Hour-long plus pre-game shows. Two hours post-games. Extended first and second round coverage. A set overlooking the 16th and 17th holes. That's what The Golf Channel brought to the table at last week's Players Championship.
If you watched as much coverage as I did, you probably got tired of Kelly Tilghman and Rich Lerner calling the TPC "the fifth major." But for casual onlookers, this kind of "beat you over the head" coverage works.
Just look at the jump in ratings for NBC. Credit Tiger Woods for this, but also TGC. Any individual tuning into the network observed some form of TPC coverage. It was almost impossible to miss it.
I kept wondering though--can this tournament transcend that "best tournament that isn't a major" label?
And in the next 20 or 30 years, could the Players overtake a tournament like the PGA Championship in not only popularity, but prestige?
