5 to enter World Golf Hall of … Really Good?

NEW YORK – Discovery and the PGA TOUR have today revealed GOLFTV, powered by the PGA TOUR, the distinctive brand for the destination that will unite the community of golf fans around the world.  The brand will underpin the new live and on-demand international video streaming service, which will launch globally outside the United States* on Jan. 1, 2019. GOLFTV will offer fans a one-stop destination to access the widest range of golf content.  With a growing portfolio of content, it will feature many of the sport’s most exciting moments, superstar players and tournaments on every screen and device. Serving golf fans with an enhanced experience to both entertain and inform, GOLFTV will present more than 2,000 hours of live action each year as well as extensive premium content on-demand.   Live coverage* will include the six Tours operating under the PGA TOUR umbrella and nearly 150 tournaments annually – including THE PLAYERS Championship, the FedExCup Playoffs and the Presidents Cup. Alex Kaplan, President and General Manager, Discovery Golf, said: “Our long-term goal is to create a must-have experience that truly enhances the way global fans watch, play and engage with the game every day.  Unveiling the new GOLFTV brand is an exciting next step in our journey. “Building on Discovery’s heritage of real-life storytelling and direct-to-consumer platform experience, we’ve already established a world-class GOLFTV team.  With work well underway, our carefully considered plans will allow us to continually enhance GOLFTV as we roll-out and further develop the product.â€� The launch of the GOLFTV brand follows the pioneering strategic alliance between Discovery and the PGA TOUR, announced in June.  In addition to the GOLFTV service, the 12-year alliance will manage the PGA TOUR’s international multi-platform rights including linear TV rights. Discovery is already working to execute on a robust distribution and broadcast partner strategy for the portfolio, optimizing reach across free-to-air, pay-TV and digital, and will explore partnering with existing PGA TOUR and golf broadcasters to continue to grow the game.  Live PGA TOUR coverage will become available via GOLFTV in line with the market-by-market rights activation date (see below). GOLFTV Video Streaming Service GOLFTV will supersede PGA TOUR LIVE across global markets (outside the United States). Users in all markets can subscribe to a wide range of golf content and programming on GOLFTV, with the addition of live PGA TOUR coverage by-market as the rights are activated.  In 2019, live coverage will be included on GOLFTV in Australia, Canada, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia and Spain.* Current international PGA TOUR LIVE users will be provided with a simple transition to GOLFTV ahead of launch Jan. 1, 2019. Further information regarding GOLFTV, programming and content will be announced in due course. *Excluding the United States. Live PGA TOUR coverage will be included market-by-market by rights activation date.  Rights in all markets (excluding the United States) to be managed by Discovery through the strategic alliance with PGA TOUR by 2024.  The rights starting dates by territory are shown below.

