According to a report, the event will be called the Crypto.com Showdown.
The first Match between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson featured a large pile of cash for the winner.
The latest rendition will have crypto being doled out to the champ.
This is all because the PGA Tour vs. LIV Golf showdown featuring Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler against Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka has a title sponsor and according to a report, it’s Crypto.com.
The name of the upcoming event is the Crypto.com Showdown and it’ll be in Las Vegas on Tuesday, Dec. 17.
The winners will receive a multimillion-dollar prize in CRO Cronos, which is the native token of Crypto.com. This marks the first instance of a major sports competition offering a prize purse entirely in cryptocurrency.
“This tournament demonstrates the potential of cryptocurrency to reshape the sports and entertainment industries,” Marzalek said in the story.
The event is organized by BZ Entertainment and EverWonder Studio.
Crypto.com currently partnerships with Formula 1, UFC and the World Cup.
TNT is going big with the 10th installment of The Match.
TNT is going big with the 10th installment of The Match.
This time around, it’ll be a two-night event in prime time with no pro golfers but eight big-time celebrities as well as a star-studded announcing crew.
Dubbed “The Match: Superstars,” the competition will be televised on Thursday, Nov. 21, and Friday, Nov. 22, with coverage simulcast on TNT and Max. The event was filmed at The Breakers Rees Jones Golf Course at Breakers West Country Club in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Check out the celebrity lineup: Bill Murray, Mark Wahlberg, Charles Barkley, Wayne Gretzky, Michael Phelps, Nate Bargatze, Ken Griffey, Jr. and Blake Griffin.
The initial matches will pit Murray and Gretzky against Barkley and Griffey as well as Wahlberg and Phelps vs. Bargatze and Griffin.
There will then be semifinals and a final match. Those will be individual match play contests with the eventual winner banking $1 million.
Thursday Nov. 21
Wahlberg/Phelps vs. Bargatze/Griffin, 7:30 p.m.
Barkley/Griffey Jr. vs. Gretzky/Murray, 9 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 22
Semifinals, 7:30 p.m.
Final match, 9 p.m.
Calling the action is TNT’s Ernie Johnson, back at the Match for a fifth time. He’s joined by Charles Barkley, who will be making his ninth appearance at The Match as either a player or commentator. Also, a pair of Masters champs – Trevor Immelman and Bubba Watson – will provide analysis. Kathryn Tappen returns as the on-course reporter.
In September, Golfweek reported on a Match featuring Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler against Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau. That PGA Tour vs. LIV event is scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 17 in Las Vegas.
Golf Channel will be a part of a new venture after Comcast announced plans to spin off its cable TV networks.
Wall Street Journal was first to report the news on Tuesday. Comcast made it official Wednesday, declaring that Golf Channel as well as MSNBC, CNBC, E!, Oxygen, USA and Syfy will be spun off. It’s being tabbed as a $7 billion move. Bravo, the streaming service Peacock, which often carried Golf Channel’s PGA Tour tournament coverage (as well as LPGA), and the NBC broadcast network, are staying put.
Sports Business Journal reports that the cable channels will be part of a new venture led by Mark Lazarus and Anand Kini. Lazarus is the chairman of NBCUniversal’s media group.
Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand speaks with Anna Jackson, Brandel Chamblee and Mel Reid on the Golf Channel set after winning the 2024 Aon Risk Reward Challenge ahead of the 2024 CME Group Tour Championship at Tiburon Golf Club. (Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
As this relates to the future of Golf Channel, Sports Business Journal reports:
Golf Channel is locked in with rights to the PGA Tour and LPGA through 2030. But the spin-off poses an interesting question for the future of the network. There have been persistent rumors for more than a year that the PGA Tour could make a bid to buy Golf Channel or its assets. The network has cut back on some production costs, while the tour has assumed more below-the-line production at tour events from both NBC and CBS. This year, it rolled out its new PGA Tour Fleet production trucks and is officially opening the expansive PGA Tour Studios in January. That’s not to mention the $1.5B the tour received from the Strategic Sports Group and potential further investment from Saudi Arabia’s PIF.
