With the PGA Championship comes the annual spring rite of attempting to identify the major’s identity, as if that’s some sort of imperative. No one ever stops to consider that not having a rigid identity may be a blessing instead of a curse. The Masters must be whispered. The British Open must be revered. The U.S. Open must strive. But the PGA Championship is its own animal, one that’s ever-evolving and free of the constraints of definition. And it doesn’t have to be anything but be itself.
This is something the combined forces of ESPN and CBS have embraced, smartly, through the first two days at Quail Hollow. Their tone is not grandiose. Wright Thompson’s rejoin essays are less about the poetic track or tradition and more focused on the spirit of competition. No tournament on Earth has as deep of a field or as narrow a gate from which to enter. This is a major about the players and the obstacles they provide as much as it is about the course. So the focus is on them and their play more than artistic drone shots of the grounds or book reports on history.
Consider an unpredictable Thursday that did little to clear up what the identity is of this particular North Carolina weekend. Ryder Cup captains Luke Donald and Keegan Bradley came out looking like they deserved to be slotted into the match play spots they must give out. Local product Ryan Gerard held the lead most of the day before Cam Davis and Jhonattan Vegas jostled it away. Production did not have pre-recorded packages that anticipated any of this, though the latter two are no strangers to winning on Tour. They are not Jordan Spieth, whose career Grand Slam hopes flicker faintly after a first-round 76. No one would convince them with a featured grouping, yet the workmanlike devotion earnestly chronicled their shots as they put distance between the chasers.
There’s a core competency on display from talent and production as they, like everyone at home, attempt to discern the outline of the narrative arc. They are conducting an adroit dance to keep one eye on the top of the leaderboard with the other on struggling favorites as they know full well that it’s marathon, not a sprint, and at any moment a Max Homa may catch fire and erase a considerable gulf with one round.
They say when you have two quarterbacks you don’t really have one and yet that line of thinking is entirely wrong when Scott Van Pelt and Jim Nantz are in the huddle. It’s becoming clear that the third option is solid as well as Matt Barrie continues to impress on the heels of the outfit’s TGL coverage. He brings that sense of fun and personality endemic to the essential PGA Tour Live on ESPN+ year-round.
Barrie found himself involved in the bizarre scene at No. 16 on Thursday that serves as perhaps the most memorable sequence of the event so far as Xander Schauffele, Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy were all derailed with double bogeys. There was genuine disbelief about what was happening as the minutes went by yet it was augmented by all the relevant information a viewer would want. The treacherous Green Mile was introduced early as a fearsome antagonist and reared its teeth against guys who are used to be the hunters, not the prey.
When the smoke cleared three champions were staggered, left to rebound with varied sincerity. ESPN immediately presented a cartoonish animation of just how challenging that part of the course can be—much like they do for Monday Night Football broadcasts. Viewers are supposed to be having fun, after all. Even if the game’s best aren't at that particular moment.
It was a few seconds out of what will be nearly 50 hours of coverage this weekend. Yet it was the perfect microcosm of how the PGA Championship is ripe for exploring the space and being its own thing. It’s not that this isn't serious business. It’s that it’s inherently a fraction less stuffy than the other three majors on the calendar. Dispensing with pretense and about 10% of the self-importance feels great. Unscientifically what’s been happening on our screens to this point has been a comfortable vibe. Not over-relaxed to the point of losing the plot—as everything that needs to be communicated is being expressed.
Scheffler and some others had some pointed comments about the proliferation of mud balls, which many say should not impact the quest for golf’s highest prizes. Jeff Darlington, enjoying a slightly less eventful commute than last year’s contest, was there to provide a report. Curtis Strange is currently on ESPN showing Van Pelt the difference between a ball without mud and one that appears to have been pulled from deep within the mantle. The conversation is inclusive and not afraid of props.
By the end of Friday the heavy hitters may re-establish themselves as serious contenders. The shape of this thing may be clearer. Its identity less opaque. We’re going to figure it out together, guided by coverage that is confident in itself not to force anything. And that feels freeing. The only pressure comes from a formidable test and bottomless reservoir of worthy winners, not the search for immediate answers and sense of self.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as The PGA Championship Delivers a Major Broadcast Not Like the Others.