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To date, the Detroit Lions have won the Super Bowl only in video games. However, as painful as that is to their dedicated fan base, Nate Lashley proved that video game-like performances can come to life in Detroit. What’s more, he won the inaugural Rocket Mortgage Classic as an afterthought prior to the tournament. Lions’ fans know all too well about getting overlooked. If you ever wanted an example of how a life can change on any given Sunday, Lashley is a good one. He was the last man in the field at Detroit Golf Club a year ago, and then went wire-to-wire en route to trouncing the field by six. For more on how Lashley manufactured his breakthrough victory, the composite host course and other details about the tournament, scroll past the projected contenders. RELATED: Featured Groups POWER RANKINGS: ROCKET MORTGAGE CLASSIC Look for a review of defending champion Nate Lashley in Tuesday’s Fantasy Insider. Rickie Fowler, Jason Day, Bubba Watson, Kevin Kisner, Scottie Scheffler and other notables will be included. It was one of the feel-good stories of 2018-19, and unlike the local NFL representative, Lashley left no doubt that there would be a coronation in Motown. The 36-year-old was in just his second season on the PGA TOUR, and he was plowing forward with conditional status secured via a Minor Medical Extension with which he started the campaign. Then, paydirt. For the week, Lashley ranked fourth in greens in regulation (59 of 72) and third in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green. He also took the second-fewest putts with just 106 while finishing third in Strokes Gained: Putting, third in converting GIR into par breakers, and third in scrambling (11 of 13). He won offensively and defensively, and it was special. Cheat-code kind of stuff. Detroit GC is a Donald Ross design entering its second century. The stock par 72 routed for the tournament surrendered a scoring average of 70.113 in its PGA TOUR debut. With no significant modifications to the course and with similarly benign weather forecast, the field of 156 should plan on flooring when the flag drops. Daytime highs in the 90s are expected throughout with only passing clouds at times. Winds will be light. The par-4 third hole plays as No. 1 on the South Course for members. All of the other holes are found on the North Course. Collectively, the composite course tips at 7,340 yards. The 635-yard par-5 fourth yielded “only” four eagles last year and ranked as the hardest of the par 5s at 4.743, but as is customary on most TOUR tracks, all of the par 5s were the easiest holes on the set of 18. As of midday Monday, 69 in this week’s field competed in the inaugural edition. Despite four-inch primary rough and bentgrass greens averaging only 5,150 square feet, they know to be on the attack. Last year’s field averaged 13.05 greens in regulation per round and knocked in a little over four par breakers on average on those chances alone. ROB BOLTON’S SCHEDULE PGATOUR.COM’s Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton recaps and previews every tournament from numerous angles. Look for his following contributions as scheduled. MONDAY: Rookie Ranking, Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Medical Extensions, Power Rankings TUESDAY*: Sleepers, Fantasy Insider * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which also publishes on Tuesday.

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VIRGINIA WATER, England (AP) — Shane Lowry tapped in for birdie at the 18th hole and then had to wait and see if Rory McIlroy could produce something special to force a playoff at Wentworth. McIlroy gave himself a chance and the crowd cheered as his long eagle putt on the final hole crept slowly toward the cup, only to stop less than an inch short. McIlroy crouched down, staring at the ball in disbelief, while Lowry hugged his caddie in the scorer’s tent to celebrate a one-shot victory at the BMW PGA Championship on Sunday. It was Lowry’s first win since The Open at 2019 and came after a bogey-free performance over three days at Wentworth. McIlroy and Jon Rahm were tied for second, one shot back. The tournament was reduced to 54 holes with no play on Friday after the death of Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday. Lowry finished with a 7-under 65 for a 17-under total of 199. “I said to my coach this morning, ‘I need to just allow myself to play golf today,’” Lowry said. “I’m playing the best golf of my life, I need to just allow myself to do that. And I did that.” Rahm surged up the leaderboard with a 62, rolling in an eagle putt on the 18th to take a two-shot clubhouse lead at 16 under. He then had to wait more than two hours to see if it would be good enough for the win, although on a low-scoring day at Wentworth it never looked likely to be. A superb approach shot from Lowry on the 18th made sure of that. Lowry hit an iron from 242 yards onto the center of the green — a shot good enough to earn an immediate fist bump from his caddie — and then rolled an eagle putt to within a few inches of the hole, leaving himself a tap-in birdie for the lead. McIlroy, playing in the pairing behind Lowry, also had a 14-foot birdie putt on the 17th break just to the right of the hole. When Lowry then birdied the last hole, McIlroy knew he needed to eagle the par-5 18th — something he has never managed at Wentworth. He came agonizingly close. “I thought 3 feet out even that that putt was going in the hole,” said McIlroy, who won his third FedExCup title last month. “It just sort of wriggled right on me at the end. But overall it’s been another really good week.” It was a first win for Lowry at Wentworth in his 13th appearance in the DP World Tour’s flagship event, having finished second to McIlroy in 2014. “I love it here, I’ve contended in the past,” Lowry said. “The bad shots that I’ve hit over the years in contention actually started to creep into my head. It’s amazing what this game does.”

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