Category Archives: Golf

Day 1 Ryder Cup TV Coverage: Too much Lee Corso, commercials

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Since I was on the course and in the press room, I didn’t see much of ESPN’s presentation of the Ryder Cup Friday.

However, GeoffShackelford.com did, and he wasn’t pleased with ESPN running the Lee Corso-West Virginia commercial 18 times during the telecast.

From Shackelford:

To be clear, the mostly NBC produced pictures, sound and announcing from Friday’s Ryder Cup made the fantastic golf that much better.
Unfortunately, over the course of 11.5 hours, we were actually deprived of coverage.

We all know they have bills to pay, but showing a promo 18 times over the course of 11.5 hours? Obnoxious.

The primary atrocity committed by ESPN and the PGA of America was the call in three instances to leave live, thrilling Ryder Cup golf. Twice they showed a Scott Van Pelt narrated highlight package and most painful of all, an interview with PGA of America president Allen Wronowski that not a single person on the planet wanted or needed to hear.

John Strege in his Golf World review wrote:

ESPN began a recap of earlier play while two tight matches were still being  contested, the second time on Friday that it broke from live play. At the  conclusion of morning foursomes, with the afternoon fourballs already underway,  it cut to Scott Van Pelt doing a 10-minute recap.

Golf Digest’s Stina Sternberg, via Twitter, reacted to ESPN’s miscue this  way: “PSA: The Ryder Cup is still live, without highlights on rydercup.com and  Sky online.”

Strege, though, had praise for Mike Tirico for the way he set up Tiger Woods’ final putt.

A remarkable day of golf came down to this, as told by ESPN’s Mike Tirico: “The  U.S. will lead. It will either be five-three or five-and-a-half, two-and-a-half.  And has been the case most of the last 15 years in golf, one guy standing alone  and all eyes are on him.”

 

Ryder Cup Birdies and Bogeys: Keegan, U.S., Medinah up; Tiger, Europeans down

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Some bonus golf coverage:

Putting on my golf cap for birdies and bogeys on a day when the U.S., Keegan Bradley and Medinah Country Club shined.

Birdie. Davis Love III. All things considered, it was pretty solid opening day for the U.S. team. It could have been a slam dunk if Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker don’t go 0-2, but the U.S. captain will take a 5-3 lead going into Saturday.

As for his decision to play Tiger Woods in the afternoon in fourballs, it was the right move. Even though Woods struggled in the morning, the afternoon format is the place to for players who make a lot of birdies. Mr. Woods did, recording six.

Love, though, has learned his lesson, placing Woods on the bench for Saturday morning’s Foursome matches. I suspect it will be a while before Woods plays another alternate shot match in a Ryder Cup.

Birdie: Keegan Bradley. Easily the biggest U.S. star of day 1. In the morning match, he made several clutch putts, sparking him and partner Phil Mickelson to an easy 4 & 3 victory over Sergio Garcia and Luke Donald.

Then, teamed with Mickelson again in the afternoon, Bradley lit up Medinah with six birdies in a 2 & 1 victory over Europe’s top team of Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell.

Besides his stellar play, Bradley animated reactions fired up the crowd. He’s definitely the new fan favorite.

Bradley is playing in his first Ryder Cup. However, if he keeps this up, put him down for the U.S. captain in 2034.

Birdie. Nicolas Colsaerts. If you hadn’t heard of him before the Ryder Cup, you know about him now. It turns out Colsaerts is Belgium for birdie machine. And throw in an eagle to go along with those eight birdies. His round saved Europe from a disastrous day.

Bogey. Tiger Woods. Granted, he ran into a buzz saw in Colsaerts in the afternoon match. It used to be the kind of whipping he put on his opponents.

Still, going 0-2 added up to another lost opening day for Woods at a Ryder Cup. For his career, he now is 3-10-1 in Day 1 matches, hardly a record befitting a player of his caliber.

Woods simply can’t keep the ball in the fairway off the tee with any consistency. Some of his drives were so bad, I thought Medinah might want to put a protective shield on the trees.

Woods has two days to redeem himself. The pressure is on.

Bogey. Lee Westwood. While Colsaerts was raining birdies, Westwood couldn’t manage one. He also lost a match in the morning.

