Category: Golf on TV

Emilia Migliaccio to compete – and be a TV reporter – at U.S. Women’s Open

Migliaccio will work as an on-course reporter when she’s not competing at Pebble Beach.

The U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach is going to be historic.

It’s the first time the best women in the world will tackle the famed links on the Monterey Peninsula. It’s one of the most anticipated U.S. Women’s Opens in ever.

For Emilia Migliaccio, it will be extra busy.

The recent national champion at Wake Forest is teeing it up at Pebble Beach Golf Links, but she will also sport a headset when she’s not battling the course. Migliaccio will work as an on-course reporter covering featured groups during the streaming window when she’s not playing.

Featured groups will be shown live from 11:50 a.m. ET and 5:35 p.m. ET on Peacock, uswomensopen.com, the USGA mobile app, the USGA streaming app for smart TVs as well as DirecTV. Peacock will also have coverage 4-6 p.m. ET on Thursday and Friday.

Migliaccio is one of 28 amateurs teeing it up at Pebble Beach. This will be her third start at the U.S. Women’s Open. She missed the cut in her previous two attempts.

How to watch The Match between Steph Curry-Klay Thompson and Patrick Mahomes-Travis Kelce

Everything you need to know for the latest edition of The Match.

A pair of champions are teaming up for the eighth edition of The Match.

The Golden State Warriors’ Splash Brothers Steph Curry and Klay Thompson are squaring off against the Kansas City Chief’s Super Bowl champion tandem Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce on Thursday night at the Wynn Golf Club in Las Vegas.

The 12-hole scramble, made-for-tv charity match returns to the Wynn for the third time in as many years after previously hosting Bryson DeChambeau vs. Brooks Koepka in 2021 and Tom Brady-Aaron Rodgers vs. Josh Allen-Patrick Mahomes in 2022. Money raised through the event will benefit the No Kid Hungry campaign.

Here’s everything you need to know for the latest playing of the Match.

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How to watch

Time: 6:30 p.m. ET
TV: TNT, truTV and HLN.
Streaming: Sling TV, TNT.com, truTV.com, the TNT app and the truTV app.

The loaded broadcast team will feature Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Draymond Green, Von Miller, Trevor Immelman and Kathryn Tappen.

Past results

Date Match Winners Opponents Score
Nov. 2018 Tiger vs. Phil Phil Mickelson Tiger Woods 22 holes
May 2020 Champions For Charity Tiger Woods and Peyton Manning Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady 1 up
Nov. 2020 Champions For Change Phil Mickelson and Charles Barkley Steph Curry and Peyton Manning 4 and 3
July 2021 The Match IV Bryson DeChambeau and Aaron Rodgers Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady 3 and 2
Nov. 2021 Bryson vs. Brooks Brooks Koepka Bryson DeChambeau 5 and 3
June 2022 Brady/Rodgers vs. Allen/Mahomes Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes 1 up
Dec. 2022 The Match VII Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods 3 and 2

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Steph Curry works with Butch Harmon, Klay Thompson watches Tiger Woods videos ahead of The Match in Las Vegas

Curry and Thompson will take on Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce this Thursday at the Wynn in Las Vegas.

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NBA greats Steph Curry and Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors are taking on NFL legends Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs in the latest edition of The Match this Thursday at the Wynn in Las Vegas.

Mahomes teamed up with Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen last time around, losing to Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers. Curry has also played in The Match series, losing alongside Peyton Manning to Phil Mickelson and Charles Barkley.

Although those two may have some scar tissue, their teammates are making their Match debut.

Kelce claimed he’s around a 10 handicap when talking with the media Tuesday. As for Thompson, he’s somewhere in the double digits.

Curry, on the other hand, has serious game.

He’s played on the Korn Ferry Tour, has finished inside the top 10 in two of the last three American Century Championships at Lake Tahoe and has now sought advice from one of the best golf instructors in the world.

Lynch: The Match proves golf can be a fun product, without trading virtues for vulgarity

Butch Harmon has helped the likes of Tiger Woods, Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler, and has been dubbed more of a life coach than golf coach.

Curry is hoping to implement some of Harmon’s practices when he tees it up later this week.

“For me, it’s that fine balance of not getting information overload and having 800 swing thoughts in your head,” Curry said. “Up until last summer, I never got any teaching or coaching. You have to understand how to apply whatever information you’re learning on the course, which is a totally different experience. Just trying to keep things as simple as possible.

“Butch gave me one little swing thought that I’ll probably talk about on the telecast if I hit a good shot, give him a shout-out. Just trying to build a little of confidence but not overcomplicate just being an athlete out there.”

Thompson reiterated Curry’s point of not overcomplicating things, but he did admit he’s been doing some research on YouTube.

