Covering a golf tournament.. help!

[Double Down]

Bumping this since I have a freeelance gig covering the Champions tour this weekend. Know the basics, of course, but never covered any golf at this level.

First tee time is 7:30 a.m. Don't think I have to be there from the start on the second day, do I? I like the idea of hanging near the scoreboard and tracking the key players. On Sunday, I may follow the last group around. Know Golf Channel will be there and will likely be able to see any key replays. OTOH, Daly's entered, so who knows what will happen.

Opening the floor to the collective wisdom (and collective wiseguys and gals) of this humble forum.

Ask for an Inside the Ropes pass when you get there. Champions Tour is pretty relaxed. They should give you one. Golf is infinitely easier to cover from inside the ropes.

First day story is almost always the Round 1 leader, unless you want to do something more feature-focused and follow Daly and write about him. (It depends on what the expectations of your employer are. If they want tournament COVERAGE you might have to stick to the leaders, but if you can write four fun stories, follow Daly on the first or second day, write about him, the fans, his life on the Champions Tour, etc.

They almost always bring the leader into the clubhouse for a press conference after his round. Anyone who shoots a halfway decent round will stop at the designated flash area. Champions Tour guys are usually happy to talk, so if you need a little extra detail, ask the guy if you can walk with them after they wrap up their media session.

You'll be able to see from inside the media center who is doing what, so you won't have to sit by the scoreboard, which will only have about 10 names on it, and is a little hard to follow in real time.

It's probably a good idea to get there by 9:30 on the second day in case someone who went off in the afternoon on Thursday is going low Friday morning. That way you'll be able to catch their back nine, get some color, be there when they wrap up, etc.

Almost no sport is better at providing transcripts than golf. If you're out on the course and someone says something funny in their presser or flash, you'll be able to get the transcript. That's just how golf is.

On Sunday, there is very little reason to get there before the last four groups go off. You can follow the last group on Sunday, but what you may realize is, it's very difficult to see what's going on if there are multiple players from multiple groups in the hunt. The winner might come from the third-to-last group because he posts a 64. The dirty secret of golf is: If the tournament is close and there are lots of guys in the mix, you have to watch it (for the most part) on TV in the media center so you can keep track of everything. If it's a battle between two guys, or if one guy is running away with it, definitely walk with that group.

Enjoy it. It's a fun sport to write about.

 

[User 11148]

"hey, no. 10 has a nasty bunker but you still birdied....how did you avoid it?"

Don't be surprised if you find yourself cringing in shame at the response to that question. I asked something just like that to a kid leading an NCAA Division II championship once (it was held at a course I usually played back then). His answer -- "What bunker?" -- led me to appreciate Bob Jones' "[Nicklaus] plays a game with which I am not familiar" all the more ...

 

[HanSenSE]

Good stuff, really. It's odd that I don't know who will have the first day, since we're all headed out to Friday night football. I'm thinking Day 2 will focus on the leaders, as well as who missed the cut. One feature angle blew up on me since First Tee partners each pro with a top junior golfer for the first two rounds (Pebble and Poppy Hills), but no locals were picked. Everything's at Pebble on the last day, just like in the AT&T.

On top of all this, it's my first trip ever to Pebble Beach.

 

[dixiehack]

Ninety-nine times out of 100, who missed a Chanpions Tour cut isn't the story.

 

[Double Down]

I don't know about the Nature Valley, but most Champions Tour events don't have a 36 hole cut.

PGA Tour Champions a cut above (since there is no cut)

EDIT: It appears, at least according to what I'm reading, there is no cut at this event.

 

[Gator]

This is going to sound silly, but I found that when I covered my one and only big golf event (U.S. Women's Open), it was best from inside the media tent. There were TVs all over the place, pretty much allowing you to watch all of the action. If you were to follow one group, especially during the first two rounds, you have no idea who is moving up or down on the leaderboard. Whether you see a shot from 45 feet away or on an HD monitor, it doesn't matter. I don't think you're missing much.

 

[playthrough]

This is a great event to cover for a newbie. Yes, it's a typical Champions Tour 54-holer, so no cut trouble there. The pro-am adds a great element, virtually all the pros will have great rapport with their juniors and should be happy to talk about the experience. Peter Jacobsen, Tom Lehman, Michael Allen just to name three might be good to talk to.

And since it's Pebble, there's no shortage of guys who had success in their younger days and will talk your ear off if you want to go down Memory Lane: Mark O'Meara, John Cook, Tom Kite, Hale Irwin, several more.

And do introduce yourself to the Champions Tour media staff, who are the best in the business. Don't be afraid to ask them who are the best guys to talk to for certain features.