The U.S. Golf Association, which conducts the U.S. Open and the U.S. Women’s Open, has a deal with NBC that expires in 2026. The R&A’s deal goes through 2029.
Golf Now is among the digital assets held by Comcast that are also expected to be spun off.
“It’s not like a full-time gig or anything … It’ll be kind of fun,” Azinger told Golfweek on Monday.
Paul Azinger is returning to the broadcast booth in 2025.
Golfweek has learned that the 64-year-old former 12-time PGA Tour champion and winner of the 1993 PGA Championship will replace Lanny Wadkins, who announced his retirement on Friday, as the lead analyst on Golf Channel’s coverage of PGA Tour Champions for 10-12 tournaments next season as part of a one-year deal.
“It’s not like a full-time gig or anything, which I don’t want, but to be able to go in there and part-time some golf, some really great golf, it’ll be kind of fun,” Azinger told Golfweek in a phone interview on Monday. “I’ll just be as candid as I can and enjoy it.”
Peter Jacobsen and John Cook will split time in the analyst chair when Azinger is off. [Cook will serve as on-site walking reporter when he’s not an analyst.]
“Paul brings a lot of credibility to that seat and has a lot of creative ideas that we think can just add to our overall telecast,” Miller Brady, president of PGA Tour Champions, said. “It’s hard to replace a Hall of Famer like Lanny week in and week out, but, I think Paul will be tremendous for us.”
Azinger was the lead golf analyst for NBC Sports’ coverage of the PGA Tour for five years until the network stunned him by electing not to renew his contract last December.
“I thought I would do at least one more year and then sign a four-year deal. They made the offer, my agent said ‘No, we’ll counteroffer the next day.’ And they said, ‘Sorry, we’re moving on.’ You know, it wasn’t a conversation with me, like, ‘What do you need Zinger? What do we need to do? Here’s our situation. You know, this is why we need you to accept this deal.’ There was no reason, it just was it’s complicated, it’s complicated. I was like, ‘How complicated can it be, bud?’ It’s money,” Azinger told Golfweek in March.
The Peacock still hasn’t hired a replacement for Azinger, instead rotating this season through a cast of veteran players including Kevin Kisner and Luke Donald, Golf Channel commentators Paul McGinley and Brandel Chamblee, who did the U.S. Open, and caddie Jim “Bones” Mackay, who has since rejoined Golf Channel as an on-course commentator.
Sep 24, 2022; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Paul Azinger holds up a fish at the lake near the 14th hole during the foursomes match play of the Presidents Cup golf tournament at Quail Hollow Club. Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports
While Azinger will appear on Golf Channel, he isn’t employed by the network but rather by PGA Tour Entertainment, which has final say on talent for PGA Tour Champions coverage. All parties involved said that the relationship has been reconciled despite the messy parting nearly a year ago.
“I hope that that’s water under the bridge and that everyone just moves on. I know Paul wants to move on, and we want to move on,” Brady said.
“Paul has called some of golf’s biggest events and has been a part of the PGA Tour as a player or analyst for more than four decades, and we’re excited to have him bring that experience to the PGA Tour Champions telecasts on Golf Channel,” an NBC Sports spokesperson said.
During his interview with Golfweek in March, Azinger hinted that he’d be interested in calling the 50-and-over tour.
“I’d rather call the Senior Tour than the PGA Tour to tell you the truth. I’m over the PGA Tour. To call the best senior players in the world, at least they’re the best,” Azinger said, a not-so-subtle jab at the Tour’s loss of talented players to LIV Golf.
Brady said he and Greg Hopfe, the Tour’s senior vice president and executive producer of live programming, met with Azinger in February to feel out his interest in the Champions Tour.
“And, you know, he wasn’t quite sure,” Brady said. “It took a lot of time to think about it. We continued to answer questions that he had, and we said, look, at the end of the day, we’re not asking you to come do a full schedule. We’re asking you to dip your toe in the water and let’s see if you like it.”
Wadkins has been the lead analyst of Golf Channel’s coverage of the Champions Tour for the last 13 years. He told Golfweek on Friday that he would do his final broadcast in January at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship, the kickoff to the 2025 Champions Tour season, and Brady said the tour would honor Wadkins’ contributions in a special ceremony to be held before the tournament. At his newsletter, The Quadrilateral, Geoff Shackelford called Wadkins “one of the most underrated analysts in golf television history.”
