PGA TOUR'S VALSPAR CHAMPIONSHIP HEADLINES LIVE GOLF COVERAGE ACROSS NBC, GOLF CHANNEL AND PEACOCK THIS WEEK
Gary Koch to Serve as Analyst for This Week's Valspar Championship Coverage
Monday's PLAYERS Championship Playoff Averages 1.5 Million Viewers Across GOLF Channel, Peacock, and NBC Sports Digital; GOLF Channel's Second Most-Watched Weekday Telecast in 20 Years
PGA Tour Champions' Hoag Classic From Newport Beach Country Club – Friday-Sunday Evenings on GOLF Channel
DP World Tour Porsche Singapore Classic Live Tomorrow at 1 a.m. ET on GOLF Channel
STAMFORD, Conn. – March 19, 2025 – The PGA TOUR's Valspar Championship from Innisbrook Resort (Copperhead Course) in Palm Harbor, Fla., headlines NBC Sports' live golf coverage across NBC, GOLF Channel, and Peacock this week.
Additionally, Monday's PLAYERS Championship playoff between Rory McIlroy and J.J. Spaun set viewership milestones for GOLF Channel. The three-hole aggregate playoff on Monday morning averaged 1.5 million viewers across GOLF Channel, Peacock and NBC Sports Digital, and was GOLF Channel's second most-watched weekday telecast in 20 years, only behind Friday coverage of the 2021 Ryder Cup.
PGA TOUR: VALSPAR CHAMPIONSHIP
The PGA TOUR travels to Palm Harbor, Fla., this week for the Valspar Championship at Innisbrook Resort (Copperhead Course), the last of four consecutive events held in Florida. The field includes Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, and Xander Schauffele, as well as defending champion Peter Malnati.
Long-time NBC Sports golf commentator, Tampa native and Valspar Championship ambassador Gary Koch will serve as an analyst for all four days of this week's coverage.
Live coverage begins tomorrow and Friday at 2 p.m. ET on GOLF Channel. Weekend coverage on NBC and Peacock begins at 3 p.m. ET, preceded by lead-in coverage on GOLF Channel both days at 1 p.m. ET.
Friday afternoon's coverage on GOLF Channel also features the critically-acclaimed 'Happy Hour with Smylie presented by Michelob Ultra,' as Smylie Kaufman spends time with PGA TOUR stars following their rounds to get their thoughts on the game and showcase their personalities. Rickie Fowler was last week's featured guest at THE PLAYERS Championship.
NBC, GOLF Channel & Peacock Broadcast Team
Play by Play: Dan Hicks / Steve Sands / Terry Gannon
Analyst: Gary Koch / Brad Faxon / Curt Byrum
On-Course: John Wood / Smylie Kaufman / Jim 'Bones' Mackay
Reporter: Kira K. Dixon
Notable Players This Week
Jordan Spieth
Justin Thomas
Xander Schauffele
Peter Malnati
Luke Clanton (a)
Shane Lowry
Tommy Fleetwood
Adam Scott
PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS: HOAG CLASSIC
Held at Newport Beach Country Club in California, the PGA TOUR Champions' Hoag Classic is entering its 29th year at this venue. Five of the last six winners of the event are World Golf Hall of Famers: Padraig Harrington in 2024, Ernie Els in 2020 and 2023, Retief Goosen in 2022, and Vijay Singh in 2018.
First round coverage on GOLF Channel airs Friday at 6 p.m. ET, followed by second round coverage Saturday at 5 p.m. ET, and final round coverage Sunday at 4 p.m. ET.
Padraig Harrington
Ernie Els
Vijay Singh
Retief Goosen
Bernhard Langer
K.J. Choi
Fred Couples
DP WORLD TOUR: PORSCHE SINGAPORE CLASSIC
The DP World Tour's Porsche Singapore Classic – first event of the DP World Tour's Asian Swing – will be played from Laguna National Golf Resort in Singapore. The field includes 2016 PGA Champion Jimmy Walker and Robert MacIntyre, who earned a top-10 finish at THE PLAYERS last week.Live coverage begins tomorrow at 1 a.m. ET on GOLF Channel.
How To Watch – Thursday, March 20 – Sunday, March 23 (all times ET)
· TV – GOLF Channel
· Streaming – NBCSports.com, NBC Sports app
Robert MacIntyre
Jimmy Walker
Paul Casey
Haotong Li
Tom McKibbin
Brandon Wu
BROADCAST NOTES
Golf Central will provide pre- and post-tournament coverage on GOLF Channel Wednesday-Sunday. Golf Central coverage is anchored by Anna Jackson, Matt Adams, Jim Gallagher Jr., Paige Mackenzie, and Kira Dixon.
