FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, May 20th, 2019

LIVE COVERAGE OF 2019 NCAA WOMEN’S GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS KICKS OFF TODAY ON GOLF CHANNEL

Individual National Championship Determined Today; Top-Eight Teams Qualify for Team Match Play Starting Tuesday

Individual National Champion to Receive Exemptions Into LPGA Tour’s Marathon Classic and Walmart NW Arkansas Championship

Live Coverage of NCAA Women’s Golf Championships Monday-Wednesday on GOLF Channel, Continuing Next Monday-Wednesday for NCAA Men’s Golf Championships

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark., May 20, 2019 – GOLF Channel begins two weeks of live coverage of the 2019 NCAA Women’s and Men’s Golf Championships today with the final round of the women’s individual stroke play national championship, taking place at the Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Ark. Heading into today’s final round, Sierra Brooks (Florida) leads Maria Fassi (Arkansas) and Bianca Pagdanganan (Arizona) by one stroke at 4-under par.

GOLF Channel will prepare viewers for live coverage today with Golf Central Pre Game from 2-4 p.m. ET, followed by live coverage of the individual stroke play national championship from 4-8 p.m. ET.

Following today’s round, the top eight teams will advance to team match play competition to determine the team national champion. GOLF will air the quarterfinals of team match play on Tuesday from 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. ET, followed by the semifinals from 4-8 p.m. ET. On Wednesday, the national championship and consolation matches will air from 4-8 p.m. ET.

Coverage days and times will be duplicated the following week (May 27-29) for the NCAA Men’s Golf Championships. Golf Central will surround live tournament coverage both weeks with pre- and post-event news produced on-site at the Blessings Golf Club, along with daily news updates on Morning Drive. Both the NCAA Women’s and Men’s Golf Championships will connect 14 consecutive days of live tournament coverage. In total, GOLF Channel will air more than 50 live tournament hours of college and amateur coverage in 2019, the most of any television network.

News and tournament coverage of the NCAA Women’s and Men’s Golf Championships also will be streamed via GOLF Digital, the NBC Sports and GOLF Channel Apps – NBC Sports Group’s live streaming products for mobile devices, tablets and connected TVs.

NCAA Women’s Golf Championships Airtimes (all times ET)
Monday, May 20 Individual National Championship 4-8 p.m. ET (Live)
Tuesday, May 21 Quarterfinals, Team Match Play 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. ET (Live)
Tuesday, May 21 Semifinals, Team Match Play 4-8 p.m. ET (Live)
Wednesday, May 22 Team National Championship 4-8 p.m. ET (Live)

NCAA Women’s Golf Championships Broadcast Team:
Bob Papa – Play-by-Play
Karen Stupples – Co-Lead Analyst
Curt Byrum – Co-Lead Analyst
Steve Burkowski – Hole Announcer
Billy Ray Brown – On Course Reporter
Kay Cockerill – On Course Reporter
John Cook – On Course Reporter
Lisa Cornwell – Interviews

George Savaricas – Golf Central Host
Amanda Blumenherst – Golf Central Analyst
Ryan Lavner – College Insider
Lisa Cornwell – Reporter

DIGITAL AND SOCIAL COVERAGE: GOLF Digital will feature expanded editorial coverage of the NCAA Women’s and Men’s Golf Championships from its team of writers via College Central. Coverage will include scoring updates, features, analysis and reaction throughout the two weeks. Ryan Lavner and Brentley Romine will contribute on-site at the Blessings Golf Club.

On-site social media coverage will include dedicated Facebook Live activations, as well as Instagram and Twitter content via the network’s social media handles. Social media correspondent Nikki Bondura will contribute during the NCAA Women’s Golf Championships, with social media host Alexandra O’Laughlin on-site during the NCAA Men’s Golf Championships. Both will conduct live activations with on-air personalities and student-athletes in the field. Social media also will be integrated into the NCAA Golf Championships live tournaments and news coverage using the Hashtag #NCAAGolf.

