TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola
Dates: Sept. 24-27
Venue: East Lake Golf Club, Atlanta, Ga.
Tournament Airtimes on Golf Channel (Eastern):
Thursday 1-6 p.m. (Live) / 8:30 p.m.-1:30 a.m. (Replay)
Friday 1-6 p.m. (Live) / 11 p.m.-4 a.m. (Replay)
Saturday 10 a.m.-Noon (Live) / 10 p.m.-3:30 a.m. (Replay)
Sunday Noon-1:30 p.m. (Live) / 10 p.m.-3 a.m. (Replay)
Tournament Airtimes on NBC (Eastern):
Saturday Noon-3:30 p.m. (Live)
Sunday 1:30-6 p.m. (Live)
Broadcast Notes:
$10 million prize up for grabs: The 2014-15 PGA TOUR season culminates this week with the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola. The 30-man field will compete for a chance to win the 2015 FedExCup, and the accompanying $10 million prize. Players sitting in the top-5 in the current standings are in position to automatically claim the FedExCup with a win this week, while those outside of the top-5 will have to rely on how others finish to have any chance at winning the title. The 30 players having qualified for the TOUR Championship have earned invitations/exemptions into the 2016 Masters, U.S. Open and Open Championship. Players in the field also are guaranteed at least $300,000 (30th place) and could earn as much as $11,485,000 (winning both the tournament and overall FedExCup).
Payne Stewart Award Ceremony, Airing Tonight on Golf Channel at 7 p.m. ET: Four-time major champion Ernie Els will receive the 2015 Payne Stewart Award – presented annually to a professional golfer who best exemplifies Payne Stewart’s steadfast values of character, charity and sportsmanship – during a special ceremony airing live on Golf Channel as a Golf Central special, tonight at 7 p.m. ET. Hosted by Dan Hicks and Todd Lewis, coverage of the award ceremony will begin at 6 p.m. ET within Golf Central, featuring interviews with Stewart’s wife and daughter, Tracey and Chelsea Stewart; Els’ wife and co-founder of the Els for Autism Foundation, Liezl Els; PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem; PGA TOUR professionals Jordan Spieth and Jimmy Walker; and Southern Company Chairman and CEO Thomas A. Fanning. During the award ceremony (beginning at 7 p.m. ET), Els will sit down with Lewis to discuss the award and his accomplishments off the course. Rich Lerner will conclude the special in delivering a tribute essay to Els and his family. Following the ceremony at 8 p.m. ET, Golf Channel will air a special encore presentation of Payne, the critically-acclaimed one-hour documentary chronicling Stewart’s life and career and remembering the dedicated family man, entertainer, jokester and golf fashion-icon.
Golf Central Special on Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. ET featuring news conferences with Commissioner Finchem, Spieth: Tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. ET Golf Channel will air a Golf Central Special from East Lake Golf Club, featuring news conferences with PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem (11:30 a.m.) and Jordan Spieth (Noon).
Headlining the field (current FedExCup rankings): Jason Day (1); Jordan Spieth (2); Rickie Fowler (3); Henrik Stenson (4); Bubba Watson (5); Zach Johnson (6); Dustin Johnson (7); Charley Hoffman (8); Daniel Berger (9); Patrick Reed (10); Rory McIlroy (11); Justin Rose (12); Jimmy Walker (13); Robert Streb (14); Hideki Matsuyama (15); Jim Furyk (16); J.B. Holmes (17); Kevin Kisner (18); Danny Lee (19); Scott Piercy (20); Matt Kuchar (21); Paul Casey (22); Brandt Snedeker (23); Steven Bowditch (24); Brooks Koepka (25); Bill Haas (26); Kevin Na (27); Sangmoon Bae (28); Louis Oosthuizen (29); Harris English (30).
CHAMPIONS TOUR
Nature Valley First Tee Open at Pebble Beach
Dates: Sept. 25-27
Venues: Pebble Beach Golf Links; Poppy Hills Golf Course, Pebble Beach, Calif.
Tournament Airtimes on Golf Channel (Eastern):
Friday 6-8:30 p.m. (Live) / 4-6 a.m. (Saturday replay)
Saturday 6-9 p.m. (Live) / 3:30-6 a.m. (Sunday replay)
Sunday 6:30-9 p.m. (Live) / 3-5 a.m. (Monday replay)
Broadcast Notes:
Format: 81 professionals will compete alongside one junior golfer and two other amateurs on Friday and Saturday, playing once at each of the course venues, Pebble Beach and Poppy Hills. 23 pro-junior teams, as well as 10 two-player amateur teams will make the cut to compete in the final round at Pebble Beach. The 81 juniors in the field were selected from 55 First Tee chapters throughout the United States. At the conclusion of this week, only three events remain on the Champions Tour schedule prior to the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Scottsdale, Ariz., Nov. 5-8.
Cook defends: John Cook defeated Tom Byrum by one stroke for his 10th career Champions Tour win.
Headlining the field: Fred Couples, Tom Watson, Davis Love III, Colin Montgomerie, Jay Haas, Vijay Singh, Jeff Maggert, Marco Dawson, Billy Andrade and Kevin Sutherland.
WEB.COM TOUR
Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship
Dates: Sept. 24-27
Venue: The Ohio State University Golf Club (Scarlet Course), Columbus, Ohio
Tournament Airtimes on Golf Channel (Eastern):
Thursday 6-8 p.m. (Tape delay) / 4-6 p.m. (Streaming on Golf Live Extra)
Friday 8:30-10:30 p.m. (Tape delay) / 4-6 p.m. (Streaming on Golf Live Extra)
Saturday 4-6 p.m. (Live)
Sunday 1:30-4:30 p.m. (Live)
Broadcast Notes:
Web.com Tour Finals continue: This week the Web.com Tour stages the penultimate tournament of the four-event Web.com Tour Finals, as eligible players finishing 126-200 in the PGA TOUR FedExCup standings and players finishing 26-100 on the Web.com Tour season money list will compete for a chance at securing one of 25 additional 2015-16 PGA TOUR cards up for grabs at the conclusion of the Web.com Tour Championship. Players having finished in the top-25 on the Web.com Tour money list already having secured their 2015-16 PGA TOUR card also are eligible to complete in the Web.com Tour Finals to try and improve their playing status for next season.
Headlining the field: Jason Allred, Tommy Gainey, Oliver Goss, Cody Gribble, Trey Mullinax, Rob Oppenheim, Kevin Tway, Lucas Glover, Sam Saunders, Billy Hurley and Scott Langley.
EUROPEAN TOUR
Porsche European Open
Dates: Sept. 24-27
Venue: Hartl Resort at Bad Griesbach (Beckenbauer Course), Bad Griesbach, Germany
Tournament Airtimes on Golf Channel (Eastern):
Thursday 5-7 a.m. / 9 a.m.-Noon (Live)
Friday 5-7 a.m. / 9 a.m.-Noon (Live)
Saturday Noon-3:30 p.m. (Tape delay) / 7-11 a.m. (Streaming on Golf Live Extra)
Sunday 9-11 a.m. (Live)
Broadcast Notes:
Cevaer defends: Christian Cevaer finished one stroke ahead of the field for his second European Tour victory.
Headlining the field: Hunter Mahan, Graeme McDowell, Bernhard Langer, Charl Schwartzel, Ben An, Jamie Donaldson, Morgan Hoffmann, Thongchai Jaidee and Miguel Angel Jimenez.
HOGWire – Golf Industry News
