TNT Television and the PGA will offer what is to me an exciting blend of television and internet coverage of the PGA Championship on August 17 to 20.

In addition to its cable tv broadcasts (from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday and Friday), TNT will extend its coverage with internet broadcasts from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. The internet coverage will have a regular announcing crew. Once the cable coverage begins, it will be simulcast on TNT and PGA.Com.

On the weekend, TNT will cover the tournament from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.

A second “stream” on PGA.Com will follow two threesomes of players each day—one in the morning and one in the afternoon. If they get the right players, this could be a very good way to see how the playes think their way around the course.

The third “stream”—called “Inside the Ropes” will offer course flyovers, historical information, player profiles and interviews with players finishing rounds.

Finally, “stream” four will be the PGA Learning Center hosted by Rick Martino, PGA director or instruction. It apparently will follow player shots and discuss strategies.

I think this is a very exciting development and a good idea of how the internet can enhance television and the spots viewing experience. I plan to watch on tv while streaming other information.

Now what they need is the GolfBlogger doing live blogging from the course. I sit awaiting their call. 

So we didn’t get to see a Tiger-Mickelson showdown at Hoylake. But we’re almost guaranteed to see one at the PGA in August. The PGA traditionally groups the winners of the first three majors in the first two rounds. So we should see Ogilvy-Woods-Mickelson there. Given the potential dynamics there, that should be very interesting.

“It’s not a pleasant thing to shoot 79, but I deserved every stroke.”

- Tom Watson, after shooting a 79 on the final day of the Senior PGA Championship

The pundits are still talking about Tiger’s “early” exit from the PGA.

For those of you who missed it, Tiger apparently left for home on Sunday night before the Monday finish of the final round of the Major. If the leaders slipped a bit Monday morning, there was an outside chance that he could get into a playoff.

As it happened, Phil Mickelson finished in fine fashion and took his second major.

There must have been three dozen articles written on Tiger’s exit,  but I don’t see why its such a big deal. As important as the majors are to him (supposedly), he must have made a rational calculation that Phil was not going to falter (how’s that for a bit of alliteration?)

Message to golf punditry: Its time to move on.

Did Steve Williams step on Tiger’s ball at the PGA? He says he didn’t, and I’m inclined to believe him, since to my knowledge, there has never been any allegation of prior shenanigans.

But in any case, the Golf Channel is running a teaser that Williams is on his way out as Tiger’s bagman.

It turns out that Williams is just on a bit of a vacation. But there may be a grain of truth in The Golf Channel’s sensationalism. There has long been a feeling among golf observers that the surest way to get removed from Team Tiger is to cause a distraction. I’ve read more than once that players who are known to be Tiger’s friend will not comment on him for fear of being shut out of the inner circle.

With his camera grabbing escapades, his race car driving, and now the plugged ball, Steve Williams is certainly on his way to becoming a distraction. As USA Today put it, while Williams pleaded with the fans for support in the plugged ball issue, they “paid him back with interest” for his past antics:

Woods was already 2 over for the round, and Nike couldn’t help him. Stevie Williams, the caddie, couldn’t help him, either, even as Williams was asking the roped-off fans — pleading with them — to identify the cameraman, marshal, player or caddie who had stepped on poor Tiger’s ball.

These were the very fans who had their cell phones and Kodaks confiscated by Stevie Blunder in majors gone by. The fans were paying back Williams with interest. No, they didn’t see anyone step on Tiger’s ball

.

That certainly looks like Williams is becoming an issue to me. And iff Steve Williams becomes an issue, will he go the way of Butch Harmon and Mike Cowan?

If anything, Phil Mickelson’s second major maybe more important than his first. Sure, his win at Augusta removed the “best player never to win a major” title, but his second showed that the Masters was not a fluke (although I think he already had shown that with last year’s near misses at the US Open and the Open Championship.).

Now, in a way, he is free to go on winning. The staff at Shark dot Com thinks that Mickelson is not going to be satisfied with just two.

George Kimball of the Boston Herald agrees, saying that Mickelson:

put some distance between himself and one-hit wonders like Shaun Micheel, Paul Lawrie, Ben Curtis and Todd Hamilton.

At Sports Illustrated, Gary Van Sickle writes:

It’s official now. Mickelson is going to be a Hall of Fame player—he probably was, anyway, but a second major championship makes him a lock. It also means Davis Love, who finished tied for fourth with Tiger Woods, may still be on the outside looking in.

Wow. Harsh words. Davis missing the Hall of Fame? So much unused potential.

Tiger, of course, didn’t win at Baltusrol. And in retrospect, I’m not surprised. yes, he’s won ten majors, but SIX of those have come on two courses: St. Andrews and Augusta.

I think he could eventually win ten Masters tournaments, but only a handful of other majors.

However ... I think you have to favor him at next year’s PGA—held at Medinah, scene of his 1999 PGA victory. That would hold true to the trend of his winning on familiar courses.