The official record will show that Westwood went 1-1 Friday. The reality is, he got lucky to be paired with Colsaerts.

Bogey. Rory McIlroy. Salvaged a point in the morning match with a clutch putt, but registered only 1 birdie in opening 14 holes in losing afternoon match. Needs to come strong for Europe Saturday.

Birdie. The weather. Whoever was in charge of the weather, take a bow. For this time of year, when anything is possible (as in cold and rain), it truly was a spectacular day. And the weekend looks good too.

Birdie. Medinah Country Club. The course never has looked  better. The greens were perfect and the fairways were ideal. Considering the weather challenges during the summer, Medinah superintendent Curtis Tyrrell deserves credit for a job well done.

Also, the 15th hole, the short par 4, provided the intrigue hoped for with Rees Jones’ redesign. It forced players to design whether to go for driver or lay up, and the new pond caught some balls in key moments.

Birdie. Chicago. They had radios at the course that provided the BBC feed along with the American broadcast. It was terrific to hear the British commentators talk up Chicago. They lauded the virtues of the city and the atmosphere at Medinah.

The course and the Skyline shots also looked good on ESPN’s telecast. Definitely a strong advertisement for the tourism folks.

Bogey. Luke Donald. The local favorite on the road team had a rough day. He and Sergio Garcia, previously 4-0 in foursomes, suffered a 4 and 3 drubbing to Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley. The poor showing earned Donald a spot on the bench during the afternoon matches.

To make matters worse,  Donald and Garcia were reminded by Chicago fans that neither player has won a major.

Birdie. Dan Jenkins. The 82-year old sportswriting legend is tweeting from the press room. He is a must-follow at @danjenkinsgd (insert link: https://twitter.com/danjenkinsgd) A sample tweet: This is my fifth time at Medinah
after two U.S. Opens and two PGAs, and the clubhouse still looks like the Babylon Marriott.

Birdie. Ryder Cup. So that’s what it is like, Chicago. It should only get better on the weekend.

 

Still the best: Dan Jenkins’ Twitter is a must-follow during Ryder Cup

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One of the highlights of covering a Ryder Cup is being in the same press room as Dan Jenkins.

At age 82, the Hall of Famer is covering his 1,003,416 major golf tournament, dating back to 543 B.C. Or something like that, as he would say.

Once again, Jenkins is tweeting his thoughts, easily the best thing about Twitter. Make a point of following him at @danjenkinsgd.

Nobody does it better in 140-characters. I told him I won’t be satisfied until I see a tweet referring to Lou Graham, who won the 1975 U.S. Open at Medinah.

Here are some of the best from the best:

One theory why Tiger didn’t sit after the erratic display this morning: Maybe one of those stray drives hit Davis in the head.

******

Westwood and Sergio had a dogfight to see which European could play as bad as Tiger this morning. Westwood won.

******

Still trying to figure out the color of the European sweaters. Looks like they were going for lime and didn’t quite make it.

******

Nineteen holes into his Ryder Cup career, this Bradley guy is the best Keegan in Ryder Cup history.

******
This is my fifth time at Medinah after two U.S. Opens and two PGAs, and the clubhouse still looks like the Babylon Marriott.

******

As for water hazards, Medinah’s Lake Kadijah is the hardest to spell or pronounce.

On-Course TV reporters get best view for Ryder Cup; Rolfing says ‘favorite event in golf’

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This is the story I wrote for the official Ryder Cup program:

********

Dottie Pepper was pumped up. Not that she requires much of an energy boost, because as her last name implies, she always is ready for action.

It turns out Pepper is just as feisty as a broadcaster as she was during a stellar playing career. A member of six U.S. Solheim Cup teams, she experienced her first Ryder Cup as an on-course reporter for NBC at the 2006 Ryder Cup in Ireland. The experience, Pepper said, was exhilarating.

“For me, it was almost as exciting as playing in the Solheim Cup,” Pepper said.

Now she was eagerly awaiting the 2008 Ryder Cup at Vahalla in Louisville. It would be her first on U.S. soil.

But on the eve of the matches, the anticipation suddenly deflated for Pepper. Producer Tommy Roy assigned her to work in a tower at a hole for the opening day.

