40-685: The Danielle Downey Credit Union Classic was an event on the Symetra Tour , the LPGA 's developmental tour. It a part of the Symetra Tour's schedule from 2015 to 2021. It aws held at Brook-Lea Country Club , designed by Donald Ross , outside Rochester, New York . The tournament was created to honor the legacy of Danielle Downey a native of the Rochester area who played on the LPGA Tour and died in 2014. Prior to
80-472: A concept in 1991. Gibbs felt there was enough interest in golf among the public to support such a network, and commissioned a Gallup Poll to see if his instincts were correct. With the support of the polling behind him, Gibbs and legendary golfer Arnold Palmer then secured $ 80 million in financing from several cable television providers (including Adelphia Communications Corporation , Cablevision Industries , Comcast , Continental Cablevision , Newhouse , and
120-512: A licensee of the LPGA. Duramed , a pharmaceutical company, was the tour's title sponsor from 2006 through the end of the 2010 season. In 2011, the tour was known as the "LPGA Futures Tour." In 2012, Symetra , a United States-based insurance provider, became the title sponsor of the tour and tour's name was changed to "Symetra Tour". In January 2022, the LPGA signed a five-year title sponsorship agreement with Epson America Inc. From 1999 through 2007
160-584: A new logo, implemented in May 2014 to coincide with the 2014 Players Championship . The new logo replaces the "swinging G" emblem that had been used since the network's launch with a wordmark alongside the NBC peacock. The new logo was meant to provide a unified brand across Golf Channel's associated properties and services. That month, it also partnered with Sirius XM PGA Tour Radio to feature audio simulcasts of its studio programming. In 2014, Golf Channel acquired rights to
200-516: Is aired by Golf Channel, which marked the first time ever that Golf Channel had ever broadcast one of the four Men's major golf championships . On May 3, 2016, NBC announced that Golf Channel would air the bulk of the men's and women's golf tournaments for the 2016 Summer Olympics , covering up to 300 hours of the tourney, with 130 of those hours live. In 2016, Golf Channel acquired the World Long Drivers Association, organizer of
240-559: Is an American sports television network owned by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal , a subsidiary of Comcast . Founded in Birmingham, Alabama , it is currently based out of NBC Sports' headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut . The channel focuses on coverage of the sport of golf , including live coverage of tournaments, as well as factual and instructional programming. It
280-649: Is co-branded with elements of the PGA Tour logo. Golf Channel is the pay television rightsholder of the PGA Tour , broadcasting live coverage of early rounds, and early window coverage of weekend rounds prior to network television coverage. Some events (particularly, late-season events such as the former Fall Series , and additional events) are broadcast in their entirety by the network. Golf Channel airs primetime encores of each round during PGA Tour events, including network television broadcasts from NBC or CBS where applicable. If
320-707: Is the cable television rightsholder of the PGA Tour , LPGA Tour , and PGA European Tour , and also holds rights to selected USGA tournaments and the NCAA Division I golf championships. Since 2016, it has also participated in NBC's coverage of the Summer Olympics , focusing on its golf competitions. Via the Golf Channel unit, Comcast also owns other golf-related businesses, including the course reservation service GolfNow , online golf instruction provider Revolution Golf, and
360-558: The 2019 Players Championship . The Latin American version of the Golf Channel was launched in 2006 as a DirecTV joint venture, and was acquired from DirecTV by former DirecTV executives Jason Markham and Evan Grayer together with Inversiones Bahia in 2018. The channel broadcasts professional tournaments from the PGA Tour, PGA Tour Latinoamérica, European Tour and LPGA Tour with Spanish-speaking journalists, as well as Golf Central and other English-language shows. In 2019, Discovery bought
400-560: The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission . While it mostly airs the American feed, live events coverage is subject to blackouts due to TSN holding many of its broadcasting rights domestically. Contrarily, the Canadian feed carries coverage of some events (particularly early round coverage of The Open Championship) whose rights are not owned by a Canadian network (TSN only holds rights to NBC's network coverage of