Azinger, who was the winning U.S. captain at the 2008 Ryder Cup, started in television in 2005 with ABC and ESPN, sharing analyst duties with Nick Faldo in a three-man booth with Mike Tirico. When ESPN lost its right to the British Open in 2015, Azinger signed with Fox Sports as lead analyst when it outbid NBC for the U.S. Open and other USGA championships. NBC hired him in 2018 to replace Johnny Miller when he passed the baton and signed off from the 2019 WM Phoenix Open. Azinger’s final broadcast was the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome.
In January, Golfweek asked Brady about Azinger and he noted that he had seen him shortly after his departure from NBC at the World Champions Cup, which was played not far from Azinger’s home at The Concession in Bradenton, Florida. Brady wondered if he could talk Azinger into bringing his vast talents to the booth on the senior circuit.
“At the right time, I want to go see if maybe he’ll jump in the booth here. Why not? But the money’s vastly different. He has to want to do it. So I’ve got to find the right time,” Brady said. “If I’m with him, just to say, hey, do you want to do a couple events? It’s too raw now.”
Turns out, the time is right for Azinger.
“For Paul, it’s not about the money and he’ll tell you it’s not about the money,” Brady said, “it’s about just staying involved in the game and being close to a lot of his contemporaries.”
When Azinger was reminded that if he enjoys it enough to stick around for a second year, he may have the opportunity to call Tiger Woods again, Azinger’s voice lit up.
“I hope he does,” Azinger said. “He says he will. I mean, if I could do five or six or seven of Tiger’s events, I would be thrilled. I’ll be thrilled anyway. Trust me, it’s gonna be good fun.”
“The Legend of Bagger Vance” was released Nov. 3, 2000.
It’s the fourth highest grossing golf movie of all-time. It’s ranks seventh on IMDB among the best golf movies. It features three huge Hollywood actors – Matt Damon, Charlize Theron and Will Smith – and a big-time director, Robert Redford.
And on Nov. 3, 2024, “The Legend of Bagger Vance” turns 24.
Released in theaters just after Halloween in 2000, the movie got 3 ½ stars from movie critic Roger Ebert, who wrote:
Robert Redford’s “The Legend of Bagger Vance” could be a movie about prayer, music or mathematics because it is really about finding yourself at peace with the thing you do best. Most of the movie is about an epic golf tournament, but it is not a sports movie in any conventional sense. It is the first zen movie about golf.
When and where does the movie take place?
The movie is set in Savannah, Georgia, in 1931, two years into the Depression that was gripping the country. Theron plays Adele, the daughter of a man who built a golf course but then goes broke and commits suicide. Facing financial hardship herself, Adele stages a $10,000 golf tournament and invites Bobby Jones (played by Joel Gretsch) and Walter Hagen (portrayed by Bruce McGill). She also talks local golf legend Rannulph Junuh (Matt Damon’s character) into competing. He was the best golfer in the Savannah area before going off to World War I and coming back a broken man.
Where was the movie filmed?
The Legend of Bagger Vance was shot at Colleton River Club in South Carolina. The golf course’s website notes that “Colleton River was scouted for its classic and iconic courses and Lowcountry scenery.” The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island was also used in the movie.
Matt Damon did not have any previous experience playing golf; he spent a month with golf pro Tim Moss in Hilton Head, South Carolina, to prepare for the role.
The film cast includes four Oscar winners: Will Smith, Matt Damon, Charlize Theron and Jack Lemmon. It was also the last film Lemmon appeared in. He died June 27, 2001, about eight months after the movie’s release.
The last hole is actually not real. At the cost of $200,000, it was temporary, as filmmakers were trying not to disturb club activities.
How much money did The Legend of Bagger Vance make?
The highest-grossing golf movies according to box office earnings:
Tin Cup (1996) – $54 million
Happy Gilmore (1996) – $41 million
Caddyshack (1980) – $39 million
The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000) – $30 million
The Greatest Game Ever Played (2005) – $15 million
Thomas showed his talking head skills late Wednesday night – or was it early Thursday morning?