“I’ve been watching a lot of YouTube. Last night I watched Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy’s tutorial on scoring shots. I learned some things. I’ve just been trying to pick up tips from the pros.

“Haven’t watched any basketball the last few weeks, just all golf stuff. Lots of Tiger highlights, too.”

The Curry/Thompson vs. Mahomes/Kelce battle will begin at 6:30 p.m. ET on Thursday. It will be televised on TNT, truTV and HLN and streamed on Sling TV.

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Former PGA of America CEO Pete Bevacqua leaving NBC Sports to become AD at Notre Dame

The 1993 graduate of Notre Dame is returning to the South Bend, Indiana, campus.

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SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Jack Swarbrick, Notre Dame’s director of athletics since July 2008, has arrived at a succession plan.

Pete Bevacqua, chairman of NBC Sports, will join Notre Dame on July 1 and spend the rest of the year learning the ropes of modern athletic administration before Swarbrick steps down in early 2024, the university announced Thursday.

Swarbrick, a Notre Dame graduate and longtime power broker on the NCAA’s rapidly changing landscape, turned 69 in March. In recent years he has guided the major sports programs of the Irish through multiple coaching transitions, hiring new head coaches for football (Marcus Freeman), men’s basketball (Micah Shrewsberry), women’s basketball (Niele Ivey) and baseball (Shawn Stiffler).

A 1993 Notre Dame graduate and briefly a walk-on punter for coach Lou Holtz, Bevacqua’s transitional title will be special assistant to the president for athletics.

“At a time of great chaos and disruption in college athletics,” Notre Dame President Rev. John I. Jenkins said in a statement, “it will be invaluable to have Pete join Jack and me in charting a future for Notre Dame athletics that allows our student-athletes to play at the highest level, enjoy a full student experience and earn a Notre Dame degree.”

Named in September 2020 as the third chairman in NBC Sports history, the 51-year-old Bevacqua has become a known quantity at Notre Dame over the past five years as the network and the university work to extend a broadcast agreement that is entering its 33rd football season this fall.

Bevacqua, who holds a law degree from Georgetown, previously served as NBC Sports president since 2018 after a six-year stint as CEO of the PGA of America.

“It speaks volumes about Notre Dame and Father Jenkins’ leadership that we can implement such a well-conceived succession plan and attract someone of Pete’s talent and experience,” Swarbrick said in a statement. “I have worked closely with Pete throughout his time at NBC. I believe he has the perfect skill set to help Notre Dame navigate the rapidly changing landscape that is college athletics today and be an important national leader as we look to the future.”

A native of Bedford, New York, Bevacqua and wife Tiffany have three children.

“This is an unbelievable honor for me and a dream come true,” Bevacqua said in a statement. “With the exception of my family, nothing means more to me than the University of Notre Dame. … Jack has become a true friend over the course of the past several years, and I am looking forward to working alongside him and learning as much as I can from the person I admire and respect the most in college athletics.”

Notre Dame law professor Patricia Bellia, faculty athletics representative and chair of Notre Dame’s faculty board on athletics, praised the move.

“Jack Swarbrick has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to academic integrity and academic excellence and has been a steadfast partner to the Notre Dame faculty in ensuring that our student-athletes can succeed in the classroom and on the field,” Bellia said in a statement. “Pete Bevacqua shares those commitments, and we look forward to collaborating with him to provide the best environment for Notre Dame student-athletes to flourish as students, athletes and leaders.”

Could the LPGA and PGA tours start streaming services? In today’s media landscape, it’s not a crazy idea

You can imagine a world where the PGA Tour has its own streaming service, with the PGA Tour Champions and the Korn Ferry Tour.

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When Diamond Sports Group, known for its Bally regional sports networks, failed to make its most recent payment to the San Diego Padres this week, a snowball started rolling downhill.

The broadcast rights for San Diego’s games reverted back to the Padres, Major League Baseball took over productions of Padres games and the loud bell that some heard ringing was the death knell of the regional sports network as we have come to know them.

While Padres games are still available through cable or other outlets, it is well known that MLB would like to put all 30 of its teams on some kind of umbrella streaming service. If orange is the new black and 50 is the new 40, streaming services would like to be the new cable. The live sports that once came into your living room for free through the air and later poured out of your television screen with a monthly cable bill are slowly working their way onto streaming platforms for subscription fees.

While an all-encompassing streaming network for MLB might be a long road, such a move would be just another step in the trend of major sports starting to hide some of its products behind the paywalls of streaming services. Cable’s great advantage over streaming has been live sports, with even some teams having their own network. That advantage might be slipping away.

