what we learned. Here are some quick lessons: Let the players and caddies talk. Less is more. From the field is better than from the booth. And the Fox Sports production-side innovations will become a big part of TV coverage elsewhere. Drone shots and more ball-tracers already are.

While Fox promised a lot and severely under-delivered for the USGA, they did end up bringing the disruptor role that was promised by pushing others into more usage of tracer, drone and maybe someday, more mic’s in the cup to hear conversations on greens.

I would add their hole graphics, which were the most artistically beautiful and useful when they worked, and their placement of cameras to better give viewers a sense of what the player faced along with the scale and details of tee shots. (The Golf.com gang touched on this and more in this week’s Confidential, point 5).

Buck also deserves credit for adjusting his style and stepping up immediately in big situations when he did not let controversy stop him from calling it as he saw it.

Global Golf Post: The USGA Was Not Expecting Fox-NBC Rights Trade

Screen Shot 2020-06-29 at 8.58.25 PM.png

Global Golf Post’s Ron Green looks at the still-stunning USGA media rights reversion to NBC after Fox decided to eat a sizeable portion of the bloated price they paid in 2013.

He noted this on the timing, suggesting it was strictly a deal between the networks.

The first conversations took place during the spring but gained momentum in the past two weeks.

According to multiple sources, as discussions about NBC taking the 2020 broadcast evolved and NBC Universal showed willingness to assume the deal, Fox Sports executives Eric Shanks and Larry Jones brought the idea of transferring the rights to USGA chief executive officer Mike Davis earlier this month. Davis was apparently unaware of the impending change until the time of that presentation.

Executives within the Fox Sports golf team were not made aware of the potential change until last Thursday. The rest of the crew, including announcers Joe Buck, Curtis Strange, Paul Azinger, Brad Faxon and others, were not informed until Sunday afternoon.

Retired PGA Tour Pro And Golf Personality Charlie Rymer Shares Details Of His COVID-19 Fight

I’ve never been prouder to call Charlie Rymer a friend and ambassador of the sport.

The former U.S. Junior Amateur champion, PGA Tour pro, golf commentator and mayor emeritus of Myrtle Beach Tweeted about his brush with death as caused by COVID-19. The courage and heart to both battle back and share his story is something to behold. And a huge thank you to all who cared for him, especially wife Carol who was already destined for sainthood pre-pandemic (RN).

Charlie’s story:

The Shack Show Episode 17, Talking Fox, NBC & USGA With Guest Ron Sirak

Ron Sirak spent 18 years with the Associated Press and 18 more with Golf Digest/Golf World, he’s an author and Golf Channel contributor while still a reporter on the LPGA beat.

While we do also discuss the upcoming LPGA return in late July, the majority of our discussion surrounds Sirak’s definitive story for Golf Digest on the Fox-USGA media contract. With the deal having collapsed and NBC/Golf Channel/Peacock taking on the remaining seven years of a contract they once held, it was the perfect time to catch up with the 2015 PGA Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient in Journalism about his story, the fallout from the latest turn and playing golf in a pandemic.

Here is the Apple podcast show page and of course, you can always subscribe at your favorite app or listen below via iHeart:

Travelers Posts Strong Ratings For CBS And Golf Channel Despite Another Rain Delay

Screen Shot 2020-06-30 at 11.51.16 AM.png

Good signs are aplenty in the latest ratings news, this time for the 2020 Travelers Championship.

Even with only one certified superstar in Dustin Johnson contending, CBS limited in production-values and a so-so ratings start at Colonial, the Sunday broadcast earned a 2.0 final round overnight rating despite a rain delay on the back nine. That’s up 43% vs. last year and fell just short of NASCAR’s Geico 500 for top sports event of the weekend.

Golf Channel saw its biggest audiences since the restart, topping an average audience of over a 1 million with Sunday’s lead-in coverage (Saturday did not include any due to tee times moving up).

Even without the traditional fan energy that is so much apart of the Travelers viewing experience, note how the audience grew each of the three days on Golf Channel.

From ShowBuzzDaily where you can also see how other sports fared:

**Paulsen at SportsMediaWatch.com with more analysis of the strong viewership week, including where the huge lead-in number ranked this year (highest since Pebble Beach Sunday, always one of the biggest of the PGA Tour season).