As for covering the tournament proper on the final day, I like to watch a little bit of live play inside the ropes but the media center can be the safest way to go if it's a wild day where the contenders emerge from before the final group. If the flash area/scorer's tent is close by, you can get everything you need while still watching the TVs.

 

[ChrisLong]

The first Champions (Seniors) event I covered was incredible. I couldn't get John Brodie to stop talking. He probably would have invited me to dinner if I didn't tell him that I had to leave. Then Chi Chi Rodriguez started talking to about six of us and he kept going and going, too. After he finished, he came to us and shook everybody's hand and thanked us for interviewing him. The final round was on Easter, they had a great meal for us, including champagne and strawberries.

 

[JBHawkEye]

I covered my first Champions Tour event this year. As everyone else said, much more relaxed than a PGA Tour event.
As others have suggested, get the inside-the-ropes armband. And the media center is the best place to watch. But do take some time to go out and watch some golf, especially on Friday and Saturday early in the day.

 

[Cosmo]

I don't have a lot more to add than what Double Down posted ... inside the ropes is crucial if you want to see anything. Do be courteous to those fans watching, though, and don't stand right in someone's way. The First Tee gets more promotional help from the PGA and SRGAs than most organizations, so you'll have no shortage of storylines and people bending over backward to try to get them more press. As DD said, unless you're covering a specific player of interest, interviews are the least of your concerns at a professional golf tournament. Everyone who matters will have a transcript. We've got a Champions playoff event in our neck of the woods in November. Can't speak to the media relations staff yet, but the folks running the tournament have been fantastic to work with. The LPGA staff is phenomenal as well. They understand the value of getting their events promoted.

 

[HanSenSE]

Again, thanks for all the help. Whole day went very smoothly. The PGA PR person onsite was great in getting me interviews and even getting some quotes from golfers playing at Poppy Hills. Most of the leaders were done before TV came in, but they had laptops there with live scoring so I could monitor the round. And I did ask: My media card did let me go inside the ropes. Crowds were so sparse, though, not a lot of problems seeing. Had most of my story written while the afternoon teeoffs were still on the course, but waited until a late group finished before filing, and spent most of that time BSing with the marshalls.

Debating how I'll cover the final round. Golf channel doesn't start until a couple of hours after the leaders tee off, and would like to see as much as I can in person.

As for my first trip to Pebble ... wow. Fanboi city here. After seeing this place for years on TV, finally getting to see it in person? To use one of our pet phrases, a tradition unlike any other. And this was just from walking along 17 and 18! As I was writing in the press room during coverage, I had to keep telling myself "this is only 30 or so yards away ...."

 

[HanSenSE]

And on Day 2 ...
Watched the last four groups tee off, then went back to the press room to follow along on the web (and get lunch plus sneak in some NFL time). Golf channel broadcast started at 3 and it turned out to be the best way to cover it, with a three-way tie for the lead at one point. Had I followed around the last group as I was considering, I would have missed a lot of the drama. Did sneak down to 18 to watch the final group, partly for the drama, partly to get another peek at Pebble, but mostly because I'd felt I had been watching TV all day. But as we all know, nobody cares how the sausage is made ...

Again, the PGA PR people, as well as the locals, were super helpful, not only with information, but getting interviews as well.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

Again, thanks for all the help. Whole day went very smoothly. The PGA PR person onsite was great in getting me interviews and even getting some quotes from golfers playing at Poppy Hills. Most of the leaders were done before TV came in, but they had laptops there with live scoring so I could monitor the round. And I did ask: My media card did let me go inside the ropes. Crowds were so sparse, though, not a lot of problems seeing. Had most of my story written while the afternoon teeoffs were still on the course, but waited until a late group finished before filing, and spent most of that time BSing with the marshalls.

Debating how I'll cover the final round. Golf channel doesn't start until a couple of hours after the leaders tee off, and would like to see as much as I can in person.

As for my first trip to Pebble ... wow. Fanboi city here. After seeing this place for years on TV, finally getting to see it in person? To use one of our pet phrases, a tradition unlike any other. And this was just from walking along 17 and 18! As I was writing in the press room during coverage, I had to keep telling myself "this is only 30 or so yards away ...."

Pebble is one of those things that is so much more magnificent live than on TV. I remember walking the course during practice rounds at the 2000 Open and thinking, "No, Mike, this is a real place. This is happening. You're really here."

 

[ChrisLong]

We drove through there on vacation many years ago. There is that one par-3 next to a vista point. I had my clubs in the car. You know, you get that urge. Grab a 5-iron and a ball and take a swing. There and gone in 5 minutes. My wife was going to slap me silly. "Don't even thing about it. You are NOT spending our vacation in jail."