Inside The Ropes At Tiger Woods Tournament -The Chevron World Challenge
Once again this veteran TV golf spotter was called out of retirement to assist NBC with their broadcast of Tiger Wood's invitational played at Sherwood CC in Thousand Oaks, CA, The Chevron World Challenge, December 18 – 21, 08. There were only 16 PGA Tour Professionals invited, some of the world's best players in the game of golf, guys like Anthony Kim, K.J. Choi, Luke Donald, Justin Leonard, Vijay Singh (the eventual winner), Jim Furyk, Kenny Perry, Camilo Villegas, Mike Weir, Boo Weekly and Fred Couples. It was easy duty for this old spotter as NBC had us following the groups from tee to green rather than staying one shot ahead. They weren't so concerned with hitting orders as each group was just a twosome so other than humping the hills of Sherwood CC, (especially the trek to the 14th tee), it was easy duty.
NBC Sports Is "Plugged In" To PGA Golf!
Since only the high mucky mucks in the NBC Sports hierarchy were provided with parking passes to the TV compound adjacent to the golf course we had to get into the tournament the same way as the gallery riff-raff, which was to park in the mud, wait in line, take the shuttle bus up the hill and be wanded at the entrance for cell phones and cameras. Even our NBC credentials didn't get us a pass through this process until the last day when I decided, screw it, and I smuggled my little digital camera in my sock. As far as I know the pictures you will see here are exclusive, especially the ones of the NBC TV compound. I wanted my readers to get a look behind the scenes at a golf tournament. (more…)
