Watching golf this week: Ryder Cup online at Golf Channel, NBC

September 24, 2014 by Paul Kapustka 2 Comments

Are you ready for late-night or early morning golf online? That’s what fans in the U.S. will be watching in potentially large numbers this weekend as the Ryder Cup takes place in Gleneagles, Scotland. With live coverage starting Friday at 2:30 a.m. Eastern time (that’s 11:30 p.m. Thursday for us west coaster types) it’s a good bet many golf fans will be tuning in online, using headsets so they don’t wake up the rest of the house with the TV.

All the action will be streamed live by Golf Channel and NBC, through their Golf Live Extra and NBC Sports Live Extra services. Depending on the day and time you may need to bounce between the two outlets, a small hassle but an OK price to pay to get to see the intriguing competition live. You will need to have an authorized cable account to view the live feed, though it looks like they are giving fans a 30-minute grace period of free viewing before you have to log in with your cable account. You will also be able to see the live action via the Golf Channel/NBC apps for iOS and Android devices.

Especially interesting to us is the addition of something Golf Channel is calling its Alternate Shot coverage, which is basically a different set of analysts and announcers led by the entertaining David Feherty. Feherty, a former player who is often the most engaging voice on any broadcast these days, has a unique style and fun sense of humor, which fans of his excellent interview show Feherty know well. Like past experiments with college football that offer announcer choices, we are glad to see the trend spreading to other sports, and expect Feherty — who played in the 1991 Ryder Cup and is extremely passionate about the event — to do a bang-up job.

Of course, the competition will also be shown on TV, and if you want a good place to find a lot of information easily the Golf Channel’s Ryder Cup hub is a fine place to start.

Watching Golf this Week: The British Open, and the Tiger Internet Channel debut

July 17, 2014 by Paul Kapustka Leave a Comment

In honor of ESPN fulfilling our longtime wish for continuous coverage of Tiger Woods at a golf tournament, we are bringing back our Watching Golf this Week feature. And for this weekend’s third major of the season, the British Open (aka the Open Championship) the viewing guide is easy: Just check ESPN, both on the tube and online, because the worldwide leader will give you wall to wall coverage of the action that starts Thursday morning at Royal Liverpool in Hoylake, England.

So what’s the deal with the Tiger Cam? We haven’t interviewed anyone at ESPN but it’s easy to see how this idea came about: With Eldrick finally returning to the pro golf majors scene for the first time this year after back surgery, there is an incredible amount of pent-up Tiger interest. Still easily the biggest draw in golf — just go to any tourney he’s in and watch where the crowd goes — Woods is an even bigger interest item this week, with everyone wanting to see if he is A) recovered enough to play competitively, and if so, B) if he’s good enough to start the Nicklaus majors-hunt in earnest.

While ESPN will most certainly cut to Woods whenever possible during normal telecast coverage, the idea of putting a camera on Woods only and using ESPN3, one of the company’s “Internet channels” to show streaming coverage is a masterstroke. Not only will you lure in potential “casual” viewers who might not give a hoot who Martin Kaymer is but who will watch Woods, you will also likely get golf nuts doing the two-screen dance, with the TV on the regular coverage and a phone, tablet or laptop following Woods. At the very least it’s a great experiment and one we expect will be copied (at least we hope so) in other sports, soon.

But while you might not want be so fired up to watch something like a “quarterback cam” or a “third baseman cam,” individual player coverage in things like golf tournaments is a perfect idea. In fact, most online golf efforts for the majors over the past few years have had “featured group” channels online, where they follow attractive pairings throughout a round. This is not really much different except for the focus on Woods, which some will no doubt say is unworthy, since Woods is only a single player, he’s not bigger than the game, blah blah blah. Tiger fans get it, and will (I predict) turn out in the millions to watch every shot he takes over the weekend. Here’s hoping for Tiger, ESPN and for golf that the cams stay on through Sunday. Plus you can watch it mobile, via the WatchESPN app. Good on ya, ESPN.