440-646: The Dubai Desert Classic , held January 19–22. Originally a premium channel with limited subscribers, it retooled in September 1995 to be part of basic-tier pay TV to reach more viewers, and ratings rapidly increased. In 1996, Fox Cable Networks acquired a minority stake in the channel for $ 50 million. From 1999 to 2001, Golf Channel held part of the PGA Tour 's cable rights for early-round coverage. To boost their availability, Golf Channel reached an agreement with Fox Sports Networks (FSN) to air simulcasts of
SECTION 10
#1733094447477480-479: The NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship . In 2015, it also began to broadcast the NCAA Division I Women's Golf Championships . In 2017, Golf Channel extended its rights to the tournaments through 2029. On June 8, 2015, it was announced that NBC Sports had acquired rights to The Open Championship beginning in 2017 under a 12-year deal; after former broadcaster ESPN opted out of the final year of rights, NBC began coverage in 2016 instead. Early round coverage
520-667: The Symetra Tour , is the official developmental golf tour of the LPGA Tour . Tour membership is open to professional women golfers and to qualified amateurs. The Futures Tour was founded in Florida in 1981 as the "Tampa Bay Mini Tour". It officially became the Futures Golf Tour in 1983 and in 1999 become a national tour designated as the "official developmental tour" of the LPGA Tour (the U.S. -based professional women's golf tour). Grace Park , Marilyn Lovander and Audra Burks were
560-513: The Times Mirror Company ) to launch the network, which was among the first subscription networks developed to cover one singular sport. Announced in February 1993, the launch date was targeted for May 1994; and it was launched on January 17, 1995, as The Golf Channel with a ceremonial flip of the switch by co-founder Arnold Palmer . The first live tournament the channel televised was
600-498: The Tribune Company , giving it full ownership. In January 2007, Golf Channel became the exclusive cable broadcaster of the PGA Tour as part of a new 15-year contract, replacing ESPN and USA Network . The contract included early-round coverage of all official money events, and 13 events per-season carried exclusively by the network. By then, Golf Channel had carriage in 75 million homes. It also simplified its branding, dropping
640-529: The WGC Match Play Championship , when NBC's golf telecasts took on the Golf Channel branding as " Golf Channel on NBC ", in a similar manner to ESPN's co-branding of sports output on ABC . NBC Sports personalities could now appear on Golf Channel, and former NBC Sports senior vice president Mike McCarley took over as the network's new head. The network also adopted an amended logo featuring the NBC peacock . In December 2013, Golf Channel unveiled
680-584: The World Long Drive Championship . Some of these associated properties operate from the network's former home of Orlando, Florida . As of December 2023 , Golf Channel is available to approximately 59,000,000 pay television households in the United States-down from its 2012 peak of 85,000,000 households. The idea of a 24-hour golf network came from media entrepreneur Joseph E. Gibbs of Birmingham , Alabama , who first thought of such
720-709: The World Long Drive Championships ; coverage of its events were subsequently added to the network. In 2017, Golf Channel acquired Revolution Golf, an online provider of golf instructional materials. January 14, 2018, broadcast technicians represented by IATSE went on strike affecting tournament coverage for the Sony Open in Honolulu, Hawaii, Web.com from the Bamahas and Diamond Resorts Invitational in Orlando. Ten days later
760-546: The article The from its on-air name. Concurrently, Comcast also launched Versus/Golf HD , a 1080i high definition channel featuring programming from Golf Channel and sister network Versus . Golf Channel programming was broadcast during the daytime hours, and Versus programming was broadcast during the evening and primetime hours. This arrangement ended in December 2008, when both networks launched their own 24-hour high-definition simulcasts. In March 2008, Comcast acquired
800-517: The 2004 Southern Conference Championship while at Furman University; Kristy McPherson , a three-time NCAA All-American First Team selection and two-time individual winner of the SEC Championship while at The University of South Carolina; and Briana Vega , who holds North Carolina State University's scoring records for 18-holes (68) and 54-holes (216). The Golf Channel Golf Channel (also verbally referred to as simply "Golf" or "NBC Golf")
