PGA Tour on ABC
| The PGA Tour on ABC | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Genre | Golf telecasts |
| Presented by | See list of commentators |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 180 minutes or until end of tournament round |
| Production company(s) | ESPN |
| Release | |
| Original network | ABC |
| Picture format |
480i (SDTV), 1080i (HDTV) |
| Original release | 1962 – 2009 |
| External links | |
| Website | |
PGA Tour on ABC is the de facto branding used for telecasts of the main professional golf tournaments of the PGA Tour on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) television network in the United States. ABC broadcast the PGA Tour from 1966 to 2006. From 1962 to 2009, ABC served as the broadcast home of The Open Championship. The British Open on ABC is now the longest-running entertainment program in ABC's history and the last-surviving ABC program to debut in the "circle a" era. ABC also held the broadcast rights of the US Open from 1966 through 1994.
ABC broadcast golf events for the first time in 1962 when it began televising the Open Championship as part of its anthology series Wide World of Sports. The network later gained the broadcast rights to the PGA Championship in 1965, and the U.S. Open in 1966. Chris Schenkel and Byron Nelson were the initial hosts of the tournament coverage. In 1975, Jim McKay and Dave Marr became the lead broadcast team, while Bob Rosburg joined the network as the first ever on-course reporter, and Peter Alliss joined as a co-anchor.
Beginning in 1982, ABC adopted its most well-known format of the Wide World of Sports era. The broadcast operated using anchor teams, in which an anchor and an analyst would call all of the action from the tower at the 18th hole, and the teams would be rotated on coverage after about a half-hour. Meanwhile, the three on-course reporters, which included Judy Rankin and Ed Sneed in addition to Rosburg, would be utilized when prompted by the anchor team. McKay and Marr would be the lead team, with Jack Whitaker and Alliss as the second team. Occasionally, Rosburg or Whitaker would host if McKay was unavailable, while Roger Twibell would take over the secondary team. After his 1986 Masters win, Jack Nicklaus would appear on ABC after the end of his round and served as an analyst for the rest of the telecast.
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