There will, of course, be other stories from Liverpool, including whatever magic defending champ Phil Mickelson can conjure, and whether or not we will see Major-winning Rory McIlroy finally fulfill his Open dreams, or whether he’ll continue to sputter in the big events. If I could I’d bet a few pounds on American Ricky Fowler, who has been steadily doing well in majors this year. Is this his breakthrough event? Are the British ready for an all-orange winner on Sunday? Or will Sergio Garcia finally come through? It all gets underway Thursday, and for once we’ll have a way to watch and see exactly everything that Tiger does.

BONUS: Doug Ferguson penned an excellent, technically correct article about Wi-Fi at Royal Liverpool. Hello Augusta, can you hear me now?

THE OPEN CHAMPIONSIP

ESPN COVERAGE
This is long, but worth it… what follows is the entire ESPN lineup of content from The Open (all times U.S. Eastern):

FACEBOOK PAGE
Get yourself close to the Claret Jug at The Open’s Facebook page.

TOP TWITTER FEEDS TO FOLLOW
The Open’s own Twitter feed.
Geoff Shackelford — well known golf writer. If you’re not following Geoff you are missing the online boat.
Golf Channel — official Golf Channel feed
@PGATOUR — official PGA Twitter feed
@StephanieWei — great golf writer who is a Twitter fiend.
Doug Ferguson is the lead golf writer for AP. Good Twitter insights that often aren’t part of your wire-service lead.

TOURNAMENT APP
One of the better event apps, the Open’s App has everything you want in a handheld device app. iPad, iPhone and Android, even Windows. You will still need the ESPN contract to view live video, though. Still, well worth the download especially for the Thursday-Friday times when you may be at work.

WHAT’S THE COURSE LIKE?

Everything we’re reading says that Royal Liverpool (aka Hoylake) will play much differently than it did back in 2006, when Tiger did his 1-iron stinger thing, hitting only one driver all weekend en route to victory. According to an AP story today Tiger says the greens are soft, which might mean that American players unused to links golf might have a better chance. To us, it really doesn’t matter which course they use for the Open Championship. We’re so tired of TPC layouts by this time of the year that basically anything links-like is a refreshing slap in the face, like an ocean breeze. Fore, gentlemen.

WHO WON THIS THING LAST YEAR?

C’mon, do you need to ask? HEFTY!

FEDEX CUP LEADERS
1. Jimmy Walker, 2,322 points
2. Bubba Watson, 2,135
3. Matt Kuchar, 1,725
4. Dustin Johnson, 1,701
5. Jordan Spieth, 1,636

WORLD GOLF RANKINGS
1. Adam Scott; 2. Henrik Stenson; 3. Justin Rose; 4. Bubba Watson; 5. Matt Kuchar.

And… for those of you late risers who miss the Open coverage, don’t forget to watch Annika take on Michael Jordan and John Elway in Tahoe at the American Century Classic:

AMERICAN CENTURY CLASSIC TV
Friday, July 18 — NBC, 4 p.m. — 7 p.m.
Saturday, July 19 — NBC, 3 p.m. — 6 p.m.
Sunday, July 20 — NBC, 3 p.m. — 6 p.m.

Filed Under: British Open, ESPN, ESPN3, Golf, PGA, Tiger Woods, WatchESPN Tagged With: British Open, British Open online, British Open streaming, ESPN, ESPN British Open coverage, ESPN3, Golf, Hoylake, Jack Nicklaus, Mobile Sports Report, Paul Kapustka, PGA, Phil Mickelson, Rory McIlroy, Royal Liverpool, The Open Championship, Tiger Woods, Tiger Woods online, Tiger Woods streaming

Masters sets big-event standard again for streaming video, with multiple online and app choices

April 4, 2014 by Paul Kapustka Leave a Comment

Screen shot of The Masters iPhone app. Credit: The Masters

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: No big sports event does online video as well as The Masters. And this year’s version, which begins Thursday April 10, is no different with five channels of online action available both at CBSsports.com and at the Masters.com site. Live video and other features will also be available through the free Masters apps for iPhones, iPads, iPod Touch, and Android-based phones and tablets. Mind you, this is all on top of the extensive live TV coverage, which is also the best for any major sporting event simply because of the lack of commercials.

