ThePGA Championship is televised in the United States byCBS andESPN. ESPN holds rights to early-round and weekend morning coverage and airs supplemental coverage through its digital subscription serviceESPN+ during CBS's weekend broadcast windows. They started in 2020,[1] replacingTNT.[2] CBS holds rights to afternoon coverage of the weekend rounds.ABC had historically broadcast the tournament until 1991, when it moved to CBS.[3][4]
The current broadcasters (correct as of 2019) of the PGA Championship are:[5]
| Territory | Broadcaster |
|---|---|
| Australia | Fox Sports |
| Belgium | BETV / Telenet |
| Bulgaria | MTEL |
| Canada | TSN / RDS |
| China | CCTV / IQIYI |
| Czech Republic | Golf Channel |
| France | Canal + |
| Germany | Sky Deutschland |
| Greece | Forthnet S.A. (NOV A) |
| Iceland | 365 |
| India | ATR (1Sports) |
| Italy | Sky Italia |
| Japan | TV Tokyo / JGN |
| Latin America | ESPN |
| Netherlands | Ziggo Sport |
| New Zealand | Sky |
| Pacific Islands | FIJI Television LTD |
| Pan Asia | Fox Sports Asia |
| Poland | ITI Neovision |
| Portugal | Sport TV |
| Scandinavia | Viasat |
| South Africa | Supersport |
| South Korea | Coupang Play |
| Spain | Movistar |
| Taiwan | Sportcast |
| Turkey | Saran |
| United Kingdom | Sky Sports |
| United States | ESPN / CBS |
| Yugoslavia (Former) | Adria Media - Golf Klub |
CBS has long-term deals for the PGA Championship[6] (initially from1958 to1964[7] and again starting in1991).
Frank Chirkinian was known as the 'father of televised golf' for the impact he had on golf broadcasting. He came to the attention ofCBS after he impressed with his direction of the1958 PGA Championship. Recruited by the network, who had no one with expertise in the relatively new field of golf broadcasting, he went on to be executive producer of CBS's golf coverage from 1959 to 1996.[8][9] During his time at CBS, he was nicknamed "The Ayatollah" for his brusque, uncompromising approach to directing broadcasts.[10]
ABC broadcast golf events for the first time in 1962 when it began televising theOpen Championship as part of itsanthology seriesWide World of Sports. The network later gained the broadcast rights to thePGA Championship in 1965, and theU.S. Open in 1966.Chris Schenkel andByron Nelson were the initial hosts of the tournament coverage. In 1975,Jim McKay andDave Marr became the lead broadcast team, whileBob Rosburg joined the network as the first ever on-course reporter, andPeter Alliss joined as a co-anchor.
Beginning in 1982, ABC adopted its most well-known format of theWide World of Sports era. The broadcast operated using anchor teams, in which an anchor and an analyst would call all of the action from the tower at the 18th hole, and the teams would be rotated on coverage after about a half-hour. Meanwhile, the three on-course reporters, which includedJudy Rankin andEd Sneed in addition to Rosburg, would be utilized when prompted by the anchor team. McKay and Marr would be the lead team, withJack Whitaker and Alliss[11] as the second team. Occasionally, Rosburg or Whitaker would host if McKay was unavailable, whileRoger Twibell would take over the secondary team. After his 1986 Masters win,Jack Nicklaus would appear on ABC after the end of his round and served as an analyst for the rest of the telecast.
In 1990, Roger Twibell took over as lead anchor, with Dave Marr as his analyst. Peter Alliss became sole anchor of the second anchor team. During this period, ABC acquired the rights to several non-major PGA Tour events, mostly important events such as theMemorial Tournament andThe Tour Championship. 1990 would also mark the final PGA Championship to be broadcast by ABC.
In1982,ESPN provided the first cable television coverage of the PGA Championship with three hours on both Thursday and Friday. While there was no cable coverage of the first two rounds in1984, ESPN returned for weekday coverage the following year and expanded to three and a half hours each day. And then in1986, ESPN increased their weekday coverage to four hours.
On October 10, 2018, it was announced that ESPN had acquired cable rights to the tournament from2020 to 2030. ESPN will, as with TNT, carry early-round and weekend morning coverage, but will also have the ability to offer supplemental coverage through its digital subscription serviceESPN+ during CBS's weekend broadcast windows.[2]
Until ESPN regained the rights following the2019 PGA Championship, TNT had thecablerights to the PGA Championship (with full coverage of the first two rounds and early coverage of the weekend rounds since1999 after being on sister channelTBS since1991) under a contract with thePGA of America that runs through 2019.[7]
When TBS took over the cable package for the PGA Championship in1991, they increased the weekday coverage to 6 hours per day. TBS also added 2 hours of Saturday and Sunday coverage. Because inclement weather stopped play during the third round of2012 PGA Championship on Saturday, TNT added coverage starting at 8 a.m.ET on Sunday.
For the1991 PGA Championship,Bob Neal andBobby Clampett anchored the TBS coverage. TBS also used golf instructorDavid Leadbetter, former LPGA playerDonna Caponi, andNFL analystPat Haden for the 1991 PGA Championship coverage. For the1992 PGA Championship, TBS installed Leadbetter as its lead analyst.Gary Bender andMLB analystDon Sutton were also part of the TBS crew.
Beginning with the1995 PGA Championship,Ernie Johnson Jr. became the primary golf anchor for Turner. During the2006 PGA Championship,Verne Lundquist filled in on TNT for Johnson, who was undergoingchemotherapy. During TNT's Sunday coverage of the2011 PGA Championship, Lundquist once again stepped in for Johnson after Johnson'sfather died. On both occasions, Lundquist was already on-site as a tower announcer for CBS's coverage.
Dave Marr served as the lead analyst for TBS during their1995 PGA Championship coverage. By the1996 PGA Championship, Bobby Clampett once again assumed the lead Turner analyst role. Also for the 1996 PGA Championship, formerLPGA player Mary Bryan moved over fromCBS to join the TBS team.
| Announcer | Years | Network(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Michael Eaves | 2021−present | ESPN |
| Pat Haden | 1991 | TBS |
| Tom Rinaldi | 2020 | ESPN |
| Marty Smith | 2021−present | ESPN |
| Don Sutton | 1992 | TBS |
| Gene Wojciechowski | 2021−present | ESPN |
August 2000 Tiger Woods outduels Bob May in the first three-hole playoff in PGA Championship history, seen by an estimated 38.5 million total viewers, the largest audience ever for a PGA Championship.