Category: Golf on TV

Watch: Bryson DeChambeau belts drives from hotel rooftop at Brooks Koepka target

The hype machine for the Bryson-Brooks Match on Nov. 26 is officially in full swing.

The Brooks and Bryson hype machine for Capital One’s: The Match is officially in full swing.

Ahead of their 12-hole duel on Friday, November 26, Bryson DeChambeau took an elevator to the 60th floor of the Wynn Las Vegas and climbed to the roof to hit a target with arch rival Brooks Koepka’s face on it.

“Why’s he smiling? I’m about to hit him in the face,” DeChambeau said.

From a height of 614 feet, DeChambeau launched a few drives over 500 yards to hit a target laid out on the Wynn Golf Club course the two will soon meet on for their head-to-head match-up.

To hit the target required a blast of 521 yards.

Bryson being Bryson he asked, “What’s the slope adjustment?”

He was told 19 degrees with wind nearly 10 miles per hour.

No idea whether The Mad Scientist did some calculations in his head but he was smiling as he let rip. When DeChambeau belted his first drive, he pronounced, “That’s gone,” but turned out it was short. He kept getting closer but his frustration was rising until he finally clocked one off Koepka’s mug. It wasn’t quite a bullseye, but it would do.

“Now it’s time to go beat him in the real match,” DeChambeau said.

Let’s hope the actual match lives up to the hype.

You can check out the video here.

 

Long drive, closest to pin challenges announced for Capital One’s: The Match

There will be closest to the pin and longest drive challenges for Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau.

The next installment of Capital One’s The Match pits Bryson DeChambeau against Brooks Koepka at Wynn Las Vegas just off the strip.

It all goes down at 4 p.m. ET on the Friday after Thanksgiving. The match is set for 12 holes and now we have learned about the special on-course contests that will come along with it. Unlike previous Matches, which were team events, this one brings together two long-time social-media combatants in a 1-on-1 competition.

These closest-to-the-pin and longest drives challenges will also aim to do a lot of good for the community with Feeding American, two prominent children’s hospitals as well as the APGA on the receiving end of some big bucks.

No. 3: DraftKings Closest to the Hole

A $50,000 charitable donation will be made in the player’s name for whoever lands his tee shot closest to the hole. If the ball gets within five feet of the hole, an additional $150,000 will be donated. A $2 million donation will be made for a hole-in-one.

No. 6: Wheels Up/Meals Up and Feeding America Closest to the Hole

The player who gets closest to the hole here will help donate 500,000 meals to Feeding America. If a shot ends up within five feet of the hole, an additional 1 ½ million meals will be donated. A whopping 20 million meals will be donated if DeCheambeau or Koepka makes a hole-in-one.

No. 7: Capital One Venture X Long Drive Challenge

Don’t pencil in DeChambeau for this one just yet. Whoever hits the longest drive here will get to donate $200,000.

No. 9: ZipRecruiter Closest to the Hole

Another closest-to-the-pin contest and this one is good for a $50,000 donation. A shot that ends up within five feet of the hole will provide an additional $150,000 donation. An ace is good for a $2 million donation.

No. 11: Wagoneer Closest to the Hole

Closest to the pin is good for a $50,000 donation. Any shot that ends up within five feet of the hole will provide an additional $150,000 donation. An ace is good for a $2 million donation.

Capital One has provided $15 million in community investments and grants to small businesses across the country to help them throughout the pandemic and will provide additional grants aimed at helping Black business owners through an ongoing partnership with AEO (Association for Enterprise Opportunity).

TNT’s presentation of Capital One’s The Match will also be simulcast on TBS, truTV and HLN. TNT’s Brian Andersen is the play-by-play voice and he will be joined by Phil Mickelson and Charles Barkley, with Amanda Balionis working as the on-course reporter.

[lawrence-related id=777996110,778178714,778176591]

Matt Every to make TV debut for Golf Channel at RSM Classic: ‘I’m not afraid of anyone out here. So, I’ll say what I want to say’

The 37-year-old former Florida Gator star is starting a two-event tryout.

SAINT SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – Matt Every strolled down the practice range at Sea Island Resort, wearing a white hoodie, dark shades and the look of a man without a concern in the world. Instead of gripping a 4-iron this week at the RSM Classic, he’ll be gripping a microphone and making his TV debut for Golf Channel as a guest on-course reporter.

The 37-year-old former Florida Gator star is starting a two-event tryout here and next month at the PNC Championship in Orlando after enduring a season in which he failed to make a cut in 22 starts on the PGA Tour.

