TNT was the long-running holder ofcablerights to thePGA Championship (with full coverage of the first two rounds and early coverage of the weekend rounds since1999 after being on sister channelTBS[1][2] since1991) under a contract with thePGA of America.[3] From 2003 to 2009, TNT also held the cable rights toThe Open Championship.
The channel has generally only carried major competitions, as opposed to the other week-to-week tournaments which are under the auspices of thePGA Tour, an organization which is independent of the PGA of America.
Since 2020,TNT Sports has televisedThe Match, a series of exhibition matches with top professional golfers and professional athletes from other sports.
In the past, TNT owned cable rights to the(British) Open Championship,[4] as well as theWomen's British Open andSenior British Open, from2003 to2009 (withABC picking up weekend coverage), replacing (and ultimately being replaced by)ESPN. TNT carried the first two rounds of thePGA Championship through 2019, with Turner having covered the event since 1991, at first on TBS and later TNT. TNT also carried the biennial PGA Tour-managedPresidents Cup[5] from2000 to2007;Golf Channel assumed those rights beginning with the2009 event as part of its overall deal for PGA Tour cable rights. TNT also broadcast the first two rounds of theTarget World Challenge from 1999 to 2002, and the first three rounds of the five-roundBob Hope Chrysler Classic from 1995 to 1998, along with other select events.
Beginning in2004, TNT as well asCBS, began broadcasting the PGA Championship inHDTV, although some cameras used SD widescreen through 2006. Meanwhile, the Open Championship was shown in widescreen SD from 2004 through the end of TNT's run in 2009 (weekend rights-holderABC was forced to do the same, as only SD widescreen cameras were used by the homeBBC broadcast). The 2007 Presidents Cup was mostly in HD, with a handful of SD widescreen cameras also being used (this was the standard setup of weekend rights-holderNBC at the time).
On October 10, 2018, it was announced that ESPN would replace TNT as the PGA Championship's cable partner beginning in 2020, with CBS remaining broadcast television rightsholder.[6] This deal left TNT without any golf coverage.
British Open
PGA Championship
In May 2020, following theCOVID-19 pandemic, TNT gained the rights to “Capital One’s The Match 2:Tiger Woods andPeyton Manning vs.Phil Mickelson andTom Brady”. The event took place May 24 at the Medalist Golf Club inHobe Sound, Florida. The regular TNT golf team from the 2019 PGA covered the event, in addition toNBA on TNT analystCharles Barkley and PGA Tour playerJustin Thomas.
TNT had previously produced coverage of the original “The Match” event between Woods and Mickelson in 2018, however that aired only on pay-per-view. Like the original, “The Match 2” featured all players mic’d up, and also provided earpieces to allow the players, from their custom-designed golf carts, to chat with the members of the broadcast booth (including Barkley) who were in the 18th tower.
The telecast, which was delayed slightly by rain, peaked at 6.3 million viewers, and averaged 5.8 million for the afternoon. The 3pmEDT Sunday broadcast was the highestrated and most watched golf event ever to air on a cable channel, meaning the telecast beat every Thursday and Friday round in PGA Tour history including TNT's own coverage of the British Open, PGA Championship, and Presidents Cup.
Since then, every edition ofThe Match has been aired on cable television byTNT, select editions have also been simulcast onTBS,TruTV orHLN. Since 2022,The Match has also been distributed internationally viaEurosport,GolfTV, andDiscovery+, all of which are owned by TNT Sports' parent company.[7]
| Date | Title | USA TV | Average USA viewership | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 28, 2018 | The Match: Tiger vs. Phil | Pay-per-view B/R Live | Unknown | [8] |
| May 24, 2020 | The Match: Champions for Charity | TNT TBS TruTV HLN | 5,800,000 | [9] |
| November 27, 2020 | The Match: Champions For Change | TNT | 1,000,000 | [10] |
| July 6, 2021 | The Match IV | TNT TBS TruTV | 1,700,000 | [11] |
| November 26, 2021 | The Match: Bryson vs. Brooks | TNT TBS TruTV HLN | 1,200,000 | [11] |
| June 1, 2022 | The Match VI | TNT TruTV HLN | 1,500,000 | [12] |
| December 10, 2022 | The Match VII | TNT TBS TruTV HLN | 1,400,000 | [13] |
| June 29, 2023 | The Match VIII | TNT TruTV HLN | 773,000 | [14] |
| February 26, 2024 | The Match IX | 511,000 | [15] |
:1 was invoked but never defined (see thehelp page).2020-SMW was invoked but never defined (see thehelp page).2020-SMW2 was invoked but never defined (see thehelp page).| Preceded by | The Open Championship American cable television broadcaster 2003-2009 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | PGA Championship cable television broadcaster 1991 (onTBS through1998)-2019 | Succeeded by |