HERE IS THE FULL MASTERS TV AND ONLINE BROADCAST SCHEDULE FOR THE ENTIRE MASTERS WEEK

Even with Tiger Woods missing this year’s Masters due to recent back surgery, there’s still plenty to like about this year’s field and with Tiger removed from the equation maybe some other golfers will get more time to shine in the spotlight. But seriously, if you can’t get your fill of live golf action next week you’re simply not trying. The online part, which we like best, will have five different channels, four of which are truly live on-course action, plus one from the range with the usual talk-show type analysis and blah blah blah.

But the action channels are mesmerizing: One will focus on “Amen Corner,” the stretch of holes 11, 12 and 13 that may be the best three-hole sequence anywhere; another channel focuses on holes 15 and 16, which would be signature holes at maybe any other course other than Augusta. The third and fourth channels will simply focus on “featured groups,” following top groupings of players over the last 9 holes each day. If you’re an addict like I am you will be sitting with your laptop on the couch, watching ESPN coverage Thursday and Friday which you supplement with the online stuff.

We tracked down some of the infrastructure that makes the Masters online tick a couple years ago, and we can only imagine how it’s grown since. The good news is, the team of The Masters, IBM and CBS seems to have this thing nailed down, and truly we can’t wait for what is usually the best weekend of online sports-watching anywhere.

Filed Under: Apple, Apps, CBS Sports, ESPN, Golf, iPad, iPhone, PGA, The Masters, Tiger Woods Tagged With: Adam Scott, Android, Augusta National, CBS Sports, iPad, iPhone, Masters online coverage, Masters streaming online, Mobile Sports Report, Paul Kapustka, Rory McIlroy, The Masters, Tiger Woods, Watching Masters Online

Watching Golf this Week: The Memorial, AKA Playing at Jack’s House

May 30, 2013 by Paul Kapustka Leave a Comment

Did you miss us golf fans? Yes, MSR’s weekly how to watch golf primer took a couple weeks off. No big deal, we just got busy and hey, we’re just like the top golfers sometimes — can’t be at every stop!

But we digress. On to the golf, at the Memorial which, thanks to its “ownership” by uber golf legend Jack Nicklaus this weekend gets mini-major status — kind of like, say, an NFL Divisional playoff game. Or round 2 of the NHL playoffs. However you categorize it, all the big names are in Ohio this weekend, though after watching Rory McIlroy struggle on Thursday he probably ain’t going to be there for Saturday or Sunday.

Defending champ Tiger Woods? A 1-under on Thursday is just fine, even though it puts him 6 back of early leader Charl Schwartzel. Remember, Tiger does well on courses he likes (Torrey Pines, Bay Hill) and he’s won here five times before. So if he’s within three or four on Sunday, we still like his chances.

Are you feeling the U.S. Open yet? Two weeks away and we are already getting ready for Marion. It was cool to watch the Golf Channel replay of the 1971 playoff between Nicklaus and Lee Trevino — just loving to see all the new cool stuff GC is doing, including putting all its shows online. What a surprise, but not to us! Golf people love their online coverage, and Golf Channel is showing how smart it is by adding live online simulcasts and now studio shows too.

More coming soon about online golf, and about AT&T’s new method of bringing cellular coverage to golf events — but not right now. Still busy with other stuff so enjoy the Memorial this weekend, especially online where there is more coverage than you think Broadcast is on CBS.

THE MEMORIAL

(all times Eastern)
TV COVERAGE
Friday, May 31 — Golf Channel, 2:30 p.m. — 6:30 p.m.
Saturday, June 1 — Golf Channel, 12:30 p.m. — 2:30 p.m.; CBS, 3 p.m. — 6 p.m.
Sunday, June 2 — Golf Channel, 12 p.m. — 2 p.m.; CBS, 2:30 p.m. — 6 p.m.

RADIO
SIRIUS XM (Satellite)
12 p.m. — 6 p.m., Thursday-Sunday. The live broadcasts are also available to subscribers on the SiriusXM Internet Radio App and online at SiriusXM.com.