“I was so bummed,” Pepper said.  “I didn’t want to be stuck on some outer corner of the course. I thought, ‘No, you can’t do that.’”

Pepper kept those feelings to herself and didn’t complain. Roy, though, must have sensed her frustration. He called Pepper late on that Thursday night.

“He said, ‘Do you want to walk tomorrow?’” Pepper said. “I said, ‘You’re damn right, I do. I want to be at that first tee.’”

There is nothing comparable to the Ryder Cup in golf, or sports, for that matter. And there’s nothing like being inside the ropes.

That’s why Pepper, Roger Maltbie, and Mark Rolfing feel like they have the best assignment in broadcasting during the Ryder Cup at Medinah Country Club. They are NBC’s on-course reporters for the event.

“It’s my favorite event in golf, no doubt about it,” Maltbie said.

Only the players and caddies are closer to the action. The on-reporters are embedded in a sense, allowing them to hear the labored sighs and gasps that accompany the pressure of playing in a Ryder Cup. They can notice if a player’s gait becomes a fraction slower, as he feels the weariness of playing a second match of the day. They can witness the interaction between the players, teammates and captains, collecting morsels of information that add texture to the broadcast.

And the best part: Like the players, they also get lifted by the surge of noise generated by the large galleries, the deafening sounds that have come to define the Ryder Cup.

“There’s just a different decibel level,” Maltie said. “As we used to say, you could pick out a (Jack Nicklaus) roar a (Arnold Palmer) roar at a tournament. It’s pretty simple at a Ryder Cup. Depending where the matches are held, it’s either a USA roar or a European roar. It’s just a different animal.”

Adds Pepper: “Each match is essentially its own tournament. It has a finality to it. There’s just an intensity level you can’t describe.”

Maltbie has been a part of NBC’s coverage for 11 Ryder Cups. In fact, he made covering the event a stipulation in his contract when he first joined NBC in 1991.

NBC had asked Maltbie to help cover the Bob Hope tournament earlier in the year. Coming off two shoulder surgeries, he began to look seriously into broadcasting.

“I said ‘OK, but only if you allow me to cover the Ryder Cup (later that year at Kiawah),” Maltbie said. “The Ryder Cup was just getting big and and I just wanted to see it.”

Maltbie’s premonition was rewarded as he was part of the epic “War by the Shore” showdown. He got an up-close look at how the pressure can wilt the strongest of men at the Ryder Cup. After Mark Calcavecchia’s famous meltdown, in which he lost the final four holes to halve a key match against Colin Montgomerie, the producers sent out Maltie to get an interview.

“I had never seen anything like it,” Maltbie said. “He thought he cost the U.S. the Ryder Cup. He had been physically ill. His eyes were swollen shut from crying. He was in no condition to talk.”

Rolfing, meanwhile, was covering the final match between Hale Irwin and Bernhard Langer. Like Maltbie, it was Rolfing’s first Ryder Cup as an on-course reporter. Rolfing could sense the Cup was going to be decided on the last hole. Sure enough, Langer missed a putt on 18, clinching the Cup for the U.S.

Flash forward to 2010, and Rolfing is walking with the Graeme McDowell-Hunter Mahan pairing. He had a sense of déjà-vu, as the match evolved into determining the outcome. This time, McDowell and Europe won.

The common thread for Rolfing: suffocating pressure.

“I remember thinking (at Kiawah) it doesn’t seem fair that it should come down to one putt for Langer,” Rolfing said. “It struck me as wrong. I felt the same way at Celtic Manor (in 2010). It was just excruciating to watch.”

The pressure starts from the first moment of the first match on Friday. Maltbie recalled being at the first tee for Darren Clarke’s opening match at the 2006 Ryder Cup. Clarke’s wife, Heather, recently had died of cancer. The Irish fans, his fellow countrymen, wanted to show they were behind him.

“What a moment,” Maltbie said. “The crowd was so loud. I’m thinking, ‘How is this guy going to get a club on the ball?’”

Clarke, though, was able to get through it. Walking with him, Maltbie was able to see that Clarke had his emotions in check.

Pepper said the up-close view gives her a sense of a player’s grip on the match at that moment.

“I remember once seeing Ian Poulter in a match,” Pepper said. “His intensity frightened me. His eyes were enormous. I had never seen that from him before. I’m thinking, ‘There’s no way he wasn’t going to get the job done in that match.’”

