Sports Media Report
Since 1916, the PGA Championship has challenged the game’s finest players and produced memories that are etched in golf history. But if you had to choose the greatest PGA Championship ever played, could you?
On Sunday, July 8, from 2:00-3:00 p.m. EDT, CBS Sports presents the 100th PGA Championship: The Ultimate Bracket, a show with one goal: to help determine the best ever of golf’s only all-professional major.
Hosted by Amanda Balionis, the program features 16 Championships over the years matched in a bracket format. Each Championship is seeded based upon voting by an international panel of nearly 60 journalists representing the Golf Writers’ Association of America, the Association of Golf Writers in the UK and past recipients of the PGA Lifetime Achievement Award in Journalism.
Public voting begins on July 8, immediately following the program, and continues through Saturday, Aug. 11, with the winning Championship selection revealed during the final round of the 100th PGA Championship, Sunday, Aug. 12, on CBS.
During the show, viewers will be entertained by many of golf’s greatest competitors and personalities, as well as rare video footage; and interviews that include the late Gene Sarazen, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Bob Tway, John Daly, Davis Love III, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia, Adam Scott, Jordan Spieth, Zach Johnson, Brandt Snedeker, Justin Rose and Rickie Fowler.
Among the others also providing insight are: PGA Hall of Fame Members Eddie Merrins and Bob Toski; PGA Life Member and former Baltusrol Golf Club Head Professional Doug Steffen; a group of distinguished members of the golf media; and caddies Mark Love (brother of Davis Love III); Jim “Bones” Mackay (for Phil Mickelson, 1992-2017); and A.J. Montecinos (for Y.E. Yang, 2009-10).
The Ultimate Bracket also features the opinions of the CBS Sports golf broadcast team, including Jim Nantz, Gary McCord, Peter Kostis, Ian Baker-Finch and Luke Elvy; and by NBC/Golf Channel’s David Feherty.
The “contestants” in The Ultimate Bracket include PGA Championships between 1923 and 2014. Four Championship come from the match-play era (1916-57), starting when Gene Sarazen and Walter Hagen dueled for golf supremacy and continuing through a time when icons Ben Hoganand Byron Nelson validated their place in sports history.
Championships included in The Ultimate Bracket that began in the stroke-play era, beginning in 1958, are a pair of dramatic Tiger Woods marches to the Rodman Wanamaker Trophy, Jack Nicklaus’s unparalleled major feats, Julius Boros, the oldest major champion and the successes of Phil Mickelson and Rory McIlroy.
Round-by-round voting closes at midnight PDT on each day before results are announced.
- Aug. 8 – First-round winners will be announced, and the second round begins.
- Aug. 10 – Second-round winners are announced, and the third round begins.
- Aug. 11 – Third-round winners are announced, and the final round voting begins.
Beginning Sunday, July 8, voting is done at pgachampionship.com/pga100, cbssports.com and via Twitter.com/PGAChampionship. Fans can vote once per day and will be able to register to receive an email reminder when the next round begins.
Begun in 1916, the PGA Championship is one of the world’s premier sporting events. It annually features one of the strongest fields in golf; the most international players of any U.S. major and is viewed by audiences in 165 countries and territories reaching more than 480 million households.
For more information on the PGA Championship, visit PGAChampionship.com and follow @PGAChampionship on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