Some day – mark my words – Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas are going to be in the booth together doing commentary. It may be on some still-to-be created app or the next Netflix but give it 30 years and when those guys are finally done collecting baubles on the senior circuit (if there still is a senior circuit), they’re going to take TV commentary next level.
Thomas showed his talking head skills late Wednesday night – or was it early Thursday morning? The Golf Channel televised the Zozo Championship from 11 p.m.-3 a.m. ET and for those who stayed up for first round coverage, they were treated to Thomas joining the booth with the underrated jack-of-all-trades George Savaricas and former Tour pro Graham DeLaet, who has been cutting his teeth as an analyst for PGA Tour Live and is the go-to-guy for Canada’s TSN.
After shooting 4-under 66 at Narashino Golf Club, Thomas touched on a wealth of subjects. While showing the highlights of his round, Savaricus asked Thomas about his switch back to a mallet putter this week.
“It’s great, it’s Old Faithful. I’ve had a lot of success and won a lot of tournaments with this putter,” Thomas said. “It’s a familiar, familiar feeling.”
We learned that No. 11 is a hole he’ll take par and run and some other course strategy stuff that will be useful to know while enjoying the next three rounds. Then Thomas was asked about his struggles last year and how he’s bounced back and he gave some great insight into the mental game of a major champion and former world No. 1.
“This game is so hard and can really take so much out of you and beat you up some but you’re also never as far it seems,” he said. “Is it the chicken or the egg? Was I hitting it bad and not playing well because my mental game wasn’t good or was it vice-versa?”
He continued: “I always tell people that I’m sorry, but golf is my job and if I’m not playing good golf it’s pretty hard for me to be happy. I understand everyone has different outlooks, but it’s like you need to be out there and enjoy it, but it’s like, buddy, would you be happy if you were sucking at your job? So, no, I’m not going to be happy.”
Justin Thomas will soon be a dad
Before things got too deep for late-night TV and went off the rails, Savaricas lightened the mood by bringing up the fact that Thomas was about to be last member of the Spring Break club – following in the footsteps of Spieth, Smylie Kaufman and Rickie Fowler – to become a dad. Thomas and his wife, Jillian, are expecting their first child, a daughter, in November.
“On the flight home, once this tournament is over, it’s going to become pretty real for me,” admitted Thomas, who likely is making his last start for the foreseeable future.
When Savaricus asked which of the guys he’d be most likely to ask for some advice on doing diapers, Thomas cracked, “Next question.”
“I’d ask all of their wives,” he added.
“Well played,” Savaricus said.
So about Rickie Fowler’s hair
The camera cut to Fowler weighing his next shot and Savaricus did a splendid job of setting Thomas up for his best analysis of all.
“How about Rickie’s flow now? He’s really letting it go in back,” Savaricus noted.
Hey, at 2 a.m., this is the stuff the viewer has been waiting for, am I right?
“I’m not a real big ‘Mullet Rick’ fan,” Thomas said. “I like the short hair Rickie. It’s wild, he looks about 5-8 years younger when he has his hair short. He always has something – it’s the stache, it’s the hair – but it’s Rick, you know, you’ve got to love him for whatever it is.”
Rickie Fowler at the 2024 Zozo Championship at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club. (Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)
This segment with Thomas easily was the highlight of the late night-early morning coverage, and further proof that Thomas, who was great working with Charles Barkley and company on the broadcast of The Match, has a future behind the mic when he’s ready to hang up the spikes.
He even delivered one more line worthy of chuckles. As he signed off, DeLaet said what every man is supposed to say to a soon-to-be papa: “You’re going to be a great dad.”
“Aah,” Thomas said as if he was touched by the comment. “That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
Billed as The Showdown, it will pit the PGA Tour’s two biggest stars against two standouts from LIV Golf.
The made-for-TV match pitting Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler against Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka finally has a home and a date.
Golfweek first reported plans for the event on Sept. 4, but the host course and date had not been agreed at that time. The match will take place at Shadow Creek Golf Course in Las Vegas on Tuesday, Dec. 17. A formal announcement is expected later.