The captains also come to them for information. After all, they can’t be everywhere. Rolfing recalled Hal Sutton asking him during a morning 4-Ball match, “Which player is playing better?” Sutton needed the information in order to make the pairings for an afternoon match.

Maltbie said when he is approached by a Ryder Cup captain (It’s always been from the U.S. side), he provides facts, not opinion.

“If I’m asked a direct question, I’ll respond to that,” Maltbie said. “I’ll say, ‘He hasn’t been sharp’ or ‘He looks tired.’But I won’t tell a captain what to do.”

The on-course reporters are just that—reporters. Pepper said her marching orders are to report news back to Roy in the production truck, “especially anything out of the ordinary.”

And they are supposed to be objective. Rolfing said the entire announce crew is careful to not use the pronouns “we” and “they” in describing the action. It’s always “the U.S.” and “Europe.”

Yet the reporters are Americans broadcasting for an American audience. They can feel the emotions, to be sure.

Maltbie was standing close by for perhaps the most memorable moment in U.S. Ryder Cup history: Justin Leonard’s clinching putt during the 1999 Ryder Cup at Brookline.

“The momentum had been building all day,” said Maltbie of the Sunday American rally. “You could hear the cheers of USA, USA throughout the entire course. (For Leonard’s putt), I was near the back edge of the green, not more than 20 feet from the cup. My last comment was, ‘This looks good.’

“Then all of the sudden bedlam broke loose. The hair on the back of my neck went up. It was the culmination of what had been building for the last six hours. What a moment.”

Little wonder why Maltbie said the Ryder Cup is his favorite event in golf. Pepper has been looking forward to 2012 in Medinah ever since the last putt in 2010 at Celtic Manor.

Yet of the three on-reporters, this Ryder Cup will have the most meaning for Rolfing. While he has lived in Hawaii for most of his adult life, he still considers himself a Chicago kid who grew up in nearby DeKalb. Now to be part of a Ryder Cup in his hometown is the ultimate.

“This is like completing a bucket list for me,” Rolfing said. “In a lot of ways, it’s going to be the highlight of my career. Medinah is going to be a fabulous venue; Chicago is going to be a terrific host; and it’s going to be a great Ryder Cup.”

All three of them will describe it from the best spot on the course: Inside the ropes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Feherty, former European Ryder Cup player, will be rooting for U.S.

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David Feherty grew up in Northern Ireland and was a member of Europe’s Ryder Cup team in 1991.

So naturally, Feherty said he will be rooting for the U.S. during the Ryder Cup at Medinah.

Actually, it makes sense. Feherty, a resident of Dallas, loves the United States so much, he became an American citizen. When he’s not working, which nearly is all the time, he spends countless hours with wounded veterans.

Said Feherty of his choice and how it would go with his good friend, Sam Torrance, Europe’s captain in 2002:

Well, to be honest, I’ve been leaning in that direction for quite a while now.  You know, since my first visit toIraqback in 2006, I’ve felt like ‑‑ well, that was the instant that I knew I had to be an American.  I’d wanted to be one for a while, but my wife had always wanted to be married to an Irishman, and I wasn’t going to win that argument.

But she knew things had changed for me when I came back from down range there with our armed forces.

Sam was fine.  He knows.  He’s the greatest friend I’ve ever had, and he knows that I’m an American.  Yeah, he gave me a hard time afterwards, and he’ll give me a hard time again most of the week, but that’s what you expect from your friends.  If he were kind to me about it or say, you know, hey, I understand, I’d be seriously worried.  There’s a plot going on somewhere.

 

Best Ryder Cup ever: Golf Channel documentary relives “War By The Shore”

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1991. Kiawah.

It all came down to Bernhard Langer facing one last putt on Sunday. The ultimate Ryder Cup.

Ross Greenburg weighs in with a documentary on the Golf Channel tonight at 9 p.m. Here’s the trailer:

Here’s the release:

The epic competition between the U.S.A. and Europe on Kiawah Island, S.C., in 1991 that forever changed golf’s Ryder Cup from a friendly exhibition to a high-stakes rivalry, is captured in War by the Shore, a 60-minute film by 51-time Emmy Award-winning producer and former president of HBO Sports Ross Greenburg, premiering Tuesday, Sept. 25 at 9 p.m. ET on Golf Channel.