Note: all times ET, post-round coverage begins following conclusion of play
All GOLF Channel coverage also streams on NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app via authentication, giving consumers additional value to their subscription service, and making high-quality content available to MVPD customers both in and out of the home and on multiple platforms.
--NBC SPORTS--
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
5 minutes ago
- Yahoo
How MLB's upcoming deals will change how you watch out-of-market, Sunday night and Wild Card games
When ESPN opted out of its contract with Major League Baseball in February, the network was hoping to get a reworked package at a lower cost while Commissioner Rob Manfred thought the sport could optimize its rights in the short term for Home Run Derby and Wild Card round. In the end, both parties may get what they want. According to people familiar with negotiations, ESPN is nearing a deal to distribute out-of-market games while NBC/Peacock, Netflix, Apple TV are in talks for regular-season packages, the Wild Card round and Home Run Derby. All sides hope to have everything finalized by the end of the regular season next month, three people told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the contracts have not been finalized or announced by either side. The negotiations around the three-year deals is complicated due to the fact that MLB is also trying not to slight two of its other rights holders. MLB receives an average of $729 million from Fox and $470 million from Turner Sports per year under deals which expire after the 2028 season. While ESPN would be losing the playoffs and Home Run Derby, it would be gaining something it considers more valuable — the streaming package of out-of-market games as part of the direct-to-consumer service that launched on Thursday. ESPN would also sell the in-market rights to the five teams whose games are produced by MLB — San Diego, Colorado, Arizona, Cleveland and Minnesota. 'We are engaged. We are having healthy conversations with them. Nothing to announce today, but we're very interested in baseball in general,' ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro said on Tuesday during a presentation about the network's DTC service. ESPN, which has carried MLB games since 1990, opted out of the final three years of a seven-year deal in February. The package averaged $550 million per season and also included the Home Run Derby and Wild Card games. Baseball would be the second league that would have its out-of-market digital package available in the U.S. on ESPN's platform. The NHL moved its package to ESPN in 2021. It would also be a win-win situation for MLB and ESPN. Manfred wrote in a memo to owners after ESPN opted out of its contract: 'While ESPN has stated they would like to continue to have MLB on their platform, particularly in light of the upcoming launch of their DTC product, we do not think its beneficial for us to accept a smaller deal to remain on a shrinking platform. In order to best position MLB to optimize our rights going in to our next deal cycle, we believe it is not prudent to devalue our rights with an existing partner but rather to have our marquee regular season games, Home Run Derby and Wild Card playoff round on a new broadcast and/or streaming platform.' The moves keep ESPN involved in baseball, but at a point where it can benefit while MLB could benefit from other partners in a short-term deal. There is a possibility that ESPN would still air 30 regular-season games, but not Sunday nights. That package of games would go to NBC/Peacock, along with the Wild Card round. NBC, which celebrates its 100th anniversary next year, has a long history with baseball, albeit not much recently. The network carried games from 1939 through 1989. It was part of the short-lived Baseball Network with ABC in 1994 and '95 and then aired playoff games from 1996 through 2000. Peacock had a Sunday streaming package of early-afternoon games in 2022 and '23. The addition of baseball games would give NBC a year-around night of sports on Sunday nights. It has had NFL games on Sunday night since 2006 and will debut an NBA Sunday night slate in February. NBC would likely do Sunday Night Baseball from May through Labor Day weekend. Fox's Saturday nights have been mainly sports the past couple years with a mix of baseball, college football, college basketball and motorsports. Netflix is in discussions for the Home Run Derby, which would align with its strategy of going for a big event in a major sport. The streamer will have an NFL Christmas Day doubleheader this season for the second straight year. Apple TV, which has had 'Friday Night Baseball' since 2022, remains involved in negotiations. The deals would also accomplish another of Manfred's goals. He has said for three years that he would like to see MLB take a more national approach to its rights instead of a large percentage of its games being on regional sports networks. 'We're blessed with a huge amount of content: 2,430 games. Because of the amount of content, I think there will be some local component but I think the strategy needs to be more national and our reach needs to be more national,' he said during a panel discussion last September at the CNBC x Boardroom's Game Plan event. ___ AP MLB: Joe Reedy, The Associated Press Sign in to access your portfolio
Associated Press
8 minutes ago
- Associated Press
How MLB's upcoming deals will change how you watch out-of-market, Sunday night and Wild Card games
