Associated Press
THOUSAND PALMS, Calif. (AP) - Charley Hoffman was the last man standing on a wind-swept day in the desert.
Heavy winds blew off Charley Hoffman's cap, but couldn't keep him from claiming his first PGA Tour victory. (Don Ryan / Associated Press)
At the end of a long, gusty Sunday in the weather-plagued Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, Hoffman won his first PGA Tour title by ramming in a 4-foot birdie putt to beat John Rollins on the first playoff hole.
"Definitely the survivor. It was brutal out there, probably the hardest conditions I've played in, for sure," Hoffman said after playing 91 holes over a five-day stretch.
The 30-year-old Hoffman birdied No. 17, eagled the 18th in regulation, then birdied the 18th in the playoff. He closed with a 1-under 71 on The Classic Club course to match Rollins (73) at 17-under 343.
Others had their problems on a day when the wind gusted to 40 mph. Phil Mickelson hit three balls into the water in a three-hole stretch. With two double bogeys, five bogeys and three birdies on his card, the two-time Masters champion, 2005 PGA winner and two-time Hope winner finished with a 78 that left him tied for 45th at 7 under.
Rollins tied Hoffman with a birdie on the final hole of regulation, then his shot into a fairway bunker on the extra hole cost him.
His third shot left him 30 feet from the pin, with Hoffman 37 feet away in two. Hoffman lagged up short, Rollins' try for birdie was left of the cup, then Hoffman sank his to end it.
Although the wind calmed a bit late in the day, it made club selection a guessing game and merely standing over putts a challenge for most of the round. Players' pant legs whipped back and forth and they tried to steady themselves, and sometimes the gusts even rocked the ball on the green.
The wind churned the small lakes around the course, stirred up grit from the adjacent desert and sent it swirling over much of the course.
Asked if he had ever played in similar conditions, Hoffman grinned and said, "Usually I go inside when it's blowing this hard."
Rollins, who spent some 6 hours, 20 minutes on the course during the final round, said, "It feels like we played 36 today. It seems forever ago that we teed off."
The players spent a lot of time setting up for shots, then backing off.
"You're standing over putts and the wind is blowing and you're worried about the ball moving, or you're not quite steady over a shot," Rollins said. "Or you doubt your yardage or what kind of club you're going to use. So you just take your time and make sure you're hitting the right shot, and you just have to back off."
Hoffman, in the next-to-last group, put the pressure on when he hit his second shot within 11 feet of the pin on the par-5, 564-yard 18th, then rolled in the putt for an eagle to take the lead.
With Hoffman waiting and watching, Rollins, in the last threesome with Justin Rose and Lucas Glover, missed a long try for eagle but made the short birdie putt to tie.
Rose, meanwhile, hit into a bunker off the tee on 18, then ran a long birdie try past the cup before sinking the par putt that left him at 16 under and a shot behind. The Englishman, tied with Glover at the top heading into the final 18 holes, was shaky on the greens and finished with a 76.
He thought the round should have been called because of the wind. He said the forecast had predicted 15-mph winds.
"But when it blows 40, it's a whole different kettle of fish. It becomes survival more than anything," Rose said after his finish left him still looking for his first tour win.
Jeff Quinney, whose ace on the 176-yard 17th put him at 15 under, finished with a 73 to tie for fourth with Heath Slocum (72). Glover had an 80 that dropped him into a tie for 13th.
Mickelson wasn't discouraged despite his high score.
"The bright thing was that I drove the ball very well the last three days, and I was very pleased about it," he said, alluding to his problems off the tee late last year.
"This isn't really a barometer to see where your game is, so I won't really know until next week."
On the ninth green, Mickelson's cap blew off, sailed off the green and rapidly tumbled end over end for some 20 yards down a bank, finally chased down by a photographer.
Weather for the tournament in the desert resort area usually is sunny and mild, but this year's Hope had the start of play delayed by a half-hour to an hour two days because of frost on the courses, and Friday's round was cold and wind-blown, with temperatures dipping into the 40s.
Divots: The relatively easy desert courses usually yield extremely low scores, but the conditions changed that. The Hope record total is 324 by Joe Durant in 2001. ... The 17-under winning total was least under par for the tournament since Steve Jones also won at 17 under in 1989.
Showing posts with label PGA Tour. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PGA Tour. Show all posts
Monday, January 22, 2007
Comcast embarks on 15-year PGA partnership
Comcast embarks on 15-year PGA partnership
Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Comcast Corp. is making a big bet on golf, hoping to transform its little-watched Golf Channel network into a household name.
