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CBS did not make any ratings predictions for the “Return to Golf”, but the Charles Schwab Challenge tournament director predicted a final round rating of a 6, which would have been equal to a lot of majors.

The rating is dismal when you consider:

—This was the first live, official PGA Tour event since mid-March.

—Network competition was non-existent. Fox’s presentation of NASCAR was delayed by rain (eventually airing in prime time). NBC was airing the Beverly Hills Dog Show (again). And ABC wheeled out Last Dance (still!).

—Heading into the final round, the leaderboard featured star players and the promise of a close finish (and it was, with Daniel Berger beating Collin Morikawa in a sudden death playoff).

Ron Kroichick with the exclusive details for the San Francisco Chronicle.

The tournament will be played at TPC Harding Park August 6-9.

The tournament website has yet to be updated to reflect the change.

AP’s Howard Fendrich looks at how various sports will fare without fans and it’s worth reading to consider where golf’s issues in the COVID-19 era fit with other spectator-friendly sports.

The golf portion from the PGA Tour’s perspective (but not the major championships).

Eliminating spectators means eliminating significant chunks of a tournament’s revenue. That starts with big-earning hospitality tents and pro-ams that can bring in upward of $1 million, and includes other revenue sources like merchandise and ticket sales. Tournaments rely heavily on title sponsors — “We wouldn’t be able to return” without them, Commissioner Jay Monahan said. But it’s the local sponsorship that sustains each tournament. And if discretionary spending by corporations dries up, the effects could be greater in 2021.

I spoke my piece in this Winners and Losers post, but wanted to touch on a few of those and just zero in on the most absurd of first world issues, players and microphones that they treat as their Kryptonite.

I’m also joined by show producer Tim Parochka to dive into a few things thar arose Charles Schwab Challenge week, and he dares to bring up the distance issue! No explicit tag was needed, however.

The Apple podcast link where iPhone users can subscribe.

The iHeart link or you can always play the embed below:

The above quote belongs to Golf’s Michael Bamberger, who covered the PGA Tour’s return at Colonial. It has prompted a thought, but first, the exchange from the SI roundtable, starting with John Wood, looper extraordinaire for Matt Kuchar this week (71-68=MC).

John Wood, PGA Tour caddie for Matt Kuchar (@Johnwould): Pretty much an A+ across the board. The Tour did a phenomenal job of preparing for each and every eventuality. Testing and safety were the number one priorities, and there were redundancies in place for everything. I couldn’t have been more impressed with their preparation. The players were just excited to be back and playing golf, and seemed to handle all the newness in stride. Once they got inside the ropes, things were the same as always. Shoot the lowest score, win the tournament.  

Josh Sens, senior writer (@JoshSens): Watching from afar, it sure seemed to go smoothly. And you could sense the genuine excitement of the players to be back out there competing, which helped make up for the lack of fan electricity. There were oddities, of course, with Nantz flying solo in the booth and no gasps or cheers from a gallery, but there are oddities in almost all of our old rituals these days. Whether there were any public hiccups, I guess we won’t know that for certain for a couple of weeks. But from a distance, it looked a whole lot safer than some pool parties I’ve seen on social media.

Michael Bamberger, senior writer: It was odd. These are odd times. The Tour is being as responsible as it can be by appearance. It’s obvious that the system is not by any means foolproof. It’s not that the show must go on. It’s that the Tour has decided to let it go on. I think they’ve made the right move. But there is no bubble. Way too many variables.

Obviously Bamberger’s remarks stand out because he supports the return, but is highlighting that “too many variables” remain. This presumably is after a week of seeing players spread about in multiple hotels or other locations in the “bubble”. It also suggests pro golf will have to decide if the variables are worth risking and if organizations not governed by the PGA Tour will accept similar risks: namely, the PGA of America, USGA and Masters, all with majors scheduled in late summer and fall.

As I noted in this Schwab Challenge roundup, the optics of seeing several non-players who work for the PGA Tour not adhering to the safety suggestions so clearly on national TV proved jarring and terribly shortsighted. Bad optics or actual viral spread could easily derail the Tour’s plans, the majors and even the perception that golf is a safe haven. The sport is placing a an excessive amount of trust in the PGA Tour to do the right thing.

Oh NOW they spring this on us at the PGA Tour Social Account Central.

Better late than never as the circuit heads east from Texas.

Ben Hogan's record at Colonial from 1946-1953:

1st
1st
T2
T3
T4
1st
1st pic.twitter.com/12iiDrloe8

Adriana Belmonte reports for Yahoo on the classifications of activities in the COVID-19 era. Looks like golf needs to get some of the public experts polled to a golf course when things quiet down. Because equating golf with a museum trip, a hotel stay or even standing in line for groceries seems, well, absurd.

Thanks to reader Steve for sending this, which also included this sobering comment on large gatherings.

Bars, large music concerts, and packed sports stadiums are the riskiest places, according to experts, because of large groups of people congregating together with little room to keep at least six feet apart. 

Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, former special advisor for health policy under the Obama administration, previously stated that he doesn’t see larger gatherings – like concerts, conferences, and sporting events — returning until “fall 2021 at the earliest.”

Busy week! The PGA Tour is back in the COVID-19 era and there was a lot to unpack.

Winners

Daniel Berger – On the comeback trail from a wrist injury and in extra-fine form when the season was abruptly stopped, the Golf Gods guided this once-young gun back to winning glory. His tears of joy made up for the lack of energy caused by the lack of fans. It was immensely satisfying to see what the win meant to Berger. Thanks.