War by the Shore goes inside the ropes on those three historic days in September, with in-depth and insightful interviews with many of the competing players and the captains who led their teams during one of the most memorable Ryder Cups ever played. Contested by the best golfers on either side of the Atlantic on Kiawah’s picturesque and brutal Ocean Course layout, the 1991 Ryder Cup was a spectacle for tournament patrons and television viewers, alike. All were witnesses to a tense, back and forth – not all together civil – affair, filled with miraculous shots and epic collapses.

Women at Augusta: Did Masters press conference finally get Payne to change mind?

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Charlie Hanger, executive editor of Golf.com, had this observation on Golf.com’s PGA Tour Confidential:

My first thought was, finally. Payne seemed genuinely flustered with the  harsh questioning this year, and I wonder if behind closed doors that led him to  push for the change. The issue was clearly not going away, so they really didn’t  have much of a choice.

I went to ASAPsports.com and reviewed the press conference Augusta National Chairman Billy Payne conducted on the Wednesday of tournament week. Indeed, he was pressed as hard on the women’s issue as he had been in years.

Here are some of the exchanges. The first mention came on the third question.

Q.  You began talking about a number of the changes that happened here at the course.  Since you’ve been Chairman, all of those changes have been well‑documented.  One of the changes that has not happened to the Club is the all‑male Membership.  Wonder if you ever foresee that changing, and why or why not.

CHAIRMAN PAYNE:  Well, as has been the case, whenever that question is asked, all issues of Membership are now and have been historically subject to the private deliberations of the Members, and that statement remains accurate and remains my statement.

That always has been the Augusta chairman’s standard statement. But it didn’t stop there.

Is it possible to elaborate further on why Membership for (IBM CEO Virginia) Rometty wouldn’t be considered, just to give us a little more spiel on that.

CHAIRMAN PAYNE:  I guess two reasons:  One, we don’t talk about our private deliberations.  No. 2, we especially don’t talk about it when a named candidate is a part of the question.

Here’s where it starts to get interesting. Payne starts to feel the heat a few moments later:

Q.  Mr.Chairman, I note your concerns about the growth of golf around the world, and I also note that Augusta National is a very famous golf club.  Don’t you think it would send a wonderful message to young girls around the world if they knew that one day they could join this very famous golf club?

CHAIRMAN PAYNE:  Once again, that deals with a Membership issue, and I’m not going to answer it.

Q.  No, it doesn’t.

Q.  Seems like a mixed message, Billy, is what he’s saying.  You’re throwing a lot of money into growing the game, and yet there’s still a perception that certain people are excluded.

CHAIRMAN PAYNE:  That is a Membership issue that I’m not going to‑‑ thank you for your‑‑

Q.  It sends‑‑

CHAIRMAN PAYNE:  Thank you.

Q.  It sends a wonderful message to girls around the world that they could join this emblematic golf club; it’s not a Membership question.

CHAIRMAN PAYNE:  Thank you for your question, sir.

Q.  Mr.Chairman, as a grandfather, what would you say to granddaughters?  How would you explain leading a club that does not include female membership?

CHAIRMAN PAYNE:  Once again, though expressed quite artfully, I think that’s a question that deals with Membership, and‑‑

Q.  It’s a kitchen‑table, personal question.

CHAIRMAN PAYNE:  Well, my conversations with my granddaughters are also personal.  (Laughter.)

Q.  Billy, kind of on that note, you talked about what a great Masters it was last year and how much anticipation there is coming into this year’s Masters.  I’m curious how you felt when this issue comes up again on the eve of the Masters, and do you feel it reflects negatively on either the Club or the Tournament?

CHAIRMAN PAYNE:  I think there’s certainly a difference of opinion on that, and I don’t think I have formed an opinion on that, Doug.  But certainly there’s ‑‑ people have different opinions on that subject.

Ah, the old grandfather end-run ploy. Even Payne appreciated that tactic.

Finally, Payne and the moderator Craig Heatley had enough.

Q.  You said your conversations with your granddaughters are private.  What would you suggest I tell my daughters?

CHAIRMAN PAYNE:  I don’t know your daughters.