NEW! PGA TOUR RADIO!
This a better deal for those not living in the U.S., because it’s free internationally. Inside the U.S. you will pay (due to rights fees) $1.99 per event or $9.99 for the whole year. Gives you the CBS feed, audio version. Click here for more info and payment plans for your area.

ONLINE
The PGA’s Live@ is back! The Memorial gets full “major-like” treatment, with simulcast coverage, featured groups and more. Thankfully the PGA has put all your options on this page so click there and see what’s online, live.

PGA SHOT TRACKER
Get another online fix via Shot Tracker.

FACEBOOK PAGE
Here’s The Memorial Facebook page.

TOP TWITTER FEEDS TO FOLLOW

The Memorial Twitter feed.
Geoff Shackelford — well known golf writer. If you’re not following Geoff you are missing the online boat.
Golf Channel — official Golf Channel feed
@PGATOUR — official PGA Twitter feed
@StephanieWei — great golf writer who is a Twitter fiend. Now leading the Wei (hah!) with Google+ Hangouts during most tourneys.
Doug Ferguson is the lead golf writer for AP. Good Twitter insights that often aren’t part of your wire-service lead.
Matt Ginella is a former Golf Digest writer now at Golf Channel. Your guide to the best golf course reviews, evar. Plus great columnist-type commentary on a regular basis.

WHAT’S THE COURSE LIKE?
Muirfield Village Golf Club — designed by Jack for tournament play. Here’s the tourney site course page, which looks plain but has a lot of interactivity if you click around, video flybys and multiple hole vantage points. The Nicklaus design company page has some stunning photos as well.

LOCAL FLAVOR
The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch has things pretty well nailed down with a special Memorial site. Interactive course map, video, features, it’s all here. Hurray for newspapers.

WHO WON THIS THING LAST YEAR?
Tiger Woods. Or do you not remember this shot?

Filed Under: AT&T, CBS Sports, Golf, Golf Channel, PGA, Tiger Woods Tagged With: Golf Channel, Jack Nicklaus, Mobile Sports Report, Paul Kapustka, PGA, Rory McIlroy, The Memorial, Tiger Woods, Watching Golf online

Watching Golf this Week: The Masters, AKA Tiger’s Revival

April 11, 2013 by Paul Kapustka Leave a Comment

Let’s get the basics out of the way first. You want to know when to watch the Masters, right? It’s easy. TV coverage Thursday and Friday is on ESPN, 3 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Eastern time, both days. On the weekend it’s CBS, 3 to 7 p.m. Saturday, 2 to 7 p.m. Sunday.

Online: You can’t go wrong. We have already said we think the Masters coverage is not just the best in golf, but the best online coverage of any event, anywhere. We have CBS and IBM and AT&T to thank, but mostly it’s because the Masters calls its own shots. So they’re not concerned whether or not online will take away from TV ratings. Like the Honey Badger, the Masters doesn’t give a you know what.

CBSSports and the Masters sites will both show live video, and you can even watch the ESPN coverage simulcast on WatchESPN. Here are some handy links:

HERE IS THE MAIN MASTERS COVERAGE LINK.

HERE IS THE MAIN CBS MASTERS PAGE.

HERE IS THE CBSSPORTS LIVE ONLINE COVERAGE PAGE.

If all else fails, go to the Masters.com page, find the mobile device apps for iPad, iPhone or Android and download. You know the drill. Be thankful that the Masters is the best, bar none, sports event for sports fan viewing. We are talking minimum commercials, multiple alternate views online, experienced crews who aren’t doing this for the first time… there is the occasional weirdness like the Butler Cabin stuff but unless this is your first time watching you have already embraced all that as part of the Masters lore and lure. So on to the actual tournament preview:

It’s Tiger’s to lose.

If you look at it from a purely unemotional standpoint — so far this season Woods has been destroying the fields on courses he knows well. Torrey Pines. Bay Hill. Augusta is another one of those multiple-win places, where he announced his plans to not just win but to posterize the rest of the Tour, back in 1997. If you watched that tournament, like millions of us did, it changed you as a golf fan.