The Golf Channel is exclusively carrying every round of the first three PGA Tour events of 2007. So for the first time in four decades, this week's Bob Hope Chrysler Classic will not be shown on network television.
The coverage is part of the Golf Channel's unprecedented 15-year partnership with the tour that kicked off this month. The deal gives the channel early round coverage of every regular PGA Tour event, and every round at 13 PGA Tour tournaments. NBC and CBS pick up the weekend coverage for 31 tournaments.
The contract substantially boosts the channel's tournament programming and for the first time gives considerable heft to a network co-founded by Arnold Palmer 12 years ago. But it's also likely to generate big losses in the early years for parent company Comcast, the nation's largest cable operator.
Last year, Walt Disney Co.'s ABC and ESPN walked away from negotiations with the tour, saying they can't generate enough advertising revenue to offset the broadcast rights fees. In addition, the Golf Channel is shut out of the five most lucrative events in golf - the Masters, the U.S. and British opens, the PGA Championship and the Ryder Cup - that are not owned or run by the PGA Tour. Those have separate broadcast deals for the weekend with the networks and for early round coverage with USA Network, ESPN and TNT.
Comcast - whose Chief Executive Brian Roberts is an avid golfer - is taking a longer view. With more than $22 billion in overall annual revenue, distribution into 24 million homes and deals with other cable and satellite TV operators to carry the Golf Channel, Comcast is gambling that it can build ratings for the network that will allow it to charge advertisers ever-higher rates.
"If we don't generate enough ad revenue but it helps us grow our brand and grow our distribution ... (we hope the result will be similar to) what football did for Fox," said Dave Manougian, president of the Golf Channel.
News Corp.'s Fox television network's successful $1.6 billion bid in 1993 to broadcast the NFL's NFC games pitched the network for the first time into the same echelon as the three major networks. What helped was the financial backing of Rupert Murdoch's empire.
Comcast first invested in the Golf Channel in 1994, along with five other cable operators. It began increasing its stake and in 2003, acquired the final 8.6 percent stake for $100 million.
With the PGA Tour deal, ad revenues are "up, well in double digits," Manougian said. He added that the channel should generate enough ad revenue to offset rights fees midway through the contract.
Gil Kerr, PGA Tour's senior vice president of broadcasting, programming and productions, said the tour has had a relationship with the Golf Channel since its inception. The channel is the exclusive carrier of the Champions Tour and Nationwide Tour.
"They weren't in enough homes at the time to do a deal with them on their own," Kerr said. But "their distribution has grown a lot in the last six years. We knew going into the TV negotiations that they wanted to be aggressive in acquiring the PGA Tour."
The Golf Channel is available in 75 million homes compared with 92 million homes for ESPN. Manougian said the channel currently is in at least 85 percent of basic video tiers. The Golf Channel is part of the digital package of Cox Communications and Cablevision.
In 2012, when the tour's contracts with NBC and CBS lapse, Manougian believes the Golf Channel will be able to pick up more weekend coverage.
Kerr won't say what the Golf Channel deal is worth, only noting that the total value of all current contracts has increased. He also won't comment on whether there's any revenue sharing. Comcast and Golf Channel executives also declined to discuss contract terms.
Asked whether the contract has an exit clause, Manougian would only say that "any contract has disaster clauses, whether it's a one-year deal or a 20-year deal. There's nothing out of ordinary about this contract."
It helps that Comcast isn't only counting on ad revenue to offset the Tour's rights fees. It charges cable and satellite providers 21 cents per subscriber per month, a fraction of ESPN's average monthly fee of $2.60. And Golf Channel officials say they aren't planning an immediate increase to offset the costs of the PGA Tour contract - another bet that in doing so, they will be able to get picked up on more cable systems.
In 2005, 63 percent of the Golf Channel's $267.5 million in revenue came from license fees, according to Kagan Research in Monterey, Calif. Cash flow was $116.7 million. For 2006, Kagan is projecting a 13 percent increase in revenues to $302.5 million and cash flow of $139 million.
For now, viewership of the final rounds for the first two PGA championships on the Golf Channel has come in far lower than last year, when they were on ESPN.
Still, boosting viewership takes time, said Neal Pilson, former president of CBS Sports and now a TV consultant in Chappaqua, N.Y.
"Even down the road, I don't know if viewing levels on the Golf Channel will equal the levels that golf was achieving on ESPN," Pilson said. "But I think what they will have is a very strong golf audience that is saleable (to advertisers) and it will be a permanent home for PGA Tour, which they have not had in the past."
Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Comcast Corp. is making a big bet on golf, hoping to transform its little-watched Golf Channel network into a household name.