Impossible, you say? Remember that events that seemed like they would stay on the networks forever — think about events like the Rose Bowl — moved to cable decades ago. Could such events find their way to streaming services as cable continues to slide and sports look for new or additional revenue sources?

Golf Today
Golf Today’s studio in Stamford, Connecticut. (Photo: Golf Channel/NBC Sports)

Consider for a moment:

  • Apple TV has an exclusive Major League Baseball doubleheader on Friday nights, available only if you pay the monthly subscription fee. That means if, say, the Los Angeles Dodgers are selected for the Apple TV game, that game will not be available that night on SportsNet L.A., the Dodgers’ cable home.
  • The NFL, the king of all sports in the country, announced that one of its wildcard playoffs games this coming season will be broadcast exclusively on a streaming service. That game, on Jan. 13, 2024, will be on Peacock, NBCUniversal’s streaming service. So will another wildcard game that day, but at least the second game will also be seen on NBC.
  • The NFL has already moved its Thursday night games to Amazon Prime. The league‘s Sunday Ticket is moving to YouTube this season, giving more fans greater access to out-of-market games.
  • Golf fans already know that early-round play on weekdays and early morning play on weekends are both available on ESPN+ as well as Peacock.
  • Golf fans also know the best way to watch the Masters is Masters.com, which includes the regular CBS broadcast as well as focus on certain holes or players and featured groups. Some Masters coverage is also on ESPN+.

None of this means the Super Bowl will be an exclusive property of Paramount+ or Peacock anytime soon – at least for now – but it does all point toward a world where team and league control of broadcasts on streaming services is potentially the next evolution for live sports. The NFL, as usual, seems to be ahead of the game.

You can imagine a world where the PGA Tour has its own streaming service, providing on-demand coverage of its events from the regular tour to PGA Tour Champions to the Korn Ferry Tour.

Maybe that would be the way for the LPGA to promote its tour perhaps better than it is treated by other broadcast outlets.

While cord-cutting is eating away at cable’s relevance, streaming services have their own issues. Some, like CNN+, shut down almost before they debuted. All of them cost money, of course, and some offer far more than a viewer actually wants, much like cable. Disney Plus, for instance, can offer Hulu and ESPN+.

Do Mickey Mouse and the PGA Tour attract the same audiences? Chase all the live sports heading to streaming, and suddenly the costs of multiple streaming services begin to approach the cost of cable.

One thing seems certain. More and more live sports will be heading to streaming services in the coming months and years, and complaints from fans about having to subscribe to watch will follow. If you don’t think some major events will head to streaming, just remember when every college bowl game was on a major network, and how all those games moved to cable. The Rose Bowl on Peacock can’t be too many years away.

Larry Bohannan is the golf writer for The Desert Sun, part of the USA Today Network. You can contact him at (760) 778-4633 or at larry.bohannan@desertsun.com.

Did Jim Nantz throw another zinger at LIV Golf during the PGA Championship? It appears so

Just a month ago, CBS’s Jim Nantz appeared to take a little jab at Brooks Koepka playing for LIV Golf. He was back at it om Thursday.

Just a month ago, CBS’s Jim Nantz appeared to take a little jab at Brooks Koepka playing for LIV Golf and the fact that the Saudi-backed league airs on the CW. That was during the Masters and golf fans loved it.

Fast-forward to Thursday’s opening round of the 2023 PGA Championship at Oak Hill. Dustin Johnson — also a LIV golfer — stepped to the tee (just a day after his very suggestive back injury explanation) … and Nantz had this to say: “Not sure if you had a chance to see it, but he was the winner last week in Tulsa.”

Why would that be a shot at LIV? Likely because the CW cut away from Sunday’s LIV Golf playoff to show reruns or infomercials.

The next Capital One’s The Match will be NFL vs. NBA as Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce will take on Steph Curry and Klay Thompson

It’s going to be a battle of NFL stars against NBA standouts at the next Capital One’s: The Match.

It’s going to be a battle of NFL stars against NBA standouts at the next Capital One’s: The Match.

In the eighth rendition of the made-for-TV golf event, Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce of the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs will take on Steph Curry and Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors at Wynn Las Vegas.

The event will be 12 holes and live on TNT on Thursday, June 29, at 6:30 p.m. ET (3:30 p.m. Vegas time).

Curry competed in the third Match alongside Peyton Manning in November 2020 against Phil Mickelson and Charles Barkley. Mahomes was in the seventh Match in June 2022, which featured four NFL quarterbacks. Mahomes and Josh Allen squared off against Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers.

The format for this next Match is still to be determined. The TNT announcing crew will also be announced at a later date.

