Golf on ABC

Did You Know?

• From 1999 to 2005, ABC aired Monday Night Golf, a series of prime-time match play events featuring Tiger Woods.
• The first Monday Night Golf match drew more viewers than the final round of the U.S. Open.
• Monday Night Golf was discontinued after the 2005 edition due to declining ratings.

Coverage history

ABC first televised golf on July 12, 1962, when it aired The Open Championship as part of Wide World of Sports. The network acquired the PGA Championship in 1965 and the U.S. Open in 1966, with Chris Schenkel and Byron Nelson as initial hosts. In 1975, Jim McKay and Dave Marr became the lead broadcast team; Bob Rosburg joined as the first on-course reporter, and Peter Alliss became a co-anchor. From 1982, ABC used anchor teams rotating from the 18th-hole tower every half-hour, with McKay and Marr as the lead pair and Jack Whitaker and Alliss as the second team.

On-course reporters Judy Rankin, Ed Sneed, and Rosburg were called upon by the anchor team. After his 1986 Masters win, Jack Nicklaus served as an analyst for the remainder of that telecast. In 1990, Roger Twibell became lead anchor with Dave Marr as analyst, and Peter Alliss anchored the second team alone. That year also marked ABC's final PGA Championship broadcast.

In 1992, Brent Musburger took over as host; Marr was dismissed, Twibell moved to ESPN, and Steve Melnyk became lead analyst. The format shifted to emphasize on-course reporters, including Rankin, Rosburg, and newcomer Mark Rolfing.

Controversies

On November 1, 1997, ABC employees boycotted the third round of the Tour Championship after a worker was disciplined for drawing an obscene cartoon of Disney chairman Michael Eisner. In 2004, ABC cut away from a sudden-death playoff at the Buick Classic at 7:00 p.m. Eastern and Central time to air a rerun of America's Funniest Home Videos; West Coast stations continued coverage until the match ended.

ESPN in the picture

After the 2009 Open Championship, sister network ESPN obtained exclusive U.S. rights to the tournament, marking the first time a major golf championship was not on a major broadcast network. In 2015, The R&A made a new deal with Golf Channel and NBC Sports, returning The Open Championship to broadcast television.

Theme music

From the mid-1970s until mid-1997, ABC used Barry White's 'Love's Theme' as its opening music for live golf telecasts. A generic sports theme replaced it from 1997 to 1999, while a distinct closing theme was retained. From late 1999 through 2003, a more authoritative heroic theme opened broadcasts, with the same closing music; The Open Championship had its own theme during this period. From 2004 to 2006, a Non-Stop Music theme was used for all events.

After ABC Sports was rebranded as ESPN on ABC in 2006, the network used ESPN graphics but kept separate theme music for the rest of the season. In 2007, ABC adopted Bob Christianson-composed themes from ESPN's tournament telecasts. For 2008 and 2009, a modified ESPN golf theme with bagpipes was used for The Open Championship. After ABC's live coverage ended in 2009, its replays of ESPN telecasts used The R&A theme composed by Non-Stop Music in 2010.