The Golf Channel is exclusively carrying every round of the first three PGA Tour events of 2007. So for the first time in four decades, this week's Bob Hope Chrysler Classic will not be shown on network television.
The coverage is part of the Golf Channel's unprecedented 15-year partnership with the tour that kicked off this month. The deal gives the channel early round coverage of every regular PGA Tour event, and every round at 13 PGA Tour tournaments. NBC and CBS pick up the weekend coverage for 31 tournaments.
The contract substantially boosts the channel's tournament programming and for the first time gives considerable heft to a network co-founded by Arnold Palmer 12 years ago. But it's also likely to generate big losses in the early years for parent company Comcast, the nation's largest cable operator.
Last year, Walt Disney Co.'s ABC and ESPN walked away from negotiations with the tour, saying they can't generate enough advertising revenue to offset the broadcast rights fees. In addition, the Golf Channel is shut out of the five most lucrative events in golf - the Masters, the U.S. and British opens, the PGA Championship and the Ryder Cup - that are not owned or run by the PGA Tour. Those have separate broadcast deals for the weekend with the networks and for early round coverage with USA Network, ESPN and TNT.
Comcast - whose Chief Executive Brian Roberts is an avid golfer - is taking a longer view. With more than $22 billion in overall annual revenue, distribution into 24 million homes and deals with other cable and satellite TV operators to carry the Golf Channel, Comcast is gambling that it can build ratings for the network that will allow it to charge advertisers ever-higher rates.
"If we don't generate enough ad revenue but it helps us grow our brand and grow our distribution ... (we hope the result will be similar to) what football did for Fox," said Dave Manougian, president of the Golf Channel.
News Corp.'s Fox television network's successful $1.6 billion bid in 1993 to broadcast the NFL's NFC games pitched the network for the first time into the same echelon as the three major networks. What helped was the financial backing of Rupert Murdoch's empire.
Comcast first invested in the Golf Channel in 1994, along with five other cable operators. It began increasing its stake and in 2003, acquired the final 8.6 percent stake for $100 million.
With the PGA Tour deal, ad revenues are "up, well in double digits," Manougian said. He added that the channel should generate enough ad revenue to offset rights fees midway through the contract.
Gil Kerr, PGA Tour's senior vice president of broadcasting, programming and productions, said the tour has had a relationship with the Golf Channel since its inception. The channel is the exclusive carrier of the Champions Tour and Nationwide Tour.
"They weren't in enough homes at the time to do a deal with them on their own," Kerr said. But "their distribution has grown a lot in the last six years. We knew going into the TV negotiations that they wanted to be aggressive in acquiring the PGA Tour."
The Golf Channel is available in 75 million homes compared with 92 million homes for ESPN. Manougian said the channel currently is in at least 85 percent of basic video tiers. The Golf Channel is part of the digital package of Cox Communications and Cablevision.
In 2012, when the tour's contracts with NBC and CBS lapse, Manougian believes the Golf Channel will be able to pick up more weekend coverage.
Kerr won't say what the Golf Channel deal is worth, only noting that the total value of all current contracts has increased. He also won't comment on whether there's any revenue sharing. Comcast and Golf Channel executives also declined to discuss contract terms.
Asked whether the contract has an exit clause, Manougian would only say that "any contract has disaster clauses, whether it's a one-year deal or a 20-year deal. There's nothing out of ordinary about this contract."
It helps that Comcast isn't only counting on ad revenue to offset the Tour's rights fees. It charges cable and satellite providers 21 cents per subscriber per month, a fraction of ESPN's average monthly fee of $2.60. And Golf Channel officials say they aren't planning an immediate increase to offset the costs of the PGA Tour contract - another bet that in doing so, they will be able to get picked up on more cable systems.
In 2005, 63 percent of the Golf Channel's $267.5 million in revenue came from license fees, according to Kagan Research in Monterey, Calif. Cash flow was $116.7 million. For 2006, Kagan is projecting a 13 percent increase in revenues to $302.5 million and cash flow of $139 million.
For now, viewership of the final rounds for the first two PGA championships on the Golf Channel has come in far lower than last year, when they were on ESPN.
Still, boosting viewership takes time, said Neal Pilson, former president of CBS Sports and now a TV consultant in Chappaqua, N.Y.
"Even down the road, I don't know if viewing levels on the Golf Channel will equal the levels that golf was achieving on ESPN," Pilson said. "But I think what they will have is a very strong golf audience that is saleable (to advertisers) and it will be a permanent home for PGA Tour, which they have not had in the past."
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