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Jack Nicklaus and other legends of the game surprise Jim Nantz with the Dave Marr Award

“I’m absolutely shocked. I had no idea and I am so honored” — Jim Nantz

Jim Nantz had no idea he was the recipient of the 2023 Dave Marr Award.

In each of the last 13 years, among his other duties at the network, the golf voice of CBS Sports has also been a part of the Insperity Invitational’s Players Dinner – an annual tradition that began in 2005 to celebrate golf legends on the PGA Tour Champions.

On Thursday evening, tournament officials surprised Nantz with the prestigious award given annually for contributions and passion to the game of golf.

“I’m absolutely shocked. I had no idea and I am so honored,” said Nantz, whose first appearance at the Masters was in 1986. “Dave Marr was my first-ever guest on a local radio station here in Houston. Since that day, I have lived and died telling the stories of all these great golfers. I idolize all of them. I love this award and I love the Marr family.”

Several of Nantz’s idols, including Jack Nicklaus, played a hand in the surprise announcement. Nicklaus was joined by Gary Player and Lee Trevino, who each spoke about what Nantz has meant to the game of golf.

“I first met Jim in 1985 and then obviously at Augusta in 1986. Jim has been a friend for a long time. He has received many honors but it is long overdue for him to be honored here tonight and I know this is a special one for him,” said Nicklaus.

The Dave Marr Award, created in 1999 to honor individuals who exemplify the traits Marr lived by – sportsmanship, honesty, integrity and a passion for the game of golf – Nantz joins a prestigious list of winners who have done remarkable things both on the golf course and in their communities. The recipients of the Dave Marr Award include Arnold Palmer, Miller Barber, Don January, Ben Crenshaw, Larry Nelson, Tom Watson, Fuzzy Zoeller, Lee Trevino, Curtis Strange, Barbara Nicklaus, Bernhard Langer, Tom Lehman and Johnny Miller.

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Chevron Championship was NBC’s most watched sports program of the week

Things really heated up when Lilia Vu and Angel Yin went to a playoff, with an impressive number of peak viewers.

The Chevron Championship’s move from California to Texas might not have been popular with LPGA players, but the tour’s first major of the year was a bona fide success in terms of its television audience, according to numbers that were unveiled early this week.

The final round of coverage from The Club at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands averaged 941,000 viewers across all platforms, including NBC Sports, the NBC Sports app and Peacock, which is up considerably from the 349,000 average viewers when the event was on Golf Channel last year.

But things really heated up when champ Lilia Vu and Angel Yin went to a playoff, with a peak of 1.54 million viewers or a 1.0 rating between 7:15 and 7:30 p.m. ET. Yin went in the water as the two played 18 again in the playoff, and Vu dropped a birdie putt to capture her first major title.

The tournament’s numbers were clearly aided by a schedule move away from the Augusta National Women’s Amateur and into a better timeslot against the PGA Tour’s Zurich Classic.

Other important stats:

  • This year’s event was the most-watched since 2010 and was the best for NBC Sports
  • The Chevron was the top-rated sports program on NBC for the week
  • It was also in the top 20 sports programs for the week across all broadcast networks
  • Even though it falls in the heart of a busy week that included NBA and NHL playoffs, Major League Baseball games and the PGA Tour’s Zurich, Sunday’s broadcast of the Chevron was among the top 10 sports broadcasts for the day

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In a new golf sitcom, Will Ferrell will star as the ‘face of a controversial new league’, per report

This new scripted comedy does not yet have a name or a release date.

He’s frequently seen courtside at NBA and NHL games. He was on the pitch during an MLS championship celebration. He starred in a “mockumentary” on HBO in 2015 after he played nine positions for 10 baseball teams in a single day during spring training in Arizona.

He’s taken his love of sports to the big screen, portraying a NASCAR driver, a figure skater and basketball player in the movies.

Up next, Will Ferrell is reportedly going to be a golfer in a new sitcom.

According to a report by Deadline, the “series revolves around a professional golfer who becomes the face of a controversial new league competing with the PGA.”

Hmmm, sounds a lot like PGA Tour vs. LIV Golf.

Ferrell, who broke on the scene on Saturday Night Live, has primarily made movies, with sports-themed hits such as Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Blades of Glory and Semi-Pro.

Since his days on SNL, Ferrell’s only significant TV role was on the Apple TV+ streaming service in a show called The Shrink Next Door.

His new scripted golf comedy does not yet have a name or a release date.

In real life, Ferrell has been active in the Cancer For Colleges Classy Golf Classic, a charity which awards college scholarships to children fighting cancer. The San Diego Union-Tribune reports the charity was founded by Ferrell’s USC fraternity brother Craig Pollard. In 2022, a Florida man paid $57,000 to play with Ferrell in the charity event.

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