Peter Kostis Tries And Fails To Equivocate Tiger With Fuzzy Zoeller

/

Breaking free from the whatever rage-inducing nonsense he’s watching to take in the third round Genesis Invitational telecast, Peter Kostis attempted to equate Fuzzy Zoeller’s pithy, racist “fried chicken or collared greens or whatever they serve remark with Tiger Woods telling Jim Nantz and Nick Faldo that he was looking forward to the sushi at this year’s Champions Dinner.

Hideki Matsuyama is the defending champion and has signaled he’s likely to serve sushi.

At the 1997 Masters, Zoeller infamously said, "So you know what you guys do when he gets in here? Pat him on the back, say congratulations, enjoy it. And tell him not to serve fried chicken next year .... or collared greens or whatever the hell they serve."

Whoa: Drone Flies 100 M.P.H. To Capture A Rory Shot At Riviera

/

Someone, somewhere thinks drones aren’t great for golf but it’s a tiny audience thinking that way.

This is spectacular.

A Tradition Unlike Any Other: The Quest For The Slime Green Jacket

/

I’m not going to quibble with Nickelodeon’s success in reimagining live sports in a way that’s fun for the kids since their NFL reviews have been glowing slime green.

Still, I’m not envisioning a scenario where the Lords of Augusta

Brian Steinberg of Variety reports on Nickelodeon teaming up with producer Bryan Zuriff of The Match fame, Excel Sports and players like Jon Rahm, Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas and Lexi Thompson to bring us the Slime Cup. The final “match” will be played in the Rose Bowl and the winner is to receive a Slime Green jacket .

“We are inventing our own golf match,” says Brian Robbins, president and CEO of Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon, in an interview. “It’s definitely different.”

Confirmed participants include: top-ranked professional golfers like Jon Rahm, Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas and Lexi Thompson; NFL superstars, Saquon Barkley and Justin Herbert; Terry Crews; and Nick stars Isaiah Crews, Kate Godfrey, Jaidyn Triplett and Tyler Wladis. Nickelodeon’s Gabrielle Nevaeh Green, who has provided commentary for the network’s Wild Card game-casts, will do the same for “Slime Cup.”  Other participants could be named at a later date.

The teams will compete in a two-round tournament, with holes inspired by Nickelodeon shows, all in hopes of reaching “The Unfairway,”an unpredictable final round that will take place inside the Rose Bowl stadium. The victors win the title cup a slime-green blazer, and, of course, the honor of getting Nickelodeon’s signature goo dumped on them.

“This is relay about making a fun, entertaining golf show,” says Robbins. “I think you know a lot of dads play golf, and getting to watch this with your kids really will be fun.”

Ok let’s not carried away.

Production is set to begin in February at a Los Angeles-area golf course with a summer launch in mind. The full press release can be seen here.

ESPN, Omaha Productions To Develop Golf Manningcast

/

Quad readers know I was hoping for this back in October and it seems the smart folks at ESPN and Omaha Productions, creators of the wildly successful Manningcast, see the opportunity in golf. (Omaha is Peyton Manning’s production company.)

From Variety’s Brian Steinberg:

Under a new deal, the brothers will add a fourth year of their “Monday Night Football With Peyton and Eli,” so that it extends through the NFL’s 2024 season. The agreement, struck with Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions, also calls for the creation of similar programs alongside UFC matches, college football and golf, using other hosts and produced by Omaha in collaboration with ESPN.

When queried ESPN could provide no other details at this time.

The network started hosting PGA Tour Live streaming coverage on ESPN+ this year as well as the first two rounds of the Masters and PGA Championship along with digital coverage of those events. The “Live” coverage is produced by the PGA Tour, so the better likelihood for such a secondary broadcast seems more likely to happen at The Masters or PGA Championship.

2022 AT&T Ratings Down, Continuing A Trend For The Event

/

In a new date one week earlier than normal, the 2022 AT&T Pebble Beach took a ratings hit.