“I think it’s going to be good for me to do something different,” he said. “I was going through the motions for quite a while. Mentally I wasn’t there. I think I became jaded and you can’t fake the hunger of a 25 year old who’s never tasted success before vs I’m 37 and not getting any younger. I already didn’t practice a lot and it probably caught up to me.”

Every said he got the idea of becoming a TV golf analyst after seeing the success of Colt Knost, one of his contemporaries, who retired as a player in January 2020 and made a seamless transition to the media world as both a podcast host and Golf Channel/CBS roving reporter.

“We’re very similar in a room,” Every said of Knost. “I’ve had some people whose opinion I value tell me that I’d be good at it and I think I could be. I’m a little different, I do have some edge to me but I’m not out of control, though. I know what’s right and wrong. And I’m not afraid of anyone out here. So, I’ll say what I want to say. I think some people might be afraid I will slip up and say something stupid, but those are people that don’t really know me.”

Every twice won the Arnold Palmer Invitational and more than $10 million in career prize money, but hasn’t made a cut since the Wyndham Championship in August 2020. He missed 20 cuts and withdrew twice in 22 starts last season, and withdrew from the Butterfield Bermuda Championship, his only 2021-22 start, last month.

“I don’t have it in me mentally to go grind on the Korn Ferry (Tour) for a year. There’s no chance,” he said. “That’s me being honest with myself. I don’t want to miss what’s going on in my kids’ lives and it wouldn’t work.”

Every said he’s not quitting golf, calling himself “a recreational golfer,” but isn’t closing the door on the PGA Tour should his competitive juices return. His past champion status should get him into a number of second tier events, what he dubbed “the island tour” – Bermuda, Puerto Rico, Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic, for instance – and if he can earn enough to finish in the top 200 in the FedEx Cup standings, he would earn a berth in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals.

Every always has been one of the more candid interviews, displaying a self-awareness absent in many players. He could be a breath of fresh air to the coverage if he can bring his no-nonsense assessment of his own game to the current players he’s competed against for years. Nearly a decade ago, Every was part of an awkward Golf Channel interview during the Sony Open at Hawaii when then-host Kelly Tilghman grilled him about being arrested for possession of marijuana.

“Yeah, that was awkward, but it was so long ago,” Every said.

Every said he will be shadowing either John Wood or Curt Byrum on Thursday and then the red light goes live on Friday. Golf Channel’s Steve Sands told him to be himself and fight the urge to over-talk.

“I’m hoping if it goes well,” Every said of the tryout, “someone will snag me up.”

[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=none image=https://golfweek.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

Watch: New Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka ‘BFF’ ad for The Match is just the beginning

A new ad is set to debut with video of the two playing over the Queen hit, “You’re my best friend.”

How bad do you want that PIP money?

Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka continue to prove they’ll do whatever it takes to get a sizable chunk of the Player Impact Program first reported on by Golfweek, an initiative set to dispense $40 million in bonuses to 10 stars deemed to have most moved the needle in terms of fan engagement.

The two will meet in the latest edition of The Match the day after Thanksgiving. The event will take place at the Wynn Golf Club, which sits just a few big swings from the Las Vegas strip. The pair will face off in a 12-hole showdown with the usual cast of Turner characters — including Ernie Johnson and Charles Barkley — handling the telecast. TNT’s presentation will be simulcast on TBS, truTV and HLN, as well. Live coverage will start at 4 p.m. ET.

A new ad is set to debut with video of the two playing over the Queen classic radio staple, “You’re my best friend.” And this is just the beginning.

In the ad, Koepka says matter-of-factly: “Give the people what they want.” DeChambeau later adds: “Friendsgiving is going to be just a little bit different this year.”

Here’s the ad.

As for the course,  Steve Wynn purchased the resort in 2000, and the Tom Fazio-designed Wynn Golf Club opened in 2005. But that layout was shuttered in 2017 as the operators of the adjacent Wynn Las Vegas hotel and casino considered other uses for the ridiculously valuable land on which the course sits, and the resort lost millions of dollars in revenue from green fees and other golf-attributable casino earnings.

[listicle id=778108553]

[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=01evcfxp4q8949fs1e image=https://golfweek.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

21 golfers we’d like to see on Golf Channel’s ‘player takeover’

Fans who stayed up late for the Zozo were rewarded with extended golfer visits to the broadcast booth.

Golf Channel spiced things up during the broadcast of the Zozo Championship this past week.

You had to stay up late to see it, but if you did you were rewarded with extended visits to the broadcast booth from Rickie Fowler (Thursday), Charley Hoffman (Friday), Pat Perez (Saturday) and Ryan Palmer (Sunday).