Q.  What without them, that the most prestigious golf club in the country, they are not‑‑

CHAIRMAN PAYNE:  I have no advice for you there, sir.

CRAIG HEATLEY:  Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much.

Now it would be foolish to think Payne made this decision simply because of tough questioning. However, I do believe the press conference had an impact.

I think Payne has wanted to make this move for quite some time only to be rebuffed by the hardliners at the club. Perhaps, he got tired of having to be on the firing line for an issue he didn’t support. Who knows? Maybe the grandfather questions did finally get to him. Indeed, what kind of message was he sending to his granddaughters?

Whatever the reason, Payne likely will be thrilled not to face another Masters press conference where he has to be battered about the women issue.

 

 

Augusta and women members: My heated confrontation with Hootie; ‘Don’t lecture to me

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Better late than ever I suppose.

Augusta National’s announcement that it is admitting two women members certainly will get plenty of national coverage today, and it will go beyond sports. It also means next year’s news conference with Augusta National Chairman Billy Payne just got much duller.

The women question always was the proverbial elephant in the room during these annual taffy-pulls with the club chairman. You always could on the chairman to say, “We consider the club’s membership to be a private matter.”

Of course, in 2002, the issue escalated to another level thanks to Martha Burk’s campaign to shame the club into admitting women. It set up a memorable confrontation I had with then chairman Hootie Johnson.

I had been told Johnson would address the issue during his news conference, which occurs on Wednesday of tournament week. But he began with a general statement about the club’s membership policy and then said he wouldn’t take any further questions about it.

Clearly, Johnson was trying to intimidate the press. When the first question was about whether lift-clean-and-place rules would be used for the tournament, he reacted as if he won.

“Well, now we know why we are here,” Johnson said.

I was fuming. I covered the issue aggressively for the Chicago Tribune. I had been told he was going to talk. A promise is a promise.

*******

Thanks to ASAP, here’s my confrontation:

Q.  Mr. Johnson, many of us have not had a chance to question you about this issue.  If you’re comfortable and you feel, in your standing in the right position on this issue, why won’t you take any questions from us?

HOOTIE JOHNSON:  Because I — we have talked about this for 10 months, as I said.

Q.  You’ve only given —

HOOTIE JOHNSON: What question do you have?

Q.  We have lots of question.

HOOTIE JOHNSON: Is the question that I won’t answer a question?  I mean, go ahead.  What is your question?

Q.  I mean we have lots  —

HOOTIE JOHNSON:  Well, what is your question?

Q.  Just people in this room have lots of questions and you’re coming in here saying that you’re not going to take any questions on this issue.  We have talked about this for 10 months.  You have not talked about this for 10 months.

HOOTIE JOHNSON:  I’ve made my statement.  We are here to have The Masters tournament.  I just told you if you have a question, I’ll answer it, but don’t lecture to me.

******

Payne, who was serving as moderator at the time, cut off the exchange. However, my good friend Christine Brennan of USA Today credits me for changing the tone of the press conference. The next person asked Johnson about the women’s issue. He wound up fielding numerous questions.

He concluded in dramatic fashion:

I do want to make one point, though.  If I drop dead, right now, our position will not change on this issue.  It’s not my issue alone.  And I promise you what I’m saying is, if I drop dead this second, our position will not change.

It took 10 years for the club to change its position. It was inevitable.

*******

There’s a postscript to the confrontation. During a rain delay in the 2006 Masters, I was told that Johnson wanted to see me. As I was escorted to his office, I couldn’t figure what I had done of late that would require a meeting with the chairman.

Johnson said he wanted to apologize for how he spoke to me during that 2002 news conference. To say I was stunned would be an understatement.

I told him I appreciated his apology, and we chatted for a few minutes. As I left his office, I still wondered about his motivation.

The answer came a few weeks later when Johnson announced he was stepping aside as chairman. I’m guessing he simply wanted to clear the decks, and I was on his list.

 

 

All born in 1912: Golf Channel documentary on Hogan, Nelson, Snead

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You could make the argument that 1912 was the most significant year in golf history. That’s the year Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson and Sam Snead were all born.

Now on the 100th anniversary of their birthdays, Golf Channel celebrates three men who changed the game with American Triumvirate (Monday at 9 p.m. ET).