According to Showbuzzdaily.com, the 1.87/3.1 million average viewership was down from the Waste Management Open’s 2.10 on the same weekend last year.

Over the last four years, the AT&T’s final round numbers:

2022 1.87/3.1 million
2021 2.55/4.2 million (no pro-am)
2020 2.27/3.5 million
2019 2.39/3.7 million

The most surprising decline may be Saturday coverage, once a popular viewing day:

2022 1.11/1.8 million
2021 1.50/2.37 million (no pro-am)
2020 1.58/2.4 million
2019 1.93/2.9 million

For some past numbers, Paulsen at SportsMediaWatch.com offered ratings from 2003 to 2013 that included the 4.9 for 2009’s Tiger-Phil showdown.

What ate into the numbers in 2022? The Beijing Olympics might be to blame for Saturday’s rating on what was an otherwise light day of sports options. It’s a shame, as CBS presented a really good show a little lighter on celebrities, heavier on tournament coverage and full of breathtaking moments (i.e. Jordan Spieth’s cliffhanger, amazing aerials).

The 2022 final round was almost certainly impacted by going up against the NFL Pro Bowl and NASCAR “Clash at the Coliseum” qualifying and race.

Incidentally, the Saudi event where several former AT&T winners and other name players took place in the early hours , did not draw a rating for any of its four rounds.

SiriusXM Moves Quickly To Can Mark Lye

/

Former player and longtime Golf Channel analyst-turned-PGA Tour Radio commentator Mark Lye was fired by SiriusXM after a strange characterization of the WNBA. In an apparent defense of how much better he finds the LPGA than he did a decade ago, Lye trashed the WNBA while talking to co-host Kraig Kann, former LPGA Communications head.

Nick Piastowski of Golf.com reports that Lye apologized in the following segment for his comments but was fired by SiriusXM the next day.

“You know, the LPGA Tour to me is a completely different tour than it was 10 years ago,” Lye said. “… You couldn’t pay me to watch. You really couldn’t. Because I just, I couldn’t relate at all. It’s kind of like, you know, if you’re a basketball player — and I’m not trashing anybody; please, don’t take it the wrong way — but I saw some highlights of ladies’ basketball. Man, is there a gun in the house? I’ll shoot myself than watch that.

At this point, a co-host interjected: “Good luck getting some WNBA stars to come play for you.”

“Yeah, I know, I know,” Lye said. “I’m off their list. I’m sorry about that.”

Lye has since taken to Twitter to wheel out the cancel culture defense instead of owning his poor judgement.

The clip caught by a listener and shared on Twitter:

Golf Channel Is Back In Orlando And No, A Nuclear Bomb Did Not Go Off

/

Nothing screams corporate passion like returning to your old stomping grounds the way Golf Channel has this week. Apparently the return of studio shows to Orlando is due to the bleak Winter Olympics in already awful Beijing necessitating NBC’s use of the lavender-tinged broom closet in Stamford, Connecticut.

While some might see a post-Chernobyl vibe to the former newsroom emptied of people, it’s also a fitting way of saying, “yes, we know a lot of people are paying attention to golf with no NFL and with the Saudi and Pebble events this week, but guess what? We just don’t care, plus we’d have to pay camera people and electric bills to go in the old studio just over their shoulders. And our partners, sponsors and viewers don’t deserve quality!”

Or, maybe it’s a way of signaling to a buyer? You know, one who’d like to return to where Arnold Palmer started the channel and it remained until his passing? And they tried to put out a good product? If only we the sport of golf could be so lucky.

PGA Tour and Trackman Expanding "Use of club and ball tracking and tracer technology" for nearly every shot to help enrich the fan experience

/

I don’t have much to add until we see how this plays out, but you know the old saying: you can never have too much tracer on a golf broadcast. By most accounts, Trackman remains by far the best and most accurate of the launch monitors, so kudos to the PGA Tour for pushing this technology and hopefully making the fan viewing experience even better.