When ESPN opted out of its contract with Major League Baseball in February, the network was hoping to get a reworked package at a lower cost while Commissioner Rob Manfred thought the sport could optimize its rights in the short term for Home Run Derby and Wild Card round. In the end, both parties may get what they want. According to people familiar with negotiations, ESPN is nearing a deal to distribute out-of-market games while NBC/Peacock, Netflix, Apple TV are in talks for regular-season packages, the Wild Card round and Home Run Derby. All sides hope to have everything finalized by the end of the regular season next month, three people told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the contracts have not been finalized or announced by either side. The negotiations around the three-year deals is complicated due to the fact that MLB is also trying not to slight two of its other rights holders. MLB receives an average of $729 million from Fox and $470 million from Turner Sports per year under deals which expire after the 2028 season. While ESPN would be losing the playoffs and Home Run Derby, it would be gaining something it considers more valuable — the streaming package of out-of-market games as part of the direct-to-consumer service that launched on Thursday. ESPN would also sell the in-market rights to the five teams whose games are produced by MLB — San Diego, Colorado, Arizona, Cleveland and Minnesota. 'We are engaged. We are having healthy conversations with them. Nothing to announce today, but we're very interested in baseball in general,' ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro said on Tuesday during a presentation about the network's DTC service. ESPN, which has carried MLB games since 1990, opted out of the final three years of a seven-year deal in February. The package averaged $550 million per season and also included the Home Run Derby and Wild Card games. Baseball would be the second league that would have its out-of-market digital package available in the U.S. on ESPN's platform. The NHL moved its package to ESPN in 2021. It would also be a win-win situation for MLB and ESPN. Manfred wrote in a memo to owners after ESPN opted out of its contract: 'While ESPN has stated they would like to continue to have MLB on their platform, particularly in light of the upcoming launch of their DTC product, we do not think its beneficial for us to accept a smaller deal to remain on a shrinking platform. In order to best position MLB to optimize our rights going in to our next deal cycle, we believe it is not prudent to devalue our rights with an existing partner but rather to have our marquee regular season games, Home Run Derby and Wild Card playoff round on a new broadcast and/or streaming platform.' The moves keep ESPN involved in baseball, but at a point where it can benefit while MLB could benefit from other partners in a short-term deal. There is a possibility that ESPN would still air 30 regular-season games, but not Sunday nights. That package of games would go to NBC/Peacock, along with the Wild Card round. NBC, which celebrates its 100th anniversary next year, has a long history with baseball, albeit not much recently. The network carried games from 1939 through 1989. It was part of the short-lived Baseball Network with ABC in 1994 and '95 and then aired playoff games from 1996 through 2000. Peacock had a Sunday streaming package of early-afternoon games in 2022 and '23. The addition of baseball games would give NBC a year-around night of sports on Sunday nights. It has had NFL games on Sunday night since 2006 and will debut an NBA Sunday night slate in February. NBC would likely do Sunday Night Baseball from May through Labor Day weekend. Fox's Saturday nights have been mainly sports the past couple years with a mix of baseball, college football, college basketball and motorsports. Netflix is in discussions for the Home Run Derby, which would align with its strategy of going for a big event in a major sport. The streamer will have an NFL Christmas Day doubleheader this season for the second straight year. Apple TV, which has had 'Friday Night Baseball' since 2022, remains involved in negotiations. The deals would also accomplish another of Manfred's goals. He has said for three years that he would like to see MLB take a more national approach to its rights instead of a large percentage of its games being on regional sports networks. 'We're blessed with a huge amount of content: 2,430 games. Because of the amount of content, I think there will be some local component but I think the strategy needs to be more national and our reach needs to be more national,' he said during a panel discussion last September at the CNBC x Boardroom's Game Plan event. ___ AP MLB:
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
PGA Tour Reacts to Historic Scottie Scheffler News
PGA Tour Reacts to Historic Scottie Scheffler News originally appeared on Athlon Sports. Scottie Scheffler notched his 18th career PGA Tour victory on Sunday, taking down Robert MacIntyre by two strokes at the BMW Championship. After entering the final round trailing by four strokes, the World No. 1 golfer ultimately came out on top with a 3-under 67 at Caves Valley Golf Club. Sunday's victory marked Scheffler's fifth PGA Tour victory of the 2025 season. In 2024, he recorded an even more impressive seven PGA Tour wins. This sustained greatness over the last two seasons puts Scheffler among elite company. The 29-year-old golfer is now the first athlete since Tiger Woods to notch back-to-back five-win seasons on the PGA Tour. Woods recorded consecutive five-win seasons from 1999-2003 and 2005-2007. The PGA Tour recognized Scheffler's accomplishment with a social media post. "Elite company joined," the league wrote on X. Scheffler arrived on the par-3 17th tee with a one-shot lead over MacIntyre. After finding the left rough on a wayward tee shot, he found himself with a downhill chip shot toward the water. Miraculously, he holed the shot from more than 80 feet out to give him a two-shot lead heading into the 18th hole. "I knew it was just going to be really fast, and do my best to get it down there and give myself a good look for par," he said after the win. "When it came out, it came out how we wanted to and then it started breaking and it started looking better and better. "And yeah, it was definitely nice to see that one go in." Scheffler now turns his attention toward the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club, where he'll look to defend his title. This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Aug 18, 2025, where it first appeared.
