TNT to Exclusively Televise 18 Hours of Live Coverage; PGA.com’s Sports Emmy Award-Winning PGA Championship LIVE Returns; Free PGA Championship App for iPhone and iPod Touch
Turner Sports will provide comprehensive television, online and mobile coverage of the 94th PGA Championship held August 9-12 from The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, S.C. TNT will televise 18 hours of exclusive live action including six hours each day on Thursday and Friday, Aug. 9-10 (1-7 p.m. ET), as well as early live coverage of the third and fourth rounds on Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 11-12 (11 a.m.-2 p.m.). Turner Sports has presented the PGA Championship for 22 consecutive years and it is TNT’s 14th straight year televising the event. TNT’s announce team will include: two-time Sports Emmy Award-winning host Ernie Johnson, analysts Ian Baker-Finch and Billy Kratzert and reporter Vince Cellini.
PGA.com’s extensive offerings will include Sports Emmy Award-winning PGA Championship LIVE, a broadband video player with multiple live video streams and the ability to follow marquee groups and par-3 coverage. PGA.com has launched a new site for the PGA Championship and will also debut Social Caddy, a social destination for the PGA Championship including integration with Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Social Caddy will combine live action updates of the event with a “social leaderboard” capturing trending topics, top trending players and an aggregated stream of social media conversation associated with the event. PGA.com also will offer an enhanced video highlight hub allowing fans to search memorable moments from the PGA Championship. The PGA.com announce team includes host Brian Katrek, analyst Michael Breed, course reporters Will Haskett and Fred Albers and media center reporter Amanda Balionis.
PGA.com’s award-winning mobile coverage will include a free PGA Championship App for the iPhone and iPod Touch. The free app will feature live video, highlights, alerts and hole-by-hole scoring and breaking news updates.
Additional PGA Championship highlights:
TNT
Chasing the Trophy – TNT will feature a daily behind-the-scenes look at PGA Club Professional Matt Dobyns, winner of PGA Professional National Championship (PPNC), as he tees off as one of 20 Club Professionals playing in this year’s PGA Championship.
Billy’s Course – TNT analyst Billy Kratzert will take an in-depth look at The Ocean Course while examining key holes and the impact wind may have on the event.
Golf Trax – TNT and PGA.com will provide viewers with a virtual tour of holes throughout the tournament. Golf Trax provides an aerial view of a player’s ball direction and a 360-degree view of holes at The Ocean Course.
TNT Pro Tracer – with this technology, viewers have the ability to monitor the flight of select tee shots live during play.
Drive to the PGA Championship presented by Mercedes-Benz E-Class – TNT will provide insight from 2011 PGA Teacher-of-the-Year Mike Malaska on how pros prepare for the PGA Championship, with additional information available on PGA.com.
Tournament Summary presented by GEICO – a comprehensive recap of each day’s action.
PGA.com
§ Touchscreen – PGA.com’s live coverage will employ a new touchscreen allowing analyst and PGA Professional Michael Breed to demonstrate and diagram swing techniques and enhance views from the golf course. The touchscreen will also contain a course map utilized to preview the strategy applied to select holes.
§ Live Insider –PGA.com writers will provide live action updates, photos and video links through the interactive feature and answer fan questions throughout the event.
§ Video Highlight Hub – an enhanced experience will allow fans to search and browse by player, round, hole, or memorable moment from the 2012 PGA Championship.
§ Virtual Challenge – a virtual game challenging fans to play the closing holes of The Ocean Course – Nos. 16, 17 & 18 – and test themselves against other fans and pros.
§ Predict It – an interactive experience providing fans the opportunity to predict the outcome of situations that could happen on the course.
§ Social Leaderboard – Fans will be able to see what topics and top players are in the lead in the social conversation. The trending feature will be seen on PGA.com, PGA Championship LIVE and TNT.
Mobile
Mobile Website – In addition to the PGA Championship app, the enhanced PGA.com mobile website will offer live scoring, news, updates, and video highlights.
Optimized for iPad – the official PGA Championship site and PGA Championship LIVE will be optimized for the iPad. The site and video player will take advantage of the iPad’s large, multi-touch display to provide fans an enriched viewing experience.
Turner Sports, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., is an industry leader in televised and online sports programming, airing championship-level sporting events on TBS, TNT and truTV, and managing some of the most popular sports sites on the Internet. Turner Sports’ television lineup includes the NBA, Major League Baseball, the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship, NASCAR and professional golf. The company’s digital portfolio includes NASCAR.COM, NCAA.com and March Madness Live, PGATOUR.COM and PGA.com, as well as an accompanying collection of mobile websites and connected device apps. Turner Sports and the NBA also jointly manage NBA Digital, which includes NBA TV, NBA.com, NBA LEAGUE PASS, NBA Mobile, the NBA Game Time App, NBADLEAGUE.com and WNBA.com.
TNT, one of cable’s top-rated networks, is television’s destination for drama. Seen in 99 million households, TNT is home to such original drama series as The Closer, Rizzoli & Isles, Falling Skies, Dallas, Perception, Franklin & Bash, Leverage, Southland and the upcoming series Major Crimes and Monday Mornings. The network also features dramatic unscripted originals like this summer’s The Great Escape and the upcoming Boston Blue (working title) and 72 Hours (working title). In addition, TNT is the cable home to popular dramas like The Mentalist, Bones, Supernatural, Las Vegas, Law & Order and Castle, which starts this year; primetime specials, such as the Screen Actors Guild Awards®; blockbuster movies; and championship sports coverage, including NASCAR, the NBA and the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship.
Visit the Turner Sports online pressroom for additional press materials; follow Turner Sports on Twitter at @TurnerSportsPR.