The most exciting potential revealed may be in the second to last paragraph, with the announcement of a mobile system to catch more shots from the fairway. Or, perhaps, the trees when a player has to shape a shot and viewers theoretically get to see the bend of the ball traced.

Overall, this means more data, better tracer coverage and more of it on PGA Tour Live coverage. How much is adopted by the networks using the Tour feed remains to be seen.

For Immediate Release:

PGA TOUR selects TrackMan™ tracking and tracing solution beginning in 2022

TOUR events to see expanded use of club and ball tracking and tracer technology 

for nearly every shot to help enrich the fan experience

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida – The PGA TOUR and TrackMan announced today they are expanding golf’s most advanced club and ball tracking and tracing solution. By combining TrackMan’s cutting-edge Doppler Radar and club and ball tracking technology, TOUR events will have tracing capabilities for every golf shot hit during the season. This will significantly enhance how fans experience the world’s best golfers by providing more detail for television, OTT and digital platforms.                                                                     

This agreement will double previous ball-in-motion tracing capabilities on the golf course, allowing nearly every shot to be traced and automatically shared with television and OTT partners and across TOUR digital platforms such as PGATOUR.COM and the PGA TOUR app. The arrangement with TrackMan begins in 2022 for PGA TOUR LIVE and TOUR digital platforms, while the domestic television partner agreement begins in 2023. This expansion will immediately offer fan enhancements such as the visualization of ball flight paths for shots inbound to the green in TOURCast.

“We’re excited to increase the volume and depth of tracking and tracing for every shot on the PGA TOUR,” said Ken Lovell, PGA TOUR Senior Vice President Golf Technologies. “TrackMan’s sensors will substantially increase content available for analysis and initiate the development of new insights, while creating the opportunity for us to develop innovative visualizations for fans to view all the incredible shots on TOUR.”

Fans will see more information beginning in 2022 on how and why the ball moves and arrives at a certain position. This is achieved by using TrackMan technology to capture club speed, ball speed, curve, landing spin, launch angle, spin rate, spin axis, apex, carry and more. The advanced aerodynamic models can also determine the effects of wind, weather, and altitude on a shot so that fans can understand how a shot was impacted by environmental factors.

In addition to doubling the collection of radar and tracing information, the new system will substantially increase the range and sensitivity of the content that will now be layered with video for use on any TOUR media platform. 

Klaus Eldrup-Jorgensen, co-founder and CEO of TrackMan, commented “We have been working closely with the PGA TOUR for more than 15 years, to accurately measure and report data on club delivery, ball launch, ball flight, and tracers for the best players in the world. We are proud to be chosen to implement our new solutions with the PGA TOUR, which will ultimately include all shots for all players. The future of golf will be told in new and innovative ways, the fan experience will elevate to a new level, and the stories about how good these guys play is just beginning.”

The club and ball tracking and tracing solution has become a valuable element to “ShotLink powered by CDW,” the TOUR’s real-time data collection and scoring system. As the TOUR and CDW continue to innovate the acclaimed scoring system that has benefited tournaments, broadcast partners, players and fans in countless ways over the years, the TrackMan system contributes to the automated data collection efforts by allowing ShotLink to auto-trigger on shots without input from a person. 

The new technology being deployed expands tracking capabilities from tee boxes only to shots hit from the fairway and around the green, where the system determines the exact 3D position of the ball at any point in its flight. The TrackMan technology has the ability to lock onto a ball that starts behind the trees and only becomes visible to the radar halfway through its flight. It’s able to accurately track balls up to 400 yards in any conditions; rain, fog, sunrise, and sunset. 

For a typical TOUR event, around 40 units are placed around the course to track shots with advanced radar and camera units on tee boxes and greens to capture final resting position. 