SBJ: FOX Initiated U.S. Open Chats Two Months Ago, "Never Fit Into" Network's Plans

Screen Shot 2020-06-29 at 8.58.25 PM.png

Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand helps fill out the shocking exit from golf by Fox Sports with several insights into the deal announced Monday, including this about when discussions started.

Two months ago, after the USGA decided to postpone the U.S. Open to September, Fox Sports execs Eric Shanks and Larry Jones reached out to Pete Bevacqua and Jon Miller at NBC Sports to see if their network -- which owns Golf Channel -- would be willing to carry some of this year’s event. Fox’s fall schedule is jam-packed, and it saw NBC as a potential lifeline to help it carry and sell one of golf’s four majors. Early in the discussions, it became clear that NBC wanted a bigger piece of the USGA package, and Fox wanted out.

Write down time!

Ourand also noted the ultimate problem dooming the Fox-USGA partnership had nothing to do with the production side of the presentation after the first year struggles:

Golf never fit Fox: Fox gets a bad rap for its golf production. The network’s performance at last year’s U.S. Open in Pebble Beach was praised widely. But golf never fit into Fox’s plans. The Fox execs that originally cut this deal -- Chase Carey and Randy Freer -- left the company soon afterwards, and nobody was left to champion the sport. Fox never was close to adding to its golf portfolio; it wasn’t a serious contender for either British Open or PGA Tour rights, which should have been the first sign that it wanted to get out of the USGA deal.

Fox’s Joe Buck took to Twitter to downplay the stellar work he did, particularly when his big league chops shined during a rules fiasco in 2016 and course setup issues in 2018.

Brad Faxon responded to several Tweets, including this:

USGA Confirms "New Media Rights Partnership" With NBCUniversal, To Include Golf Channel And Peacock Coverage

Screen Shot 2020-06-29 at 8.58.36 AM.png

Press releases these days are usually so light on details and heavy on the fluff. Not this!

Let’s get to it, For Immediate Release:

USGA Announces New Media Rights Partnership with NBCUniversal  

Move is a win for golf fans  

Wow, even the subhead has layers.

LIBERTY CORNER, N.J. (June 29, 2020) – The United States Golf Association (USGA) today announced that the United States media rights for its championships have been transferred to NBCUniversal (NBCU), effective immediately.   

With the COVID-19 pandemic leading to the shift in dates for the U.S. Open from June to September, finding the necessary broadcast hours presented a challenge for FOX Sports, given their commitments to the National Football League, Major League Baseball and college football. What started as an exploration of how FOX Sports and NBC/Golf Channel could work together this unique year led to a broader conversation and eventual agreement for NBCU to take over the USGA media rights.  

No kidding.

As a result, NBCUniversal will broadcast the four championships the USGA will conduct in 2020: the 120th U.S. Women’s Amateur (Aug. 3-9 at Woodmont Country Club in Rockville, Md.); the 120th U.S. Amateur (Aug. 10-16 at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Bandon, Ore.), the 120th U.S. Open (Sept. 17-20 at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, N.Y.) and the 75th U.S. Women’s Open (Dec. 10-13 at Champions Golf Club in Houston, Texas).  

So soon!

“We are thrilled to acquire the remainder of FOX Sports’ USGA agreement, and will carry the designated USGA events, including the U.S. Open, through 2026,” said Pete Bevacqua, president of NBC Sports Group. “Adding these prestigious USGA events to our already incredibly deep golf business, led by our long-term PGA Tour partnership, as well as The Open Championship and the Ryder Cup, positions us as absolute leaders in the golf space. This deal is advantageous for all parties, including NBC Sports, Golf Channel, Peacock and the USGA, but also FOX Sports, and we thank them for working with us to complete this transaction. It further solidifies our platforms as the destination for golf viewers and enthusiasts, with NBC, Golf Channel, GOLFNow and GOLFPASS.”  

Peacock, NBCUniversal’s new streaming app, debuts in less than two weeks and now adds a pretty hefty sports component.

“Partnering with NBCUniversal, including Golf Channel, gives us an unparalleled opportunity to connect and engage with the core golf audience more directly and routinely, and as a nonprofit, to continue to have a significant and lasting impact on the game,” said Mike Davis, CEO of the USGA.  