840-594: The Danielle Downey Classic, Rochester was home to the LPGA Tour 's Wegmans LPGA for more than thirty years. The tournament was a 72-hole event, unlike most Symetra Tour tournaments which are 54-holes. Symetra Tour The Epson Tour , previously known as the LPGA Futures Tour , and known for sponsorship reasons between 2006 and 2010 as the Duramed Futures Tour and between 2012 and 2021 as
SECTION 20
#1733094447477880-482: The Futures Tour from 1996 to 1999. The Big Break V: Hawaii , which aired in the spring of 2006, included six additional Futures Tour competitors: Dana Lacey , Ashley Prange , Kim Lewellen , Kristina Tucker , Becky Lucidi and Jeanne Cho . Prange won the competition; Cho was runner-up. The Big Break VI: Trump National , broadcast in the fall of 2006, included six more Futures Tour players: Rachel Bailey ,
920-418: The LPGA Tour was changed. The top ten leading money winners at the end of the season gain membership on the LPGA Tour for the next season, with those finishing in the top five positions gaining higher priority for entry into events than those finishing in positions six through ten. Finishers in positions sixth through ten still have the option to attend LPGA Qualifying School to try to improve their membership for
960-515: The Open), but became unavailable in the country due to their move to USA Network and/or Peacock. Golf Channel Poland ( Polish Golf Channel Polska) is licensed version of the network owned by MWE Networks launched on March 18, 2017. A British version of the channel called Golf Channel UK was operated by sporting goods retailer JJB Sports , and was available on the BSkyB satellite service. It broadcast many of
1000-469: The PGA Tour. That November, it was announced that early-round coverage of the Open Championship, U.S. Open (which moved to Golf Channel after NBC re-acquired the rights to USGA tournaments in 2020), and their women's counterparts, would move to USA Network in 2022. At the 2022 Players Championship , Golf Channel adopted a special logo used on-air during PGA Tour telecasts and studio programming, which
1040-637: The Summer Olympics by covering its golf competitions . It has also carried coverage of the Ryder Cup and Solheim Cup alongside NBC, and the NCAA Division I Men's and Women's golf championships. Since its integration with NBC Sports, Golf Channel has been infrequently used as an overflow channel for non-golf programming, including two games of the 2018 Stanley Cup playoffs (due to programming conflicts with USA Network and CNBC ), and as part of NBC's " Championship Sunday " effort to televise all matches on
1080-469: The contestants on The Golf Channel 's The Big Break III: Ladies Only , which aired in the Spring of 2005, played on the Futures Tour, including Danielle Amiee , who ended up being the show's overall champion. The other players from the show that played on the Futures Tour were Jan Dowling , Valeria Ochoa , runner-up Pamela Crikelair , and LPGA veteran Cindy Miller . Show co-host Stephanie Sparks played on
1120-565: The coverage. In 2002, Golf Channel lost its rights to the main PGA Tour, but gained rights to the developmental Buy.com Tour . In 2001, Fox sold its 30.9% stake in Golf Channel, as well as its stake in Outdoor Life Network , to minority owner Comcast as part of a larger transaction by Fox to acquire Comcast's stake in Speedvision . In December 2003, Comcast acquired the remaining 8.6% stake of Golf Channel it did not already own from
1160-507: The final matchday of the Premier League soccer season. Golf Channel uses a number of people for tournament, news and instructional programming. For the month of October 2013, Golf Channel averaged a daily viewership of 84,000. The Golf Channel is also available in Canada on most cable and satellite providers, as it is authorized for carriage as a foreign cable television service by
1200-502: The first players to receive automatic LPGA Tour exempt status by finishing one, two, and three on the Futures Golf Tour Money List. The minimum age for participation was lowered to 17 prior to the 2006 season. On July 18, 2007, the LPGA officially announced that it had acquired the Futures Tour effective immediately, "bringing women's professional golf now under one umbrella." Previously the Futures Tour had operated as
