WGT Golf News

Now that the Olympics are upon us, calls are again being made to have golf accepted as an official Olympic sport. WGT, of course, loves the idea of golf in the Olympics, and has partnered with GGL Global Gaming to be a part of the 2008 Digital Games. In doing so, we hope to bring golf to the masses and give people an opportunity to experience a game (and course!) they might otherwise not have the chance to in real life. You can read more about the partnership here: http://www.worldgolftour.com/news_olympics.aspx

Photo: Oakland Hills Country Club

The final major of the golf season is upon us! The 90th PGA Championship will be played beginning this Thursday at Oakland Hills in Michigan, and here at WGT headquarters, we are having a little office competition where each of us picks four players who we think will do best in the tournament. At the end of the tournament, we total up the scores for our players, and the person with the lowest score wins the office bragging rights.

Who are your four picks?

http://www.pga.com/pgachampionship/2008/players/field.html

The presence of Greg Norman on the leaderboard apparently couldn’t offset the absence of Tiger Woods.

ABC’s final-round coverage of the British Open on Sunday earned a 3.5 overnight rating, a 15 percent drop from last year (4.1). Padraig Harrington won both years, although last year’s numbers were bolstered by his four-hole playoff against Sergio Garcia. In a report issued last month, Magna’s Brian Hughes notes that the average household rating for four non-major events Woods participated in this year was double that of non-Woods PGA events, a 3.6 compared to a 1.8.

All told, viewership of the majors may hit its lowest since 1997, when Tiger first dominated the Masters. The networks have responded by extensively covering Tiger’s injury during majors, in an effort to generate more interest.

Will you tune in despite Tiger’s absence?

Check out this short clip about WGT from WSB-TV in Atlanta:

As we approach WGT’s debut of The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, our film crew is already busy photographing our next course, Pinehurst Course No. 8 in North Carolina. Below are some behind-the-scenes photos of our crew shooting from a helicopter so tiny it fits on the cart path!