GOLF CHANNEL marks 10th Anniversary of coverage
While the PGA Professional National Championship celebrates its 40th anniversary at Sunriver Resort in Oregon, GOLF CHANNEL will celebrate its 10th anniversary of televising the premier event for PGA Professionals.
By Roger Graves, Special to PGA.com
While 2007 marks a milestone for the PGA Professional National Championship as it blows out the candles on its 40th birthday, America's national championship for golf professionals also signals a decade of live GOLF CHANNEL coverage of the PPNC. It also marks the second GOLF CHANNEL telecast of the PGA Professional National Championship from Sunriver Resort in central Oregon.
The GOLF CHANNEL, which has a potential audience of 85 million viewers in the United States and Canada in 2007, made its debut in televising the 1997 PGA Professional National Championship in partnership with The PGA of America at Pinehurst (N.C.) Resort in 1997.
"The PGA Professional National Championship has become an annual tradition for GOLF CHANNEL viewers, and the championship has produced many memorable moments that we have had the privilege of delivering over the past 10 years," observes GOLF CHANNEL Chief Executive Officer David Manougian, noting that the all-golf network has more than doubled its viewership during that 10-year period. "It's interesting how the PGA Professional National Championship and the GOLF CHANNEL have grown together during the past decade. This has always been a major championship for us at the GOLF CHANNEL, and it will continue to be. If you look at the past 10 years, the PGA Professional National Championship has always originated from great golf facilities and has given us some dramatic moments. We're looking for more of the same in 2007."
For its 10-year anniversary on June 21–24, the GOLF CHANNEL will provide more than 20 hours of television coverage from Sunriver Resort's picturesque Crosswater Golf Club and Meadows Golf Course while utilizing 16 television cameras, 50-plus microphones and 80 television monitors.
"We scouted some remarkable camera positions for scenery and non-golf shots to complement what will be taking place on the golf courses during our final walk-through and preparation meetings," reports GOLF CHANNEL Director Peter Esposito. "Sunriver Resort really lends itself to television. Some of the live shots of Mt. Bachelor and the natural terrain will make viewers feel like they are right there with the players. The Crosswater Club course will have the majority of our cameras, since it will be used all four days of the competition. It's a great course for television."
Sunriver Resort is no stranger to the army of GOLF CHANNEL technicians and on-air talent, which have visited the resort 15 miles outside Bend, Ore., to televise several national championships.
"In 2001, we prepared a TV compound area for the GOLF CHANNEL's telecast of the PGA Professional National Championship at Crosswater Club, and we have maintained that space ever since," reports Brad Myrick, PGA general manager at Crosswater Golf Club. "After we finished the traditional grounds survey with the GOLF CHANNEL (in late April), Peter Esposito said it was one of the most detailed surveys he has seen and complimented us on our preparation for television. We have had ESPN and the GOLF CHANNEL in here to televise several events, and we'll have NBC here in August to televise the Jeld-Wen Tradition, the final major of the season on the Champions Tour.
"If you're going to conduct a national championship, chances are it's going to receive live television coverage these days. So we have made sure the GOLF CHANNEL and other television teams understand the property and dynamics at Sunriver Resort to accommodate a national telecast. They all love the scenic quality and natural beauty of this area."