TrackMan also recently developed a mobile system that will be used for the capture of radar and tracing information from the fairway and will automatically integrate into TOUR media platforms, which is aided by AWS, the TOUR’s Official Cloud Provider. There are no cables or connections with the mobile system, which adds very little weight for the operator. The TOUR is testing the mobile system for expanded future use on PGA TOUR Champions, the Korn Ferry Tour and in other executions.

The club and ball tracking and tracing system will utilize AWS Fargate, Media Services, and numerous other AWS products to process and deliver radar and tracing on every shot in nearly real-time. The full suite of AWS products will allow TrackMan to reduce their onsite footprint and allow fast and easy access to the devices and information from anywhere around the world.

Viewing Times: PIFSIPSIA From Glorious Royal Greens

/

With a number of players looking to broaden their horizons and soak up the culture of Saudi Arabia, they’ve chosen to take up residency on the Asian Tour this week in the Public Investment Fund Saudi International Powered By Softbank Investment Advisors (PIFSIPSIA).

For American viewers here are your broadcast times:

The PIF Saudi International is the first event of the 2022 Asian Tour season and will take place this week from Royal Greens Golf & Country Club in King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia. Dustin Johnson has won two of the past three editions of the tournament (2019, 2021) and looks to defend last year’s title. 

Live coverage begins Thursday at 3 a.m. ET on GOLF Channel. 

How To Watch – Thursday, February 3 – Sunday, February 6 (all times ET)

Thursday 3-5 a.m.; 6:30-9:30 a.m.
Friday 3-5 a.m.; 6:30-9:30 a.m.
Saturday 3:30-8 a.m.
Sunday 3:30-8 a.m.

Farmers First Saturday Finish Farmers Ratings: Down A Bit But...

/

It would have been a disaster had someone tried to compete against the NFL’s AFC and NFC Championship games given this year’s massive numbers and the almost non-existent numbers for sports going against the football.

Showbuzzdaily has all the Nielsen numbers, starting with those eye-popping NFL numbers: 23.35/50.2 million for the NFC title game on Fox featuring the Rams victory over the 49ers, and a 23.62/47.8 million average for CBS’s broadcast of the Bengal’s win over the Chiefs.

The 2022 Farmers final round wrapping on Saturday drew a 1.71 Nielsen rating with a 2.67 million viewer average.

Friday’s third round on CBS drew a .95/1.4 million average viewership.

Without NFL games to compete against in 2021, the Farmers drew a 1.95/3.1 million average and a 1.27/2.02 million average viewers.

While there are still issues to be resolved for the tournament and lost revenue due to the finish, the Saturday finish on CBS looks like the right move. Assuming the Farmers remains in this date going forward.

As for the LPGA’s Gainbridge played on Sunday against the NFL, Lydia Ko’s win did draw an audience but it was miniscule (.16/236,000).

Farmers Initially Balked At Saturday Finish, Now Seems Here To Stay

/

Loads of good stuff can be found in this Bryce Miller column about the new and, apparently, permanent Saturday finish as long as the Farmers Insurance Open finishes on AFC/NFC Championship Sunday.

“Do you really want to know?” Farmers Insurance CEO Jeff Dailey told the Union-Tribune on Friday at Torrey Pines, when asked about his initial feelings. “It was presented as a choice at first. Do you go with Wednesday through Saturday? Or do you go to NBC and keep the Thursday-Sunday format?

“My initial, ‘upset’ reaction was, let’s go to NBC. Then cooler heads prevailed.”

Does this mean cooler heads prefer CBS to NBC?

Miller says the loss of the pro-am caused by a quick turnaround from the previous week cost the Century Club $1 million. But ultimately Farmers wants ratings and Saturday’s later finish is their best chance for the largest audience.

Without a Sunday round, the television was shifted later to create near-primetime finishes on the East Coast on Friday and Saturday — a first for a regular PGA Tour event. Golfers began to see benefits, from avoiding pro-am obligations that allowed them to focus on the first difficult course of the season, to an extra open day on the weekend to see family and more easily travel.

