While many of you will be heading to work on this Monday, more than 1,000 golfers will be attempting to qualify for this year’s U.S. Open at Winged Foot in New York. Today is the day for U.S. Open Sectional Qualifying at sites all over the country. Only 79 slots are open for the qualifiers and you have over 1,000 men hoping to gain one of those open spots.
It’s like a megadose of Indianapolis 500 Bump Day as the golfers will be waiting for their scores and hoping to hear their named called.
Golf Channel’s coverage of what it’s calling “Golf’s Longest Day” will begin at 7 a.m. ET today during a special four hour edition of Morning Drive hosted by Gary Williams. It will continue with special editions of Golf Central sprinkled throughout the day.
We have the announcement from Golf Channel.
GOLF CHANNEL PREPARES FOR MAJOR TV FEAT AND ‘GOLF’S LONGEST DAY’
June 4 to be Golf’s Version of ‘Super Tuesday’
Reporters at 14 U.S. Sites Will Follow More Than 1,000 Hopefuls Attempting to Qualify for the U.S. Open ChampionshipORLANDO, Fla. — Dreams of playing on one of golf’s brightest stages either will be realized or dashed on June 4 for nearly 1,000 golfers who will attempt to qualify for a mere 79 slots available in the final field of 156 players for the 2012 U.S. Open Championship. Through a first-of-its-kind golf television undertaking, Golf Channel will devote an entire day of programming and updates in order to follow these compelling stories during what the network is calling Golf’s Longest Day, or more commonly known as U.S. Open Sectional Qualifying.
Starting at 7 a.m. ET and lasting until Midnight (or when final results are in), Golf Channel will feature interviews, analysis and scoring updates delivered by a team of more than 50 reporters and production professionals embedded at 14 locations throughout the United States. In addition to the 11 USGA Sectional Qualifying sites, the network also will have reporters located at The Olympic Club in San Francisco – site of next month’s U.S. Open – and at USGA headquarters in Far Hills, N.J. All of the content throughout the day will be hosted by Steve Sands and Kelly Tilghman from Golf Channel’s Orlando studios.
Golf’s Longest Day will begin with an expanded, four-hour version of Morning Drive, hosted by Gary Williams. The telecast will include live and taped reports from the 11 sectional qualifiers, as well as interviews with USGA members past and present. Mark Hill, former executive director of the Kentucky Golf Association who ran USGA qualifiers for many years, will serve as a special in-studio expert and will be featured on Golf Channel throughout the day. Hill now serves as USGA senior director of competitions, overseeing the Association’s 12 national amateur events.
Three Golf Central special presentations (1-2 p.m. ET; 6-8 p.m. ET; and 10 p.m.-12 a.m. ET) will cover emerging stories, interviews with medalists and other qualifiers, and studio analysis from Tripp Isenhour (who has qualified for the U.S. Open three out of seven attempts in the past) and Hill. In between, frequent news updates throughout the day will keep viewers up to date on all the news and scores.
GolfChannel.com also will serve as a source for U.S. Open qualifying news and information, with feature stories written by correspondents in the field, scoring updates and posting social media content from Golf Channel reporters covering the Sectional events.
Golf’s Longest Day
News Team and Featured GuestsGary Williams, host, Morning Drive
Holly Sonders, co-host, Morning Drive
Steve Sands, host, Golf Central
Kelly Tilghman, co-host, Golf Central
Tripp Isenhour, analyst, Golf Central
Tim Rosaforte, Golf Channel Insider (San Francisco)
Mike Davis, USGA Executive Director
Jeff Hall, USGA Managing Director of Rules and Competitions
Tom O’Toole, USGA Executive Committee Member
Mark Hill, USGA Senior Director of Competitions
Jerry Foltz, Golf House (USGA Headquarters)
Whit Watson (Columbus, Ohio)
Scott Walker (Memphis, Tenn.)
Rex Hoggard (Lecanto, Fla.)
Win McMurry (Suwanee, Ga.)
Kay Cockerill (Daly City, Calif.)
Jeff Rude (Glen Ellyn, Ill.)
Alex Miceli (Rockville, Md.)
John Hawkins (Summit, N.J.)
Jason Sobel (Springfield, Ohio)
Steve Burkowski (Creswell, Ore.)
David Marr III (Houston, Texas)
One more post before we move on to something else.