Here is the trailer with the release below:

From the Golf Channel:

One-hundred years ago, three of the most impactful, game-changing and important names in golf were born three months apart: Byron Nelson, Sam Snead and Ben Hogan. Golf Channel will commemorate this centennial next Monday, Aug. 13, the exact 100th birthday of Ben Hogan, at 9 p.m. ET with the worldwide premiere of American Triumvirate, a captivating, hour-long special offering an in-depth look at the careers and lives of each man and who they were beyond the record books.

Narrated by acclaimed actor Kurt Russell, known for his hard-edged, tough guy roles in such movies as “Backdraft” (1991) and “Tombstone” (1993), American Triumvirate, presented by Zurich with limited commercial interruption, will show how this triumvirate of men helped save the sport in America and shape a modern, new era of golf. The film is motivated by American Triumvirate: San Snead, Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan and the Modern Age of Golf written by author and golf historian James Dodson.

Between these three men the numbers are staggering: 198 combined PGA TOUR wins, and 21 combined major titles. Snead captured more victories than any other man in Tour – perhaps world – history. Nelson won more events consecutively and in one season than anyone else ever has or ever will. And Hogan authored the greatest career comeback – and arguably the greatest swing – golf has ever known. As the documentary transports viewers back to the early days of professional golf, it also highlights the myriad accomplishments of Nelson, Snead and Hogan that shattered the record books – their 198 combined titles are 39 more than Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player won as The Big Three.

Their accomplishments in golf are well documented, but through archival footage and interviews with family members, historians and contemporaries, American Triumvirate also paints a different picture about these men. Stories told will shed light on what really defined them, which was so much more than what they accomplished on the golf course.

“Because they were from anonymous places, they had authenticity … these guys did it without any help, they did it by themselves. They were models of absolute self-determination.” – James Dodson, golf historian and author of “American Triumvirate: Sam Snead, Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan, and the Modern Age of Golf”

“You can always argue who was the greatest player, but Byron was the finest gentleman the game has ever known.” – Ken Venturi

The documentary begins with a look back at the 1912 birthplaces of each man, from the high plains and small towns of Texas (Nelson and Hogan) to the Blue Ridge hills of Virginia (Snead). Captured through past interviews with Nelson and Snead – and through the remembrances of Hogan’s widow, Valerie – viewers will discover how the hardscrabble circumstances of their youth and coming of age during the backdrop of the Great Depression formed for each man a blueprint for future greatness – but greatness achieved in uniquely different ways. The year, 1912, also saw the Titanic christened and sank, the first transcontinental flight, and famed Fenway Park and Tiger Stadium opened.

Their personal lives also are remembered through countless interviews that were recorded for the documentary. The final list includes: golf legends Johnny Miller, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino and Ken Venturi; Nelson widow Peggy Nelson; noted swing coach Butch Harmon; Hogan widow Valerie Hogan; Snead nephew and former Tour player J.C. Snead; Snead’s son Jack Snead; Hogan protégé Kris Tschetter; Hogan friend Eldridge Miles; former USGA president Bill Campbell; former players Lanny Wadkins, Curtis Strange and David Feherty; Hogan biographer Curt Sampson, USGA historian Rand Jerris, golf historian Martin Davis and golf historian and author James Dodson. Historical interviews with Sam Snead and Byron Nelson also are included.

American Triumvirate will air on the heels of the 2012 PGA Championship. Golf Channel will host a special, pre-screening for family and friends of Hogan, Snead and Nelson, and for golf industry professionals tomorrow evening on Kiawah Island, S.C., site of this year’s final major championship tournament. American Triumvirate was produced by Golf Channel in conjunction with Mickey Holden Productions.

Quotes from the documentary:

“Sam Snead’s tempo was fantastic. I thought it was the best tempo I’ve ever seen.” – Jack Nicklaus

“You can always argue who was the greatest player, but Byron was the finest gentleman the game has ever known.” – Ken Venturi

“Anybody that says 11 straight is no big deal, for any reason, whether it was war time or there was nobody playing or whatever … look at the scores that he shot, the courses that he played. Eleven straight is astonishing.” – David Feherty on Byron Nelson’s record of 11 consecutive victories on Tour in the late ‘40s.