“I don’t think so,” he said. “It’s important to us that the ratings are strong, but we still get a tremendous amount of business benefit because we use this as motivation for our top agents around the country. That business benefit for us is probably stronger than a few incremental ratings points.

David Hill Brought In To Help Norman-Backed League Change Golf On TV

/

James Colgan spoke to longtime and now former Fox Sports head David Hill upon joining LIV Golf as a consultant on the TV side. Presumably to help on the production side of a proposed Saudi-backed golf league.

Hill plans to carry out Greg Norman’s vision to get a younger viewing audience should the league be a go, something the Shark seems consumed with given the demographic of golf. The Shirtless one failed with his last get-younger, revolutionary concept with Verizon billed as a game changer and turned out to be nothing more than music-playing carts geared at millennials. So no where to go but up!

From the Golf.com story:

“What Greg has done is taken all that energy that he’s renowned for and pushed it into making golf for today,” Hill said. “His main hope is to take the excitement of golf to areas where it’s not represented, especially in the Asia area and China.

“The reason he’s so adamant about this is because the average age of people who watch a golf telecast is 65. That’s the average age. And that tells you that the golf audience is on a downward ski slope. What Greg wants to do — because he’s so passionate about the sport — he wants to reverse that trend and hopefully produce golf that appeals, for the first time many decades, to a much younger demographic than watches now.”

I’d settle for a league and a broadcast deal first. Baby steps.

Same Old Story: Pretty Much No One Watches AmEx Final Round

/

The former PGA Tour Commissioner once predicted golf would compete with the NFL in the popularity department. Maybe he meant NFL Network Gameday Final? Eh, the PGA Tour was thumped by that cable post game show, too. And by Sunday’s LPGA coverage on both NBC and Golf Channel.

But as long as AmEx is willing to sponsor, more power to them through 2028.

For reasons we’ll never fully understand, the PGA Tour tries to go up against NFL action in the early season non-network weeks and in markets where they probably might draw just as many spectators on weekdays as weekends. (This coming Sunday the first notable exception when CBS and Farmers wisely move the final round to Saturday).

For those wondering what might happen if these early events moved to a Tuesday-Friday schedule, note that the Friday broadcast out-rated Sunday’s AmEx final round, won by Hudson Swafford. But even that rating was beaten by all sorts of random stuff like X-Games Aspen and late Friday Big Ten basketball games.

Last year’s AmEx and LPGA TOC ratings for reference, all courtesy of ShowBuzzDaily.com.

CBS Returns With Saturday Farmers Finish And More Technology

/

The CBS golf gang briefed media on plans for the upcoming 2022 season, the 65th consecutive for the network. A few highlights:

  • CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus said the relationship with the PGA Tour “has never been better” as they start a new production arrangement

  • The Tour provides “below the line” personnel and pictures, CBS retains control of personnel and ability to deliver enhancements

  • McManus credited Farmers for “coming up with” this year’s Saturday finish to avoid AFC and NFC Championship games

  • Jim Nantz will work the opening Farmers event remotely from the AFC Championship game site and said “my longing for golf is the one that I feel the most” of sports he covers.

  • Colt Knost expands his role as on-course reporter and will team with Amanda Balionis to host a 16th hole set at the Waste Management Open

  • McManus said “the sales marketplace for golf in the first and second quarter is extremely strong,” noting “advertiser interest is very high”

  • The network is promising upgraded drone coverage and more tracers week-to-week

  • McManus said CBS is fully supportive of the Tour’s deal with Netflix: “We’re all in on it.”

  • Asked about the Saudi disruptor league, McManus said “we’re focused on the PGA Tour.”

