There have been a couple of LPGA Tour events so far this year, however, they’ve taken place in Asia. Now the LPGA comes back to America starting this weekend with the LPGA Founders Cup. It kicks off 23 events on the calendar including four round coverage of tour major tournaments such as the Kraft Nabisco (formerly known as the Dinah Shore) and the LPGA Championship.
Most of the events will be seen live on the weekends while some tournaments will have tape delayed coverage on weekdays.
Rich Lerner, Terry Gannon and Tom Abbot will share the play-by-play. Kelly Tilghman will be host at three events. We have the entire list of the LPGA Tour on Golf Channel.
GOLF CHANNEL DOMESTIC LPGA TOUR SEASON BEGINS THURSDAY
Two Major Championships Headline 23-Event Schedule
Exclusive Golf Channel Coverage of Kraft Nabisco Championship Marks Season’s First Major, March 29-April 1ORLANDO, Fla., (March 13, 2012) – Golf Channel’s domestic coverage of the 2012 LPGA Tour season is the most anticipated in the network’s history, featuring full coverage of the first two major championships and unique storytelling of the game’s current and rising stars, all kicking off Thursday in Arizona with the LPGA Founders Cup.
Golf Channel’s live coverage of the LPGA Founders Cup will take place Thursday-Friday from 6:30-8:30 p.m. ET, followed by live weekend coverage from 4-7 p.m. ET. The tournament coverage will include features on the LPGA’s Founding Members and Pioneers, Hall-of-Fame players and the LPGA-USGA Girls Golf Program.
Headlining the 2012 broadcast schedule will be live coverage of the Kraft Nabisco Championship (March 29-April 1), golf’s first major championship of the season. Golf Channel will broadcast 20 hours of live coverage throughout the tournament, including six hours of live coverage on Thursday and Friday. The season’s second major of the year, the LPGA Championship, will air on Golf Channel June 7-10, when World No. 1 Yani Tseng will look to defend her 2011 title.
In total, Golf Channel will broadcast 23 LPGA Tour events -– the majority produced in high definition –- in 2012.
Golf Channel is entering the third year of a 10-year partnership with the LPGA Tour as the exclusive cable home. In 2010, the network introduced and featured several unique production elements to enhance the telecasts and showcase the personalities of LPGA Tour players, most notably fitting players with microphones during competition. “Mic’d Up” now also is featured on PGA TOUR telecasts.
Golf Channel will continue to provide viewers with its signature production elements for LPGA Tour telecasts, beginning this week with the LPGA Founders Cup. During the opening rounds, Golf Channel will feature “LPGA Unplugged,” where two LPGA Tour players will discuss all aspects of golf, the tour and their everyday lives. During Friday telecasts, a player in the field will join the network’s announcers as a player analyst. Other popular elements also will return, including rookie and player profiles, interviewing players as they are walking the fairways (“Walk and Talks”), and weekly tips from players. Throughout the year, LPGA players will be “mic’d up” during their opening rounds of play.
Golf Channel also will expand its LPGA broadcast team in 2012. Rich Lerner will join Terry Gannon and Tom Abbott as play-by-play hosts, with Kelly Tilghman joining the team as show host for the Kraft Nabisco Championship, the LPGA Championship and the CME Group Titleholders. Scottsdale resident Brandel Chamblee will serve as lead analyst this week for the LPGA Founders Cup, and Matt Gogel and Curt Byrum will make guest appearances throughout the year as tower reporters. Hall-of-Famer Judy Rankin, Jane Crafter, Kay Cockerill, Val Skinner, Jerry Foltz and Phil Parkin all return to Golf Channel’s LPGA broadcast team in 2012.
Golf Channel will continue to provide enhanced news coverage of the LPGA Tour and will produce several programs with LPGA stars throughout the year.
3/15-3/18 — RR Donnelley LPGA Founders Cup LIVE
3/22-3/25 — Kia Classic LIVE
3/29-4/1 — KRAFT Nabisco Championship LIVE
4/18-4/21 — LPGA LOTTE Championship
4/26-4/29 — Mobile Bay LPGA Classic LIVE
5/17-5/20 — Sybase Match Play Championship TD/LIVE
6/1-6/3 — ShopRite LPGA Classic LIVE
6/7-6/10 — LPGA Championship LIVE
6/21-6/24 — Manulife Financial LPGA Classic LIVE
6/29-7/1 — NW Arkansas Championship TD/LIVE
7/26-7/29 — Evian Masters TD/LIVE
8/17-8/19 — Safeway Classic LIVE
8/23-8/26 — Canadian Women’s Open TD/LIVE
9/6-9/9 — Kingsmill Championship LIVE
9/20-9/23 — Navistar LPGA Classic TD/LIVE
10/11-10/14 — Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia TD
10/19-10/21 — LPGA Hana Bank Championship TD
10/25-10/28 — LPGA Taiwan Championship TD
11/8-11/11 — Lorena Ochoa Invitational LIVE
11/15-11/18 — CME Group Titleholders LIVENumber of events, schedule and times subject to change
That does it.