Even as Woods struggled the past few years, he was surprisingly competitive at Augusta: Since his last green jacket in 2005, here is how Tiger has finished: 3rd, 2nd, 2nd, 6th, 4th, 4th, and then 40th last year. Those results are a career for most of the stiffs on Tour; so now that Tiger is back in form (especially on the greens) how can he not win?

In terms of work ethic, physicality, smarts — he has the whole package, something nobody else has. What is missing… is the mojo.

Majors are all about psychological pressure. What Woods showed last year is that he is susceptible to it. He didn’t use to, but now — he cracks. He’s the closer who can’t close anymore, Mariano Rivera without the cut fastball. He fooled us all, even the best: Sports Illustrated’s Alan Shipnuck, best golf beat writer out there, wrote this after the first round of the U.S. Open and probably still regrets it.

What Shipnuck thought — what we all thought — is that the Tiger of old had returned. On Thursday it looked like Woods had it wired again, like he was the GOAT. Then on Saturday he looked like a club member, complete with the hospital shoes. Timid. Afraid. The same thing happened at the British Open — on Sunday there was Woods trying to play smart golf while Ernie Els smoothed his way to the kind of major Tiger used to clear off the table. And then at the PGA the whole golf world ran into the Rory McIlroy buzzsaw, which is awesome to see whenever it flits into focus.

Rory, Phil, or some unknown ready to rise up like Bubba Watson or Charl Schwartzel… there are a hell of a lot of good golfers on Tour now, with what looks like a much higher level of overall play than when Tiger broke in back in the ’90s. And the hype on golf has ramped up too, making all the tournaments that aren’t majors a beta release.

Golf fans and even casual sports fans get it — the Masters is one of the times of the year we need to pay attention, and we will. Majors are about history. Lore. They are player-defining moments. For many of us, there is no doubt that Tiger Woods is the greatest golfer to ever play the game. But until he gets past Jack Nicklaus’ 18 major wins, Tiger knows he can’t legitimately make that claim himself. Nicklaus, as great a student of the game as any, publicly says Tiger can beat his total. Then he adds: But he’s got to go out and win them.

And that’s what a lot of golf fans want to see. They want to witness the greatest, at the top of his game. I think that second chapter starts this weekend — I can see Woods blowing everyone away, just like in 1997. The intimidation factor is creeping back in, and if he gets 4-5 strokes clear by the weekend Shipnuck can go back to his early close-out predictions. But I could also see it going the way of Jim Harbaugh play-calling at the goal line in the Super Bowl… Tiger pressing too hard, staying close but never getting in a groove, and someone who doesn’t feel pressure, like… Jason Dufner? … emerging from the pack.

Enough talk. Fore, gentlemen.

THE MASTERS

(all times Eastern)
TV COVERAGE

Thursday, April 11 — ESPN, 3 p.m. — 7:30 p.m.
Friday, April 12 — ESPN, 3 p.m. — 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, April 13 — CBS, 3 p.m. — 7 p.m.
Sunday, April 14 — CBS, 2 p.m. — 7 p.m.

RADIO
SIRIUS XM (Satellite)
2 p.m. — 6 p.m., Thursday-Sunday
Sirius will also have several feature shows. Check this schedule for more.

Masters.com
There will be a live streaming radio report on the Masters.com site.

ONLINE
Full live video coverage at Masters.com and CBSSports.com. Different cameras start at different times each day, so… check the schedule to see when they go live. Right now tentative start times for Thursday are: Amen Corner camera, 10:45 a.m.; Holes 15 & 16, 11:45 a.m.; Featured Groups 1 & 2, 12:00 p.m.

ESPN: The Worldwide Leader will be at the Masters in force, with its live coverage Thursday and Friday, and more online coverage goodies. Here is ESPN’s Championship Central link. This is also a good place to check for live ESPN online coverage, via ESPN3 or the WatchESPN app for mobile devices.

Golf.com is going Masters overboard, with more content than you could possibly read. But the Sports Illustrated group of writers hanging out there may be the best covering the game right now.