While the details are confidential,

Well, except to the AP and Wall Street Journal…

the term of the agreement between NBCUniversal and the USGA will be the same as the previous agreement with FOX Sports, carrying through December 31, 2026, and the financial remuneration for the USGA will remain the same for the duration of the agreement. This allows the USGA, as a nonprofit, to continue to fulfill its mission to champion and advance the game of golf, which includes conducting 14 annual Open and Amateur championships, serving golfers and golf courses and providing pathways into the game.  

Translation, FOX will be paying a lot of money to make the deal go away.

Starting in 2021, when the USGA’s full championship schedule will be played, the agreement with NBCU will allow the USGA to continue the uninterrupted coverage it provides to television fans thanks to its longstanding partnership with Rolex. In 2021, that means eight of the USGA’s televised championships will be completely uninterrupted, including the U.S. Women’s Open and the Walker Cup. For the U.S. Open, thanks again to Rolex, NBCU will continue the tradition of showing the last hour of the final round uninterrupted.   

To Fox and Rolex’s credit, this was an incredible “tradition” that started in 2018 and one everyone hopes can continue if financially feasible.

“In addition to moving our media rights to NBCUniversal, we are also excited by the opportunities that will come from extensive coverage on NBC’s Peacock platform,” said Davis. “We have implemented a defined strategy to build our digital offerings over the last six years and have achieved significant success. The reach and engagement of our championships will only increase through the NBCUniversal family, including their commitment to bring their “Live From” program to the U.S. Women’s Open beginning in 2021 and to cover Golf’s Longest Day linked to U.S. Open qualifying.”  

It’s back!

Golf’s longest and arguably one of its very best days had been covered by Golf Channel prior to the rights transfer, with Fox retaining a wrap-up show element that aired late in the day.

Ok, here’s where we praise FOX…

Heralded as a landmark partnership between FOX Sports and the USGA in 2013, the network first began broadcasting USGA championships in the 2015 season. At the time, the network made its first foray into golf under the talented leadership of Mark Loomis, executive producer of USGA on FOX. Loomis developed a top-notch team of on-air talent and production professionals. This group not only brought to life the annual U.S. Open broadcast, but also the seven other USGA championships it aired each season. 

“FOX Sports has cherished its time as home to the USGA championships for the past six years. This is a relationship and partnership that has been second to none,” said Eric Shanks, CEO and executive producer of FOX Sports.

I’m not sure I would have used second to none, now that it’s none. But go on…

“Recent events calling for the shift of the U.S. Open created scheduling challenges that were difficult to overcome. While we are proud of the success we’ve built over these years, this is a win for golf fans everywhere, a win for the USGA and a win for FOX and NBC Sports.” 

Wins for everybody…

“We have genuinely appreciated the partnership that we have had with FOX Sports over the last six years and are grateful for their steadfast efforts to produce world-class events,” said Davis. “FOX brought significant innovation to golf broadcasting by elevating technology and enhancing the fan experience.”

Very true and let’s hope it continues for the remaining seven years.

And with that ends one of the more bizarre chapters in USGA history.

AP: FOX Asks Out Of USGA Contract, NBC To Pick Up Remaining Seven Years

Screen Shot 2020-06-28 at 8.35.10 PM.png

AP’s Doug Ferguson reports that Fox Sports has “asked to end” its 12-year USGA contract and, over the last two weeks, a deal was ironed out.

Andrew Marchand of the News Corp-owned New York Post, confirmed the news in a Tweet. An announcement is expected Monday.

From Ferguson’s story, the pandemic appears to have played a role:

One person said NBC would pay for just under half of the rights fee through the rest of the contract.

Two other people said the deal began to take shape this month, especially with the U.S. Open being moved to September during the opening month of the NFL.

One person said Fox was contemplating moving the U.S. Open to FS1, an idea that was rebuffed by Mike Davis, the CEO of the USGA. That led to deeper conversations about the contract and how it could be resolved.

Fox famously secured the rights starting in 2015 after the USGA enjoyed a successful run with NBC and ESPN. While Fox predictably struggled early with production elements, marketing and finding the right announcer mix, they eventually delivered the broadcast innovation, strong production valus and a cohesive announce team at the last few U.S. Opens, where sound, visuals and the broadcasters excelled.

