ESPN to Air 12 Hours of PGA Championship Coverage Thursday and Friday

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – OCTOBER 2: A view from the 18th hole of TPC Harding Park on October 2, 2018 in San Franscisco, California. (Photo by Gary Kellner/PGA of America).

In the first year of a new, 11-year deal, ESPN and ESPN+ will bring viewers more live coverage than ever from the PGA Championship, the first golf major of 2020, Aug. 6-9 from TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, featuring comprehensive first tee shot to last putt coverage across all four days.

With 134 hours of live play covered across ESPN and ESPN+ during the four days of the championship, fans will get traditional coverage as well as exclusive Featured Groups and Featured Hole presentations. In addition, ESPN’s signature news and information program SportsCenter will have reports from the location for the entire week of the event.

Thursday and Friday

ESPN and ESPN+ will have 12 hours of live play each day from the first and second rounds of the championship on Thursday and Friday, Aug. 6-7. ESPN+ will open the coverage with the first tee shot both days at 10 a.m. ET, a first for the event, and continue to follow play with traditional coverage from 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. each day. ESPN will pick up the coverage heading into East Coast prime time, from 4-10 p.m. both days.

Featured Group coverage will be live on ESPN+ all day Thursday and Friday, from 10 a.m. until the end of play, with four featured groups throughout the day (two morning groups, two afternoon groups).

Saturday and Sunday

Golf fans will also have expanded weekend viewing available with five hours of morning and early afternoon play on both Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 8-9, as well as exclusive Featured Group and Featured Hole coverage all day.

On Saturday, traditional coverage will stream live on ESPN+ from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m., with ESPN continuing the coverage from 1-4 p.m.

On Sunday, ESPN+ will stream traditional coverage of final round action from 10 a.m. until noon, followed by three hours on ESPN from noon – 3 p.m.

Both Saturday and Sunday, will again offer exclusive Featured Group coverage throughout the day on ESPN+ (two morning groups, two afternoon groups). Additionally, ESPN+ will bring live, exclusive Featured Hole coverage of TPC Harding Park’s No. 18. on both Saturday and Sunday. Start times for Featured Group and Featured Hole coverage will be dependent upon tee times and the cut size and will continue on ESPN+ until the end of play.

The 102nd PGA Championship has live, first tee to final putt coverage for the first time in its history, with CBS airing afternoon play Saturday and Sunday, while exclusive Featured Group and Featured Hole coverage continues streaming on ESPN+. The 2020 PGA Championship will mark the first time in 30 years that ESPN has covered the event (last provided coverage in 1990).

Commentators and Analysts

Scott Van Pelt will anchor ESPN’s coverage, joined in the 18th tower for analysis by former world No. 1 David Duval. Hole announcers will be Sean McDonough, Bob Wischusen and Dave Flemming while Tom Rinaldi will conduct player interviews. On-course reporters will be Andy North, Billy Kratzert, Colt Knost and Olin Browne. The CBS announce crew will call play for three hours each day on Thursday and Friday.

Matt Barrie, Andrew Catalon, Brian Crowell and Luke Elvy will host Featured Group coverage with analysts Curtis Strange, Jason Bohn, Stuart Appleby and 1996 PGA Championship winner Mark Brooks. On-course reporters will be Jane Crafter, Ned Michaels and Olin Browne.

ESPN+ Preview Programs with Scott Van Pelt

Van Pelt will also host preview programming on both Tuesday and Wednesday, Aug. 4-5, on ESPN+ that will include live coverage of select player news conferences as well as player interviews, practice round coverage and scenes from the driving range. The preview program begins at noon on Tuesday and 1 p.m. on Wednesday.

SportsCenter

SportsCenter will have reports from the PGA Championship for seven days beginning Monday, Aug. 3. Michael Eaves and Van Pelt will anchor the reports, joined by ESPN golf analysts and reporters including North, Rinaldi and Gene Wojciechowski from TPC Harding Park.

Player groupings for the PGA Championship will be revealed on Tuesday, Aug. 4, and will be announced during the 12:30 p.m. edition of SportsCenter and in that day’s preview show on ESPN+.