MARATHON CLASSIC OFFERING TWO EXEMPTIONS FROM 2019 NCAA WOMEN’S GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS: The 2019 NCAA Women’s Golf Individual Champion and a representative from the national championship team line-ups will receive exemptions to compete in the LPGA Tour’s 2019 Marathon Classic Presented by Dana, taking place July 11-14 at Highland Meadows Golf Club in Sylvania, Ohio. The individual champion also will receive an exemption to the LPGA Tour’s Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, June 27-30.

ANNIKA AWARD AND HASKINS AWARD WINNERS TO BE ANNOUNCED ON GOLF CENTRAL TUESDAY, JUNE 4: The winners of two of the most prestigious awards in college golf – the ANNIKA Award and Haskins Award, both presented by Stifel – will be announced live on Golf Central, Tuesday, June 4 at 6 p.m. ET. The show will include profiles on the top candidates for the awards and live interviews with the winners, who also will receive an exemption to compete in the Evian Championship and A Military Tribute at the Greenbrier, respectively. The ANNIKA Award and Haskins Award honor the nation’s most outstanding female and male Division I collegiate golfer as selected by their peers, coaches and the golf media.

MATCH PLAY SEMIFINAL TEAMS TO EARN INVITATIONS TO EAST LAKE CUP: The East Lake Cup, taking place in late October at historic East Lake Golf Club, will feature the top-performing teams from the 2019 NCAA Women’s and Men’s Golf Championships. Invitations for the field will be extended to the semifinalists of the team match play rounds at both championships. Modeled after the NCAA Golf Championships, the format for the East Lake Cup consists of an opening round of stroke play to crown an individual male and female champion and to determine seeding for the following two days of match play competition. GOLF Channel will air exclusive live coverage of the competition.

DOCU-SERIES DRIVEN CONTINUES TONIGHT AT 9 P.M. ET: Driven, a four-part college docu-series following the journeys of Alabama, Auburn and Oklahoma State’s men’s golf teams, continues tonight at 9 p.m. ET with its third episode, turning its attention to conference championships play. Season two is co-executive produced by PGA TOUR superstars Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas.

PLAYING LESSONS WITH JENNIFER KUPCHO TO PREMIERE ON GOLFPASS: Available exclusively on GOLFPASS today, Wake Forest senior and 2018 NCAA Individual Champion Jennifer Kupcho will join host Blair O’Neal for a special episode of Playing Lessons, where the two will discuss Kupcho’s preparations for the NCAA Women’s Golf Championships and her upcoming LPGA Tour professional debut this summer. Playing Lessons with Jennifer Kupcho will premiere on GOLF Channel Monday, June 24.

COLLEGE GOLF ON GOLFPASS: College golf fans will be able to dive deeper into college golf via GOLFPASS, the digital golf membership co-founded by global golf superstar Rory McIlroy and NBC Sports. Featured college golf programming available exclusively to GOLFPASS members includes:

  • 2016-18 Women’s and Men’s Golf Championships
  • Driven – Full episodes from season 1 and new episodes from season 2 following their television airings.

 

GOLF Channel is the television home for college golf, televising five college golf tournaments. GOLF Channel became the exclusive television provider of the NCAA Golf Championships in 2013, and provided live coverage of the men’s NCAA championships since 2014 and the women’s NCAA championships since 2015 – both now hosted at the same venue in consecutive weeks in May.

GOLF also televises the Western Intercollegiate presented by Topgolf, one of the longest running college tournaments in the U.S. The 73rd edition was contested April 15-17 at Pasatiempo Golf Club in Santa Cruz, Calif., with Stanford sweeping the individual and team titles. The East Lake Cup, created by GOLF and East Lake Golf Club, is a three-day championship that invites the eight semifinalists from the previous NCAA men’s and women’s golf championships. Hosted at historic East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Ga., the competition benefits the East Lake Foundation. In 2020, GOLF will televise the Maridoe Collegiate Invitational, a new 54-hole team and individual stroke place college championship. In addition, GOLF deploys its comprehensive portfolio of news, digital and social media coverage year-round in covering collegiate golf, including specials for regional and national qualifying, on-site and wraparound news from golf’s biggest college events, and year-end award shows for the Haskins and ANNIKA Awards presented by Stifel.

-NBC Sports Group-