No Laying Up noted this:

The greater issue may have been a combination of economics, scheduling and the pending NFL rights deal. As Ferguson’s story notes, this fall’s U.S. Open at Winged Foot—if it goes forward—was going to be largely buried on Fox Sports 1, the cable network that motivated Fox’s excessive spend in the first place.

Financially, someone is taking a hit, but NBC does not appear to be that party. From the Wall Street Journal’s Joe Flint:

Monday’s announcement following Sunday night’s orchestrated rollout to media should shed light on where other USGA events and early round coverage will land. We might also learn more about what precisely prompted the parties involved to work out the deal now. But if Ferguson and Flint are correct, FOX will be paying a significant amount of money annually to not televise USGA events.

Ultimately, however, the deal is a monster failure that should haunt the careers of Sarah Hirshland (now head of the U.S. Olympic Committee) and then-USGA president Glen Nager (since seen suing the United States). Then there was USGA Executive Committee member Gary Stevenson, whose conflicts of interest and lack of vision proved robust. He who is now working his magic for MLS. And I’d probably include former USGA President Tom O’Toole in there too while we’re throwing monster point-missers under the bus.

For some background on the deal when it went down, I’d point you to the late, great Frank Hannigan’s Letter to this website back in September, 2013, which considers the issues involved in a USGA television negotiation.

Rain Delayed RBC Heritage Final Round Averages 2 Million Viewers

The PGA Tour’s “Return to Golf” featured pretty solid viewer sizes given the Sunday rain delay, with noticeably strong performances during Golf Channel’s broadcast of PGA Tour Live’s Featured Group coverage.

The numbers were comparable on CBS and well up on Golf Channel compared to the 2019 Travelers played last year in the same slot.

From ShowBuzzDaily:

Screen Shot 2020-06-23 at 10.52.01 PM.png

Note that Golf Channel picked up 1.2 million viewers when CBS signed off in part of the country due to teh delay.

The 2019 Travelers ratings played during a comparable week:

Screen Shot 2020-06-23 at 10.56.11 PM.png

**Paulsen at SportsMediaWatch offered a similar assessment: weak CBS ratings given the lack of competition, but a strong showing for Golf Channel.

Golf Channel also averaged a 0.6 (+13%) and 935,000 (+16%) leading into CBS coverage, its largest lead-in audience at the Heritage on record. That comes a week after the network delivered its largest first, second, third and final round audiences ever at Colonial, including a tournament-record 1.05 million for a final round lead-in.

Third round action on Saturday averaged a 1.3 (-7%) and 1.82 million (-10%) on CBS and a 0.51 (+11%) and 739,000 (+7%) on Golf Channel.

"Golf Channel announces major layoffs coming to Orlando-based staff"

Screen Shot 2020-06-22 at 6.40.17 PM.png

Golfweek’s Jason Lusk and Adam Schupak report that “most” of Golf Channel’s Orlando-based staff will be laid off in two waves. The news was delivered in a Microsoft Teams call by an unnamed executive and human resources officer.

All employees will be allowed to reapply for their jobs – if they’re still available. Those whose jobs are eliminated in Phase I will find out as early as Tuesday that their current jobs will end August 29. Those in Phase II will be let go sometime between Oct. 31 and Dec. 31.

“As we announced in February, Golf Channel will be moving its media operations primarily to NBC Sports’ headquarters in Stamford, Conn., by year-end, while GOLFNOW and GOLFPASS will continue to operate from Orlando,” a Golf Channel spokesman said in a statement to Golfweek on Monday.

The report says only “a small fraction of existing jobs are expected to be made available for relocation” to Stamford, Connecticut. Initially the move was announced as part of a “geographic consolidation”.

The lost jobs come in all categories, from camera operators to producers to website writers, Golfweek was told by several people familiar with the layoffs, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity since they are not authorized to address the matter publicly.

Golf Channel’s parent company, NBC Sports, recently renewed its PGA Tour television rights deal at a significantly higher price despite sliding ratings and cord-cutting, with the PGA Tour taking on more production, as first reported here.

