2019 Kia Classic Mar 28 - 31

[Golfnuck]

> @"Raving Shanker" said:

> The annoying thing about the Champions play-off debacle is that they gave precedence to the play-off, showing every shot and all the preparation "drama". And it was mediocre. Meanwhile, the best women in the world were flying, but getting used as air-time filler.

> I actually don't know how popular the Champions tour is compared to LPGA. I guess on this board everybody is going to be incensed by that coverage, and think the Kia was way more important. I wouldn't know how the public in general feels.

 

Maybe I am wrong but I do not see a section that specifically discusses the Champions Tour on GolfWRX like the LPGA section.

That may indicate the popularity of the tour.

[Titleist_PT23]

> @Golfnuck said:

> > @"Raving Shanker" said:

> > The annoying thing about the Champions play-off debacle is that they gave precedence to the play-off, showing every shot and all the preparation "drama". And it was mediocre. Meanwhile, the best women in the world were flying, but getting used as air-time filler.

> > I actually don't know how popular the Champions tour is compared to LPGA. I guess on this board everybody is going to be incensed by that coverage, and think the Kia was way more important. I wouldn't know how the public in general feels.

>

> Maybe I am wrong but I do not see a section that specifically discusses the Champions Tour on GolfWRX like the LPGA section.

> That may indicate the popularity of the tour.

 

For whatever it's worth, Nasa won $270,000 while Kevin Sutherland won $240,000. There is some fluctuation from week to week depending on the tournament but in 2018 the purses / winner's share look comparable (and no, I haven't put all of the data into Excel to see exactly how they compare). The U.S. Womens Open does pay more than the U.S. Senior Open (and similarly for the Opens although the PGAs are slightly reversed).

 

I'm fine with the complaints about the TV coverage. But do we really want to change the structure of playoffs? Or, if somehow you could magically select which tournament you wanted to watch on your TV would anyone really care about what happened with the Senior Playoff?

[Argonne69]

I don't have a problem with the GC showing the playoff. I know if the tables were turned, we'd be fuming if they cut away from the LPGA to show the Champions Tour. However, as agolf1 correctly notes, they spent way too much time on each shot of the playoff. I still say they should have simply delayed the coverage of the LPGA, and given it the full two hours after the Champions was over. Start the LPGA coverage with a highlights package.

[WestTex]

I know in some cases they've done the split screen when the old dudes were playing at the same time, did they do that this time? If not, why not? Sorry, but the weakest LPGA field will - to me - be infinitely more entertaining than the old guys. What's that? Mina Harigae, Dottie Ardina, and Klara Spilkova are all in the final group for the Howard Johnson's Resurgence Tour?* Yeah I don't care, I'm watching that one.

 

* All due respect to Ardina, Harigae, and Spilkova. They have more game in their on-course snacks than I do combining my best 72 shots in my entire lifetime of playing golf.

[Argonne69]

Yes, they had quite a bit of split screen. I think it's worse, because the players are barely recognizable.

[Stooch]

I not complaining yet about TV coverage, from what I understand this was a Bivens deal (10 years I believe). If I'm not mistaken it's comes up for renewal in 2020, so I'll wait to see what the new deal is like before I rip Whan. For me, the real problem is Golf Channel, they have too much golf over most weeks for 1 channel but the LPGA problem is nobody but Golf Channel will cover it. Not to go into my normal rant on this subject, but the LPGA has to spend the money and produce their own content, if they want the chance to get on other networks they gotta produce the content. ESPN is never gonna send the people and infrastructure to cover an LPGA event the cost would not be worth it for them but if all a network would have to do is air the content then they would be more likely to make a deal with you to cover your sport. I'm a big Tennis fan and the WTA does this, sure Tennis is much cheaper to cover but they didn't beg any networks for coverage you just have buy their streaming service and you get every Tennis match you want. In Canada, our sports networks owned by multi-billion dollar media corporations decided not not have any WTA coverage cause no female Canadian Tennis players were very good. Well until an 18 year old Canadian who was the #1 junior has taken the tennis scene by storm and DAZN owns the rights for the WTA in Canada and Tennis Canada had to write a big check to get it to be air on Facebook during the Final where she won a MAster 1000 event. Our sports networks here got some really bad press for this and the looked really bad, so the WTA is gonna get paid in Canada the next time the rights come available. SAme thing happened in the LPGA last season at the Canadian Open, it was set for a tape delayed airing of the final round on the Golf Channel and TSN had to write a big check to get live coverage of the event in Canada. Heck even sportsbooks pay for sporting coverage, I do loots of sports betting and use a British sportsbook called Bet365 (use them cause they are regulated) and they buy the right to all Tennis, lots of soccer and many other sports all free for me as a customer. There is lots of money to be made if you control your own content. If the LPGA owned it's own content they could probably receive the same revenue from a CAnadian network alone that they do from Golf Channel cause of Brooke Henderson. If you control the rights, you control the TV contracts within all the countries. I think for great TV for the LPGA, they have to find a way to get other networks involved in the US, some weeks because of locations and timezones, the LPGA will be the redheaded stepchild (sorry to redheads) and be tape delayed and on at 11 PM lol, those weeks it would be nice to find another network option and honestly GC would probably like that. The commentator going back and forth from the LPGA and the Champs playoff was almost in pain thinking great, I gotta be the voice of LPGA coverage getting butchered for this playoff trainwreck lol

[Seamus_McDuff]

It’s a tough week for coverage. The Match Play requires more hours than a regular event and there’s a second PGA event that has to be covered.

 

Was web.com on at all?