The press release contains more details on what to expect in the way of technology improvements:

CBS SPORTS TEES OFF 65th CONSECUTIVE SEASON OF PGA TOUR COVERAGE FEATURING 20 PGA TOUR EVENTS ORIGINATING FROM FOUR COUNTRIES

 CBS Sports’ 2022 PGA TOUR Season Begins with Farmers Insurance Open on Friday, Jan. 28 and Features a Special Saturday Finish

 Increased Drone Usage, More Tracer Coverage than Ever Before, Graphic Enhancements and Virtual Interview Area Highlight 2022 Coverage Advancements

 CBS Sports begins its 65th consecutive year of PGA TOUR coverage, as once again the network features the most comprehensive lineup in network television, with 20 total PGA TOUR events originating from four countries.  

CBS Sports tees off its 2022 PGA TOUR season at the Farmers Insurance Open from Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego, Calif., with play concluding with a special Saturday finish. The third-round on Friday, Jan. 28 (5:00-8:00 PM, ET) and final-round on Saturday, Jan. 29, (4:30-8:00 PM, ET), will be broadcast on the CBS Television Network and streamed live on Paramount+.

Jim Nantz serves as CBS golf anchor, beginning with the Farmers Insurance Open, broadcasting the event live from the site of the AFC Championship game. Lead analyst Sir Nick Faldo, along with Ian Baker-Finch, Frank Nobilo and Trevor Immelman, handle announcing and analysis from the Super Tower throughout the season. Lead on-course reporter Dottie Pepper, with Mark Immelman and Colt Knost in an expanded role, along with reporter Amanda Balionis, round out the CBS golf announce team. Andrew Catalon will host select CBS broadcasts as well. 

CBS Sports continues its legacy as the gold standard for broadcasting and innovation in golf television, building off last season’s successful elements and enhancements including the constant leaderboard and rules official in conjunction with the PGA TOUR, among others.  

This year, the network will add additional technology and equipment throughout the course of the season to enhance the broadcast and better serve viewers. Some of those developments include increased drone usage that present picturesque and never before seen views of the course to provide overviews of holes; additional cameras and more tracer coverage than ever before to showcase ball flight information and shot shaping on key holes; graphic enhancements – including utilizing more Shotlink data to provide additional data on a given player or hole through virtual overlays – and a new, virtual interview area for Balionis with augmented reality to better contextualize different holes and shots on the course.

Sellers Shy is lead producer, with Steve Milton as lead director, for CBS Sports’ golf coverage. Sean McManus is Chairman, CBS Sports. David Berson is President, CBS Sports. Harold Bryant is Executive Producer and Executive Vice President, Production, CBS Sports.

CBS SPORTS’ MULTI-PLATFORM COMPLEMENTARY GOLF PROGRAMMING 

CBS Sports will provide multi-platform, complementary golf programming throughout the season as well. Beginning Monday, Jan. 24 (11:00 PM, ET), CBS Sports Network will air COURSE RECORD WITH MICHAEL BREED, featuring renowned golf instructor Michael Breed and co-host Greg DuCharme discussing the latest in the golf world.

Additionally, CBS Sports Network will air both classic PGA TOUR telecasts each week leading up to the tournament on CBS, as well as encores of CBS’ final round coverage on Monday nights.

The CBS Television Network will broadcast, with Paramount+ streaming live, five PGA TOUR Specials and six Korn Ferry Tour Specials, multiple COURSE RECORD WITH MICHAEL BREED and FALDO FORMULA episodes, along with additional golf programming throughout the season leading into live golf coverage. 

The CBS Television Network and CBS Sports Network will also each air an hour special highlighting the Advocates Professional Golf Association (APGA) Tour this summer, highlighting the stories of the golfers and the rich history of the Tour.

For all PGA TOUR events this year, CBS Sports’ full coverage will be available to stream live in markets across the U.S. on Paramount+ with additional coverage on CBSSports.com, the CBS Sports app, and CBS Sports HQ, the 24/7 streaming sports news network.