Like this classic Saturday Night Live skit with Christopher Walker – “Needs more cowbell!” – PGA Tour broadcasts can use some more spice. Let’s hope this will become a regular thing in the 2020-21 season and not just a late-night experiment that gets shutdown by some suit.

Here are 21 players that we’d like to see as part of what Golf Channel dubbed its “player takeover” segment. Editor’s note: Players are listed alphabetically.

Who’s that moonlighting in the Golf Channel booth at Zozo Championship? Why, yes, it was Rickie Fowler, and he won’t be the only one

At the PGA Tour stop in Japan, some pros are heading to the broadcast booth after their rounds.

Forget the driving range. This week, at the Zozo Championship in Japan, some PGA Tour pros are heading to the broadcast booth after their rounds to don the headset.

Rickie Fowler, fresh off shooting an even-par 70 that included a triple-bogey at the par-4 17th  hole, joined Golf Channel’s George Savaricas in the 18th-hole tower and provided commentary. As Savaricas tweeted out, the plan is for a different player to sit in and do their best Johnny Miller impression each day.

As Fowler joined the telecast, the coverage shifted to the 17th hole with Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama on the tee.

“Well, we’re coming right back to where my hiccup was today,” Fowler said.

“The scene of the crime,” Savaricas added, “of course we had to start with 17, of all of the holes that we had to have Rickie break down.”

When Matsuyama found the fairway, Fowler cracked, “Yeah, that might have saved me a few shots right there.”

The player takeover doesn’t mean lead analysts Nick Faldo and Paul Azinger will be out of a job any time soon. Due to Japan’s extreme COVID-19 travel restrictions, Golf Channel sent a smaller team to the Zozo. Dom Boulet, who commentates regularly in Asia, and Alison Whitaker, who is a regular contributor of European Tour and Ladies European Tour broadcast coverage, are part of the on-air team this week.

“This opportunity presented itself as a creative solution and potential to enhance the telecast,” said Jamie Palatini, Golf Channel’s manager of communications.

Sources say that Charley Hoffman could be moonlighting in the booth following his second round but that is subject to change. In any event, it’s something different to the late-night broadcasts – what my colleague Julie Williams has tabbed “insomnia golf” – and perhaps it could become a regular thing down the road.

Here are some of Fowler’s insights:

Fowler on playing in Japan and his Japanese ties: “I love Japan. …spending the amount of time I did with my grandpa growing up. … Japanese culture is very much a part of how I grew up and a part of the family. I love Japan and I love the culture, I love the food.”

Fowler on upcoming birth of his and wife Allison’s first child due in November: “Things are about to get very real. The room is pretty much ready to go, Allison has been leading the ship there. … she’s running the show and we’re excited, but it’s going to be very different. No names yet, we’re working on it. Our end goal is to go in with two or three potentials and make a game-time decision.”

Fowler on working with John Tillery and recently visiting with his former swing coach, Butch Harmon: “Obviously Butch and I have a great relationship. Working through the kind of middle part of my career together, a lot of good things. And John Tillery and I have been together the last couple of years. It’s been a long road of not so good golf, but there was light at the end of the tunnel at times, and over the last six weeks before going to Vegas, I feel like we kind of really turned the corner and had some good stuff. So, I was excited to just go hit balls with Butch to just kind of show him what we had and what was happening, and ultimately, just to have him say, ‘Good job, keep it going.’ And that’s basically what he did. … So kind of the stamp of approval. … It’s been a fun ride at times, rough at others, but we’re definitely in a better spot.”

Zozo Championship 2021
Rickie Fowler hits his tee shot on the 13th hole during the first round of the Zozo Championship at the Narashino Country Club in Inzai, Chiba prefecture on October 21, 2021. Photo by Atsushi Tomura/Getty Images

Fowler on the course at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club: “The golf course is great. It’s a very fair test. There’s some holes out there that are just tough, proper golf holes, 17 being one of them. You’ve got to drive it in the fairway and especially today with that pin tucked over on the right. You get plenty of scoreable clubs in your hands, but the defense here really are a couple of tough par fours and then there’s the greens. You can’t see it on TV – TV just doesn’t do it justice – there’s a lot of movement and if you get above the hole, you’ve got to be very careful.”

[vertical-gallery id=778169806]

[lawrence-related id=778169904,778169895,778169847,778169709]

Famed Scottish golf broadcaster Renton Laidlaw dies at 82; tributes flood in

Laidlaw became the first non-American reporter to reach the milestone of 40 Masters tournaments in 2013.