Additional PGA Championship Coverage

The new ESPN+ program America’s Caddie, which begins streaming on July 29, will include a preview of the PGA Championship with host Michael Collins. In the debut episode of the magazine-style series, Collins talks with three-time major winner Jordan Spieth about the challenges of playing professional golf in the midst of a pandemic; takes a look back at Brooks Koepka’s back-to-back PGA Championship win last year (which he nearly lost) and his prospects for a three-peat this year; and utilizes his caddie skills to break down the most important holes to watch at TPC Harding Park.

ESPN.com will have coverage of the PGA Championship all week with senior writer Bob Harig on location at the event. ESPN.com also will have extensive previews of the championship.

The ESPN morning program Get Up! (weekday mornings, 8-10 a.m. on ESPN) will have live interviews with ESPN analysts and reporters from the PGA Championship during the week of the event.

The Matty & The Caddie podcast, hosted by SportsCenter anchor Matt Barrie and ESPN.com senior golf writer Michael Collins, and available on ESPN.com, will also feature PGA Championship previews and interviews.

ESPN’s Global Coverage

ESPN’s coverage of the PGA Championship will be available to 60 countries and fans can watch wall-to-wall coverage on ESPN’ television, online, mobile and broadband platforms.

  • In Latin America and the Caribbean, ESPN will be broadcasting more than 25 hours of live coverage of the 2020 PGA Championship on its linear channels to 60 countries across the region.
  • Digitally, ESPN Play (ESPN’s broadband channel in Spanish-speaking Latin America and the Caribbean) and WatchESPN in Brazil, will stream network simulcast coverage of the 2020 PGA Championship in English, Spanish and Portuguese.
  • ESPN Play will also provide more than 100-hours of exclusive coverage of Featured Groups and Featured Holes for all four rounds of the event.
  • In Canada TSN and RDS will deliver live coverage of all four rounds of the PGA Championship. Featured Group and Featured Holes will be available via TSN’s digital platforms – TSN.ca and the TSN App.

Click HERE to view ESPN PGA Championship commercial

102nd PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

TPC Harding Park – San Francisco

Date                            Event                                                  Time (ET)                             Network

Tuesday, Aug. 4 Preview show w/grouping/tee times reveal, news conferences, player interviews Noon – TBD ESPN+
Wednesday, Aug. 5 Preview show w/news conferences, player interviews 1 p.m. – TBD ESPN+
Thursday, Aug. 6 First Round 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. ESPN+
  Featured Group 1 (one morning, one afternoon) 10 a.m. – 10 p.m. ESPN+
  Featured Group 2 (one morning, one afternoon) 10 a.m. – 10 p.m. ESPN+
  First Round 4 p.m. – 10 p.m. ESPN
Friday, Aug. 7 First Round (encore) Midnight – 5:30 a.m. ESPN2
  Second Round 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. ESPN+
  Featured Group 1 (one morning, one afternoon) 10 a.m. – 10 p.m. ESPN+
  Featured Group 2 (one morning, one afternoon) 10 a.m. – 10 p.m. ESPN+
  Second Round 4 p.m. – 10 p.m. ESPN
  Second Round (encore) 11 p.m. – 3 a.m. ESPN2
Saturday, Aug. 8 Third Round 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. ESPN+
  Featured Group 1 (one morning, one afternoon) 11 a.m. – 10 p.m. ESPN+
  Featured Group 2 (one morning, one afternoon) 11 a.m. – 10 p.m. ESPN+
  Third Round 1 p.m. – 4 p.m. ESPN
  Featured Hole (18th) 4 p.m. – 10 p.m. ESPN+
Sunday. Aug. 9 Final Round 10 a.m. – Noon ESPN+
  Featured Group 1 (one morning, one afternoon) 10 a.m. – 9 p.m. ESPN+
  Featured Group 2 (one morning, one afternoon) 10 a.m. – 9 p.m. ESPN+
  Final Round Noon – 3 p.m. ESPN
  Featured Hole (18th) 3 p.m. – 9 p.m. ESPN+

(Tentative schedule – subject to change. Saturday/Sunday start times dependent upon tee times and cut size)

Fans subscribe to ESPN+ for just $4.99 a month (or $49.99 per year) through, ESPN.com, ESPNplus.com or the ESPN App. It is also available as part of a bundle offer that gives subscribers access to Disney+, Hulu (ad-supported), and ESPN+ ¬— all for just $12.99/month.

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