Today In Microphone Wearing Wars: Koepka Scolds Announcers, Hadwin Gives Us Access To His Penalty

Screen Shot 2020-06-18 at 9.28.38 PM.png

As galleries are kept away and likely will for most tournaments this year, the importance of sound continues to be a topic. Who knew it was this sensitive? Oh right, anyone who has dealt with modern golf pros who think they’re carrying out an NSA mission.

World No. 2 Brooks Koepka added this on the eve of the 2020 RBC Heritage at Harbour Town, reports Stephen Fastenau of the Island Packet.

Asked about his thought on players wearing microphones after his first round at the RBC Heritage Presented by Boeing, Koepka didn’t hold back.

“I don’t understand why they want us to wear a mike when there’s a boom mike that stands 10 feet away from every shot that I hit,” Koepka said after opening with a 4-under-par 67 in his first start at Harbour Town Golf Links. “If the announcers would just shut up and listen, you could hear every word that we’re talking about.”

For Thursday’s Heritage first round, Adam Hadwin wore one. Besides providing several instances of insight and something different than stock, Melatonin-producing coverage, the Canadian gave us more than he ever hoped. After touching what he thought was a rock near his bunkered ball, he immediately declared it was, actually, sand. He immediately suspected he’d made a mistake and we got to hear the entire exchange with official Mark Dusbabek thanks to his microphone.

Brian Wacker with the full conversation here for GolfDigest.com.

Sadly, video showing the initial realization of the moment is not on the official Tour accounts, so enjoy this truncated version until the Cult PVB Fun Police zap what is a very harmless and informative mistake.

2.1: Charles Schwab Hits Event High But It's No 6 In The Ratings Department

Screen Shot 2020-06-15 at 2.08.21 PM.png

CBS did not make any ratings predictions for the “Return to Golf”, but the Charles Schwab Challenge tournament director predicted a final round rating of a 6, which would have been equal to a lot of majors.

The rating is dismal when you consider:

—This was the first live, official PGA Tour event since mid-March.

—Network competition was non-existent. Fox’s presentation of NASCAR was delayed by rain (eventually airing in prime time). NBC was airing the Beverly Hills Dog Show (again). And ABC wheeled out Last Dance (still!).

—Heading into the final round, the leaderboard featured star players and the promise of a close finish (and it was, with Daniel Berger beating Collin Morikawa in a sudden death playoff).

For Immediate Release:

CBS SPORTS DELIVERS MOST-WATCHED FINAL ROUND OF CHARLES SCHWAB CHALLENGE IN 16 YEARS

 Final Round Averaged 3.091 Million Viewers, Up +50% from Last Year

CBS Sports’ return to live PGA TOUR golf scored with viewers as Sunday’s coverage of the Charles Schwab Challenge was the tournament’s most-watched final round in 16 years. 

The final round averaged 3.091 million viewers, an increase of +50% from last year. The national average household rating/share also was up +50% with a 2.1/6.

 The audience for the final round peaked at 3.88 million viewers and a 2.6/7 household rating/share from 5:45-6:00 PM, ET

Thursday’s opening round drew the best non-major Thursday since the 2019 Masters, with an average audience of 683,000.

Friday’s second round dropped to a .07 and 540,000 viewer average, which, while not great, at least edged out Dead Files Repack: TDFL-7R2R04H’s .07 on Travel Channel. So golf has that going for it.

Charles Schwab Challenge: Winners And Losers From The 2020 "Return to Golf"

Screen Shot 2020-06-14 at 4.50.47 PM.png

Busy week! The PGA Tour is back in the COVID-19 era and there was a lot to unpack.

Winners

Daniel Berger – On the comeback trail from a wrist injury and in extra-fine form when the season was abruptly stopped, the Golf Gods guided this once-young gun back to winning glory. His tears of joy made up for the lack of energy caused by the lack of fans. It was immensely satisfying to see what the win meant to Berger. Thanks.

Collin Morikawa – Just another stellar week from, eh em, the game’s steadiest player. A slight push on a putt that clearly was harder than it looked (ask Xander), and a heartbreaking loss should do nothing to discourage this young star.