TOP TWITTER FEEDS TO FOLLOW
Dan Jenkins — golf’s Shakespeare. From Texas. Hope he is on form for the Masters. If you don’t know who he is, hit Google. And buy a few books.
Geoff Shackelford — well known golf writer is slinging Masters lore and great links.
Golf Channel — official Golf Channel feed
@PGATOUR — official PGA Twitter feed
@StephanieWei — great golf writer who is a Twitter fiend

LOCAL FLAVOR
The Augusta Chronicle knows how to play the biggest event of the year. A good bookmark.

WHAT’S THE COURSE LIKE?
Here’s an incredible service: The Masters course page has video flyovers of each hole. I think I will only spend about 80 hours on this page alone.

Want to check out the historic clubhouse? Sports Illustrated’s Golf.com has a video that takes you inside.

WHO WON THIS THING LAST YEAR?
The man who hates publicity who has been so overexposed I would bet that just about every Golf Digest reader could go out to the pines at #11 and replay Bubba’s hook shot to win it. Well maybe not. But Bubba Watson sure did know how to win his first major. Props.

Filed Under: AT&T, CBS Sports, ESPN, Golf, PGA, The Masters, Tiger Woods, WatchESPN Tagged With: Augusta National, CBS Sports, Masters TV Schedule, Masters.com, Mobile Sports Report, Paul Kapustka, PGA, Rory McIlroy, The Masters, Tiger Woods, Watching Masters Online

Watching Golf this Week: Valero Texas Open, or, 1 Week Until the Masters

April 4, 2013 by Paul Kapustka Leave a Comment

Call it the last chance open — as in, last chance for someone to qualify for next week’s first major of the year, THE MASTERS, by winning the Texas Open in San Antonio this weekend. Who might win the golden ticket? No idea, check back on Saturday to see who is close. If you need to watch golf this weekend to get caught up before the Masters, yes that is Rory McIlroy hacking it around (might only be around tomorrow) and yes that is Padraig Harrington in glasses.

That’s all we have for now. You’re on your own this weekend. See you next week with all the Masters info we can find.

VALERO TEXAS OPEN

(all times Eastern)
TV COVERAGE

Friday, April 5 — Golf Channel, 3 p.m. — 6 p.m.
Saturday, April 6 — Golf Channel, 1 p.m. — 3 p.m.; NBC, 3 p.m. — 6 p.m.
Sunday, April 7 — Golf Channel, 1 p.m. — 3 p.m.; NBC, 3 p.m. — 6 p.m.

LIVE ONLINE COVERAGE

Thursday and Friday, Golf Channel TV simulcast coverage via PGATour.com and GolfChannel.com; Saturday and Sunday, NBC coverage via the PGA site and from NBC sites, which include Golf Channel. Right now only Comcast cable subscribers can watch live online video on weekdays. NOTE: If you are using the PGA Mobile app to watch the Golf Channel online video, be advised that it only works with iOS phones and with some (not all) Android phones. There is no fix planned for the immediate future.

RADIO
SIRIUS XM (Satellite) 12 p.m. to 6 p.m., Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The live broadcasts are also available to subscribers on the SiriusXM Internet Radio App and online at SiriusXM.com.

FACEBOOK PAGE
Here is the Valero Texas Open Facebook page.

TOP TWITTER FEEDS TO FOLLOW
Valero Texas Open Twitter feed.
Geoff Shackelford — well known golf writer. If you’re not following Geoff you are missing the online boat.
Golf Channel — official Golf Channel feed
@PGATOUR — official PGA Twitter feed
@StephanieWei — great golf writer who is a Twitter fiend.
Doug Ferguson is the lead golf writer for AP. Good Twitter insights that often aren’t part of your wire-service lead.

WHAT’S THE COURSE LIKE?
Take a good look at the TPC San Antonio.

WHO WON THIS THING LAST TIME?
Ben Curtis.

Filed Under: Golf, Golf Channel, NBC Sports, PGA Tagged With: Mobile Sports Report, Paul Kapustka, PGA, Rory McIlroy, The Masters, Valero Texas Open