1240-603: The following season. Beginning in 2011, the promotion process was changed slightly to allow the next 24 players, excluding current LPGA members, after the top ten qualifiers to automatic entry into Stage III of the LPGA Qualifying Tournament. Futures Tour graduates include LPGA tournament winners Laura Davies , Meaghan Francella , Hannah Green , Cristie Kerr , Christina Kim , Nelly Korda , Mo Martin , Lorena Ochoa , Grace Park , Inbee Park , Stacy Prammanasudh , Sherri Steinhauer , and Karrie Webb . Many of
Danielle Downey Credit Union Classic - Misplaced Pages Continue
1280-467: The individual winner of the 2002 Sunbelt Conference Championship at New Mexico State University; Bridget Dwyer , a member of the 2004 NCAA Women's Golf Championship winning team at UCLA; Ashley Gomes , the 2004 WAC Player of the Year and individual winner of the 2004 WAC Championship while at San Jose State University; Sarah Lynn Johnston , the 2004 Southern Conference Player of the Year and individual winner of
1320-405: The move to Stamford, Golf Channel also ended its long-time morning show Morning Drive , replacing it with the new midday show Golf Today from Stamford beginning January 4, 2021. In 2021, amid the renewal of NBC Sports' rights to the circuit, and the upcoming shutdown of long-time sister network NBCSN (the former Versus), NBCUniversal began to put a greater emphasis on Golf Channel's rights to
1360-553: The online golf reservation platform GolfNow . It was re-located to Golf Channel's headquarters in Orlando. In January 2011, Comcast acquired a 51% majority stake in NBC Universal from General Electric . As a result of the re-alignment of Comcast's existing properties into NBC Universal, Golf Channel and sister sports network Versus were subsumed by a restructured NBC Sports division. On-air synergies between NBC's existing production unit began to take effect in February 2011 at
1400-440: The programs seen on the U.S. channel, but was unable to attract a viable audience as it offered few live golf tournaments; the channel shut down on December 31, 2007. Since the acquisition of Sky plc by Comcast in late-2018, NBC Sports properties have begun to increase their collaboration with Sky Sports for expanded coverage of relevant events; Golf Channel and Sky Sports Golf trialed on-air talent sharing and co-productions at
1440-485: The schedule permits, Golf Channel may also provide coverage produced by CBS if weather delays force golf coverage to run past the scheduled window using CBS production staff and graphics. Golf Channel also broadcasts coverage of PGA Tour Champions and Korn Ferry Tour events. Outside of events organized by the PGA Tour, Golf Channel also carries coverage of the European Tour , LPGA Tour , and Asian Tour . Golf Channel
1480-430: The service, hosting new instructional content for GolfPass, as well as an autobiographical web series. In February 2020, it was reported that Golf Channel would consolidate its television operations with the remainder of NBC Sports at its facilities in Stamford, Connecticut , in a move expected to occur over the next 12 to 18 months. The GolfNow and GolfPass services will continue to primarily operate from Orlando. With
1520-469: The striking workers returned to work after a new contract was ratified on January 24, 2018. In February 2019, Golf Channel announced a new subscription service known as GolfPass. The service will feature a variety of content, including a streaming library of archive content, instructional content, as well as special offers (such as credit for free round of golf per-year, and a premium tier offering additional discounts). Rory McIlroy will also be involved in
1560-499: The top five leading money winners at the end of each season earned full membership in the following season's LPGA Tour. Starting with the sixth-ranked player at the end of the season, ten additional Futures Tour players who are not already members of the LPGA, automatically advanced into the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament, bypassing the sectional qualifying tournament. Beginning in 2008 the process for promotion to
1600-650: Was the cable broadcaster of two of the men's majors , including the U.S. Open and other USGA championships (since June 2020) and the Open Championship (since 2016, including their women's and senior men's events). In November 2021, it was announced that early round coverage of the U.S. Open, the Open Championship, the U.S. Women's Open, and the Women's British Open, would move to USA Network beginning in 2022. Since 2016, it participates in NBCUniversal's coverage of
#476523