Tributes have been made to Renton Laidlaw, a hugely respected Scottish golf journalist and broadcaster, who has passed away at the age of 82.

Edinburgh-born Laidlaw was a true voice of the game across the mediums and his tireless dedication and distinctive style brought acclaim and accolades throughout a career of revered longevity.

Laidlaw covered his first British Open back in 1959 while he would become the first non-American reporter to reach the milestone of 40 Masters tournaments in 2013.

In total, the softly-spoken Scot covered 165 majors including 58 Opens and 42 Masters as well as golf’s other showpiece occasions in a globe-trotting professional life spanning six decades.

Read more: Renton Laidlaw reflects on golf’s golden age

Ewen Murray, the Sky Sports golf commentator, led the tributes for his fellow Edinburgh man and wrote: “I met Renton Laidlaw when I was seven. He was 22 and came to my parents’ house every Friday for tea ahead of his column for the Edinburgh Evening News.

“He was my mentor at the start of my TV career. A gifted broadcaster, an exceptional man in every way. Many hearts are sore tonight.”

Renton Laidlaw died at the age of 82.

Dougie Donnelly, another well-kent voice of golf, described Laidlaw as a “dear friend and colleague” and added that he was “an outstanding writer and broadcaster, held in genuine affection by everyone he worked with, and a great support to me and to so many others over the years. He will be very sadly missed.”

Iain Carter, the BBC’s golf correspondent, said Laidlaw had been the “voice of golf on BBC radio for so many years and a colossus of the golfing media.”

The game’s governing body, The R&A, issued a statement on Laidlaw’s passing and said: “With his distinctive Scottish voice, Laidlaw was one of golf’s most respected broadcasters and journalists, and provided great service and dedication to the sport.”

[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=none image=https://golfweek.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

Report: Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka will square off in the next ‘Match.’ Here are the details.

Bryson DeChambeau hinted there was more coming between him and Brooks Koepka.

During a resounding American victory at the Ryder Cup, Bryson DeChambeau hinted there was more coming between him and Brooks Koepka, but didn’t let on to what that might be.

Now we know.

The fifth edition of The Match, the made-for-TV series presented by Turner Sports, will take place the day after Thanksgiving and will set new buddies Koepka and DeChambeau in a mano a mano competition in Las Vegas.

According to a report, the event will take place at the Wynn Golf Club, which sits just a few big swings from the strip. The pair will face off in a 12-hole showdown with the usual cast of Turner characters — Ernie Johnson and Charles Barkley — handling the telecast.

[vertical-gallery id=778106667]

This brings the event full-circle — the first-ever Match pitted Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson in Las Vegas back in 2018 at Shadow Creek.

As for the course, Steve Wynn purchased the resort in 2000, and the Tom Fazio-designed Wynn Golf Club opened in 2005. But that layout was shuttered in 2017 as the operators of the adjacent Wynn Las Vegas hotel and casino considered other uses for the ridiculously valuable land on which the course sits, and the resort lost millions of dollars in revenue from green fees and other golf-attributable casino earnings.

After scrapping plans to build a lagoon on the site with new hotel rooms and restaurants, Fazio and his son, Logan, were called to breathe fresh life into the abandoned track. Wynn Golf Club reopened in October of 2019 with eight new and 10 refurbished holes, playing to a par of 70 at 6,722 yards.

[listicle id=778108553]

“I think the emotion for the Wynn Golf Club is, it is a very distinct, unique, one-of-a-kind place,” Tom Fazio said. The hotels and casinos and general Las Vegas buzz are ”part of the experience. So I think the Wynn Golf Club … is something that maybe can’t be reproduced.”

The layout ranked ninth in Golfweek’s Best list of casino courses in 2017 before its closure.

[listicle id=778119053]

[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=none image=https://golfweek.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

 

How to watch the 43rd Ryder Cup on Golf Channel, NBC

TV coverage on NBC, Golf Channel will also be “simul-streamed” on Peacock Premium and RyderCup.com.

[mm-video type=video id=01fg58bf842ame9y740a playlist_id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=01evcfxp4q8949fs1e image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01fg58bf842ame9y740a/01fg58bf842ame9y740a-127c2039edb2de530bf5ccc0cdcb3654.jpg]

Due to the COVID pandemic, golf fans around the world had to wait an extra year for the latest installment of the biennial event, but now it’s here.

From the first tee shot to the final putt, NBC Sports is planning more than 100 hours of live tournament and studio coverage of the 43rd Ryder Cup.

Let’s do this.

The event starts Friday, Sept. 24, but the week started on Monday with the captain’s news conference for Steve Stricker and Padraig Harrington.