Collin Morikawa – Just another stellar week from, eh em, the game’s steadiest player. A slight push on a putt that clearly was harder than it looked (ask Xander), and a heartbreaking loss should do nothing to discourage this young star.

Xander Schauffele – Somehow recovers from an epic misplay from a 15th hole fairway bunker and into the water to sink a long bogey putt, then birdies 16, suffers a brutal horseshoe lipout at 17 and conducts himself with class after the round. But it was the obvious facial disappointment (and was that steam out of the ears?) made us realize we were watching golf that mattered.

We know it’s golf and someone might runaway, hide and without fans it could be a snoozfest at Colonial. But as Rex Hoggard notes for GolfChannel.com, this is an unlikely scenario for Sunday’s Charles Schwab Challenge final round.

A whopping 13 players are within three strokes of Xander Schauffele’s lead.

The scenes of pro golf without fans are admittedly odd on TV—more East Lake Cup than Ryder Cup—and as Darren Carroll’s photo essay for GolfDigest.com shows, producing some odd scenes.

Mike McAllister at PGATour.com highlights some of the other oddities to expect in the first COVID-19 era final round, but there is also the unknown element of who will feed off the quiet atmosphere.

The determining factor might very well be how players handle the unusual circumstances of a high-pressure environment without being able to feed off fans.

Some may like it.

Some may find it difficult to play their best.

“I'm into it, and it's a little bit more competitive honestly than I thought it would be,” said Justin Thomas, who joins Grace, Jordan Spieth, Gary Woodland and Collin Morikawa as the closest pursuers to Schauffele. “I thought it was going to be very odd. I was hoping that I'd be in this position to where I'd have a good chance to win the tournament and see how I feel, but it is going to be different, especially come those last couple of holes if you have a lead or if you're trying to chase someone down or if you're tied for the lead.

“It'll be interesting to see how that adrenaline plays a role.”

The obvious rooting interest for many is Harold Varner, who has knocked on the door several times. Kevin Robbins files a terrific GolfDigest.com piece on Varner and his 79-year-old coach who is watching from North Carolina.

As previewed earlier in the week during a CBS conference call, Jim Nantz opened the telecast with some prepared thoughts. Here it is if you missed the telecast.

Jim Nantz 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾wow...powerful! I encourage you to watch this. 🙏🏾 #BLMpic.twitter.com/tas6nGHTr6

The COVID-19 era’s first official full-field event drew a healthy 683k viewers during its Golf Channel window, and another 447k viewers when a PGA Tour Live free preview ran showing the 2020 Charles Schwab Challenge. (Comparisons to last year’s May playing are in the press release below and the primary sign of a ratings bump.)

Before any Tour execs start elbow bumping over the numbers, ShowBuzzDaily says the highly anticipated return’s .12 rating landed 68th on the list of top cable programs Thursday. The live golf scored 82nd for the morning PGA Tour Live airing.

The 69th ranked show Thursday was Loud House on Nickelodeon, while 70th was Untold Stories of Hip Hop on something called WETV. (No clue. I have a better chance of finding TruTV on the dial.)

For Immediate Release:

PGA TOUR’S RETURN BECOMES MOST-WATCHED ROUND 1 

Plenty of good stuff in this Lance Barrow profile by David Barron in the Houston Chronicle. The longtime CBS golf producer is working his final Colonial tournament since joining the network in 1977.

There was this on his predecessor Frank Chirkinian:

Along with CBS veterans like Steve Milton and Jim Rikhoff, Barrow is one of the few network employees who worked with Chirkinian, who relished his nickname as “The Ayatollah.”

“My personality is different, but Frank taught all of us,” he said. “We used to call CBS the ‘Chirkinian Broadcast School.’

“If somebody compared our telecast with Frank’s, which is hard to do because of technology and all the things we have now, I would view that as the ultimate compliment. I’ve always tried to ensure that nothing gets in the way of covering the golf tournament and the competition, and that’s what Frank wanted to do, too.”

AP’s Stephen Hawkins covered the television angle to the “Return To Golf” and Rickie Fowler’s “mic’d up” approach got the most attention. Deservedly so. As I Tweeted at one point, had Fowler not done so I’m pretty sure the telecast would have been considered a real drag. But just getting inside the ropes with him a few times and overhearing other comments from his group, took us to some places we rarely get in a PGA Tour event.

And there was a bit of a rocky start when a normal microphone picked up an obscenity-infused compliment. Here is the offending moment, should be inclined.

From Hawkins’ story:

“Well, we were hoping for better audio with no fans, surrounding the course,” commentator Jim Nantz then said on the broadcast. “Apologize if anybody was offended with what they may have heard there.”

That threesome of the world’s top three players — No. 1 Rory McIlroy, No. 2 Rahm and No. 3 Brooks Koepka — was being followed by TV support people, a coach, a trainer and a small group of media during the first PGA Tour event in three months.

The expletive was audible even though none of the players in that group were wearing a microphone, like Rickie Fowler did throughout the first round of Charles Schwab Challenge.

As for Fowler, Brian Wacker at GolfDigest.com covers the highlights of what we learned and notes what just hearing these exchanges did to help in a fan-free environment.

In the process of shooting a three-over 73 that included four bogeys in the last five holes, he offered a PG-version of commentary that was mostly a terrific listen to a world so few have access to. It wasn’t explosive, but did provide added value, especially as the day wore on.

After the first two holes of silence—sans for the sounds of Fowler’s shirt moving as he walked—viewers were welcomed into the conversation as Fowler and his caddie, Joe Skovron, shared their thoughts on a 154-yard approach with a 8-iron that sailed about 10 yards too far.