Xander Schauffele – Somehow recovers from an epic misplay from a 15th hole fairway bunker and into the water to sink a long bogey putt, then birdies 16, suffers a brutal horseshoe lipout at 17 and conducts himself with class after the round. But it was the obvious facial disappointment (and was that steam out of the ears?) made us realize we were watching golf that mattered.

Colonial – Pre-tournament week we heard it was firm and fast, but the course was clearly softened up early in the week to protect the bent greens and move a bloated 148-player field around. Things firmed up enough on the weekend to weed out those who were just a bit off their game. As it should be.

CBS – They pulled it off with a strange concoction of announcers in one location and tech teams in others. There were polished new almost 3D graphics paid some sponsor bills, added some stats and offered a fresh look.

Live Drone – While wind probably minimized its usage Sunday, CBS’s use of a live drone took advantage of having no fans on site to provide us some different perspectives Saturday, including trailing leaders up some fairways and overall, delivering a sense of the golf course and scene. Just don’t give us a groovy view and then hide it with a leaderboard.

Points Lists And Other Signs Of Not Grasping The Current Times – Kudos to all for minimizing talk of money, points races and most other signs of excess that no one needed to hear about this week. Oh sure we got FedExCup lists but overall, talk of money and perks was minimal.

PGA Tour Messaging On COVID-19Jay Monahan and team said all the right things heading into the week about wanting to set the right example, outlined plenty of extra-stringent guidelines and even texted players, caddies and others reminders during the week to set an example. The execution within range of a national television audience, however… 

Losers 

PGA Tour Execution Of Distancing, Safety Precautions – The sight of multiple PGA Tour officials without masks indoors or outdoors and not even trying to physically distance was jarring enough that, oh, everyone who knows who is who noticed during Sunday’s final round. If you flipped over to rain-delayed NASCAR, masks were aplenty and the safety rules were still in full display (even as they are several races into their restart and could easily grow lax). While the CBS crew fully complied, players and caddies understandably struggled with some of the guidelines (wiping flagsticks and rakes down is pretty silly). But those with a PGA Tour employee ID number need to do better when the cameras are on. Or any time.

PGA Tour Stars – Ok, that was one less-than-idea day all the way around, especially for the world No. 1 posting 74 after a front nine 41.  But Sunday was a good reminder that the excessively-worshiped official world ranking does not mean a thing once you step on the first tee.

Golf As The First Sport Back Excitement – A 1.5 overnight rating for Saturday’s action is not the stuff of, “the world was watching” and Monahan did not make the invite list to Sportscenter’s commissioner roundtable tomorrow.

Brandel Chamblee Not the way to draw in a younger audience.

CBS Commercial Load – Saturday’s broadcast went along pretty smoothly but as we were warned early in the week, “Eye On The Course” would be used heavily and it was indeed, to the usual Sunday horror of social media watchers overwhelmed by make goods, ads and a pre-recorded Zoom with Charles Schwab (it was at least useful since a surprising number were not aware he is a living, breathing person-American…). With a deep leaderboard needing some time for viewers to take in, they were often hurriedly taken down. Storytelling for the new audience expected to tune in could not happen, and the telecast could have used a ticker to show us scores, stats and take some burden off the telecast having to deal with so many promotional obligations.

“Inside The Ropes” – The new on-course interview element may have been the single worst waste of time in golf television history. I think I speak for all but immediate families or maybe sponsors paying for collar logos, that we did not need to know what Jim Furyk is working on or that Keegan Bradley is happy to be back playing golf in full hostage video voice.  

PGA Tour Live - Given the chance to be lead-in coverage on CBS, we were reminded that the Tour’s in-house effort is very much in the broadcasting minor leagues. It’s cruel to judge much in such a strange time for TV crews, but without fans the camera angles remained awful, there were focus issues and just an overall state TV vibe that made it tough sledding.

Golf Without Fans – The energy just wasn’t there Sunday despite the best efforts of the CBS announcers. While the week showed the PGA Tour can go on with a less exciting product and still function, the three remaining majors have to be re-examined if fan-free or even fan-minimal is how they want to present their jewels.

Video: Nantz's Introduction To CBS's Return In Era Of Unrest, COVID-19

As previewed earlier in the week during a CBS conference call, Jim Nantz opened the telecast with some prepared thoughts. Here it is if you missed the telecast.