Golf Channel will have coverage during the week and exclusive TV coverage of the first day action on Friday. NBC and Golf Channel will split the coverage Saturday. Sunday’s singles matches will be exclusively on TV on NBC. All live TV coverage on NBC and Golf Channel will also be “simul-streamed” on Peacock Premium and at RyderCup.com.

You can watch Golf Channel for free on fuboTV. All times listed are ET.

Tuesday, Sept. 21

Golf Central – Live From the Ryder Cup: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m., Golf Channel

Wednesday, Sept. 22

Golf Central – Live From the Ryder Cup: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m., Golf Channel

Thursday, Sept. 23

Golf Central – Live From the Ryder Cup: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Golf Channel

Opening Ceremony will be from 4 to 5 p.m.

Friday, Sept. 24

TV

Golf Central – Live From the Ryder Cup: 6 to 8 a.m., Golf Channel

Ryder Cup, Day 1: 8 a.m. and 7 p.m., Golf Channel

Foursomes at 8:05 a.m., 8:21 a.m., 8:37 a.m., 8:53 a.m.
Four-ball matches at 1:10 p.m., 1:26 p.m., 1:42 p.m., 1:58 p.m.

Golf Central – Live From the Ryder Cup: 7 to 9 p.m., Golf Channel

Streaming

Featured Groups, Day 1: 8 a.m. and 7 p.m., Peacock, RyderCup.com, the Ryder Cup app, NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app.

Saturday, Sept. 25

TV

Golf Central – Live From the Ryder Cup: 6 to 8 a.m., Golf Channel

Ryder Cup, Day 2: 8 to 9 a.m., Golf Channel; 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., NBC

Foursomes at 8:05 a.m., 8:21 a.m., 8:37 a.m., 8:53 a.m.
Four-ball matches at 1:10 p.m., 1:26 p.m., 1:42 p.m., 1:58 p.m.

Golf Central – Live From the Ryder Cup: 7 to 9 p.m., Golf Channel

Streaming

Featured Groups, Day 2: 8 a.m. and 7 p.m., Peacock, RyderCup.com, the Ryder Cup app, NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app.

Sunday, Sept. 26

TV

Golf Central – Live From the Ryder Cup: 9 a.m. to noon, Golf Channel

Ryder Cup, Day 3: noon to 6 p.m., NBC

The 12 singles matches start 12:04 p.m. and golfers will go off at 11-minute intervals. Play will conclude around 5 p.m. The Trophy Presentation will then take place on the 18th green.

Golf Central – Live From the Ryder Cup: 7 to 9 p.m., Golf Channel

Streaming

Featured Group, Day 3: noon to 6 p.m., Peacock, RyderCup.com, the Ryder Cup app, NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app.

We recommend interesting sports viewing and streaming opportunities. If you sign up to a service by clicking one of the links, we may earn a referral fee.

[vertical-gallery id=778161837]

NBC Sports to make history with all-women broadcast team for ShopRite LPGA Classic in October

The all-women team will call the ShopRite LPGA Classic in New Jersey.

NBC Sports will make U.S. television history this fall.

On Monday the network announced it will utilize an all-women broadcast team to call the ShopRite LPGA Classic on Golf Channel, Oct. 1-3, at Seaview’s Bay Course in Galloway, New Jersey.

Cara Banks will take the play-by-play duties with Judy Rankin and Paige Mackenzie as analysts while Karen Stupples and Kay Cockerill will serve as on-course reporters. Longtime producer Beth Hutter, who has produced LPGA coverage for more than 15 years, will call the shots behind the scenes.

“We’re thrilled to assemble this incredibly accomplished group of women for our broadcast of the ShopRite LPGA Classic on Golf Channel,” said Molly Solomon, executive producer for NBC Olympics and Golf Channel. “Our NBC Sports team features talented women at all levels – both on-camera and behind-the-scenes – who are essential to making our coverage a success on every platform, and we’re honored to celebrate their work as part of this broadcast.”

Earlier this year former Golf Channel employee Lisa Cornwell caused a stir when she aired out allegations of mistreatment by Golf Channel executives on the No Laying Up podcast, which led to a Washington Post report where women who worked at the network said sexism fuels a “boys’ club” culture.

In March of 2020 NBC Sports featured the first all-women broadcast for an NHL game. Earlier this year, Rene Hatlelid then became the first woman to produce the Indianapolis 500 on NBC. Lindsay Schanzer also became the first woman to produce a Triple Crown race, leading NBC Sports’ Preakness and Belmont Stakes productions on NBC.