“If Tiger didn’t do it in 2000, I don’t see how anybody’s going to do it. Eighteen wins in one year will never be broken. Eleven straight … you can’t say anything is impossible, but that’s as close to impossible as I think it will ever be.” – Butch Harmon on Byron Nelson’s two victory records.

“I remember screaming … I said ‘Ben, it’s going to hit us,” and I didn’t even realize at the moment that he had jumped in front of me.” – Valerie Hogan recounting the collision with a bus in 1949 that seriously injured Ben Hogan and was thought to have permanently ended his golf career.

“Ben Hogan was a very, very good player before the accident. I think he was better after the accident. I think that speaks to how strong his mind, not only his will to survive, will to succeed, and his will to prove everybody wrong that said he couldn’t do something.” – Butch Harmon commenting on Hogan’s inspirational playoff win at the 1950 U.S. Open following his 1949 car accident.

“The golf tournament with his name on it meant so much to him – not because it had his name on it, but because it helped people.” – Peggy Nelson commenting on the Byron Nelson Championship as the working model for charity fundraising on the PGA TOUR.

“He did a lot of things for people in our county that nobody knows about, even the people he did it for didn’t know it was him doing it. He bought people homes, cars … there was people that got groceries from him for months and months and months that didn’t know where it was coming from.” – Jack Snead on his father’s charitable giving.

“They were out there to make a living, and it was difficult to make a living. Hogan went broke twice, before he ever won a tournament.” – Rand Jerris, United States Golf Association museum director.

“They were all born in 1912, yet they all dominated at different times.” – Martin Davis, golf historian.

Agree? CBS’ McManus and Barrow not concerned about slow play in golf

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Slow play has been a big issue in golf this year.

Listeners to my Saturday morning golf talk radio show on WSCR-AM 670 in Chicago know I hate slow play worse than taking four shots out of a bunker. Believe me, that’s not an unusual occurrence during one of my rounds.

The biggest slow-play culprits are the pros, some of whom have turned the game into a molasses fest.

The gridlock pace could get really bad at this week’s PGA Championship. If Pete Dye’s Kiawah course plays extremely difficult as forecast, the potential is there for marathon rounds.

During a conference call, I asked CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus and golf producer Lance Barrow if they were concerned about slow play this week, and golf in general. To my surprise, they weren’t.

McManus:

 I’m not terribly concerned about it. Having watched a lot of golf this year, I know (slow play) has been a topic of discussion. But I haven’t seen it affect too many of the broadcasts. If they play slow because of the course conditions being tough at Kiawah, it adds to the drama.

Barrow:

 I know about what happened with Kevin Na (struggling to pull the trigger at the Players Championship). But I haven’t seen tournaments where slow play has been an issue.

It’s amazing when we have to finish at 6 or 7 (ET) how close they come to hitting that time. A lot of things come into play why players play slowly or quickly. I think a lot has to do with the weather. The wind will be a factor here, but I don’t worry about slow play.

You know when you go in, Keegan Bradley and Jim Furyk (part of the final pairing last Sunday) are not quick players. But you know their mannerisms. You can go to another hole and get another player.

Now, I respect both men and have been a long-time fan of Barrow. But I disagree with them here.

It routinely takes threesomes five hours or more complete a round during a tournament. Is that exciting to watch?

I remember they used to figure 3:50 for the final pairing way back when. Not anymore. It’s in the 4:20-4:30 range for a twosome that’s in contention during the weekend.

Does that make for good television? It’s like watching a movie. A good film at two hours will feel like it is dragging at 2:45.

Let’s hear from somebody other than me.

Earlier in the year, Annika Sorenstam said,  “You watch golf on TV, and it’s very slow.  It’s not moving.”

NBC’s Dottie Pepper was more blunt in her assessment.

“I think the PGA Tour is burying their head in the sand,” Pepper told USA  TODAY Sports. “The PGA Tour has more potential to change the pace of  play because they have more eyeballs on them day in, day out than any of  the other organizations, and they are the ones that can take the lead  on this.”

Pepper then said: “Nobody wins when play is slow.”

I think that’s my new slogan for golf.

For more on how slow play is ruining golf, check out GeoffShackelford.com. He’s got an entire file on the issue.