Billed as The Showdown, it will pit the PGA Tour’s two biggest stars against two standouts from LIV Golf and will air on TNT. Timing of the broadcast has not yet been confirmed, though multiple sources say it will conclude during prime time on the East Coast.
In a statement to Golfweek confirming the match last month, McIlroy said, “This isn’t just a contest between some of golf’s major champions; it’s an event designed to energize the fans. We’re all here to put on a great show and contribute to a goodwill event that brings the best together again.”
The Showdown showcases four multiple major-winners, including reigning Masters champion and dominant world No. 1 Scheffler. In June, DeChambeau edged McIlroy by a single shot in a dramatic finish to win his second U.S. Open Championship at Pinehurst No. 2. Two sources say the players will receive an appearance fee but will not compete for prize money. It’s understood that the 18-hole match will feature a mix of best-ball and alternate shot formats.
The Showdown is being created by Bryan Zuriff’s BZ Entertainment and EverWonder Studio. Zuriff was previously involved in The Match, a series of TV matches that launched in 2018 and which had featured McIlroy, DeChambeau and Koepka. EverWonder Studio was founded last year by former Sports Illustrated executive Ian Orefice and backed by Jeff Zucker’s RedBird IMI.
Chet Duffy and Amy Clairmont are calling the action on the fictional Golf Network.
The 50th season of Saturday Night Live is underway and the latest episode featured a spoof of a professional golf tournament.
SNL’s fictional Golf Network had “anchors” Chet Duffy (played by Mikey Day) and Amy Clairmont (portrayed by Heidi Gardner) calling the action at the Oakmont Classic.
In the skit, golfer Brady Knoll tees off and hits a bird. Randy Johnson would be proud. Knoll later takes down a bald eagle nest, a snapping turtle and a squirrel.
Knoll was played by comedian Nate Bargatze, who is an avid golfer.
The ratings marked a 28 percent decline from 2022’s audience.
The 2024 Presidents Cup at Royal Montreal drew a sharply smaller television audience compared to the 2022 edition that was played at Quail Hollow Golf Club in Charlotte, North Carolina.
According to Nielsen data reported by Sports Business Journal, 1.37 million people tuned in for Sunday’s final day on NBC, marking a 28 percent decline from 2022’s audience of 1.89 million, even though the events were played in the same time zone. Saturday’s all-day coverage, which served as a lead-in to college football on NBC, brought in 1.21 million viewers, down 36 percent from 1.89 million two years ago.
To put Sunday’s 1.37 million viewers into perspective, the NFL matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers on CBS attracted 24.1 million viewers. The Thursday night football game between the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants, which was only available on Amazon Prime, drew 16.2 million views. The viewership number for Sunday’s Presidents Cup was about the same as Fox’s NFL Kickoff pre-game show on Sunday (1.2 million) and the second game of the WNBA Playoff series between the Minnesota Lynx and Phoenix Mercury (1.2 million).
The Presidents Cup’s figures fall significantly short of the golf’s marquee events. The final round of the 2024 Masters was down 20 percent year-over-year but was still viewed by 9.58 million people. The final round of the 2024 U.S. Open, which featured a dual between Bryson DeChambeau and Rory McIlroy, was viewed by a a total audience on NBC and Peacock of 5.9 million viewers.
NBC, Golf Channel and Peacock will tee up more than 100 hours of competition coverage.
Did you know Jim “Bones” Mackay has been involved in every Presidents Cup since it started in 1994? As either a caddie or broadcaster, Bones has seen every just about everything at the biennial match-play competition.
The 15th Presidents Cup is a four-day affair with competition beginning Thursday, Sept. 26, but the TV and streaming coverage of the biennial duel between the U.S. and the International squad starts Monday at Royal Montreal with Golf Channel’s Golf Central Live From the Presidents Cup.
It’s the beginning of 50 hours of studio coverage of the event on Golf Channel. In all, NBC, Golf Channel and Peacock will serve up more than 100 hours of competition coverage over seven days. There will also be streaming coverage on NBCSports.com as well as the NBC Sports app.
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