Golf Victoria is excited to announce that Channel 9 will air a ground-breaking golf program filmed during the 2013 Victorian Open at Thirteenth Beach Golf Links, Barwon Heads. The show titled ‘Life is Greener’ will be broadcast throughout Victoria on Sunday 14 April at 1pm following the Sunday Footy Show.
The coverage which will include a combination of a new revolutionary way to experience golf on TV via ‘eye cam’, tournament action, feature segments with professional golfers on and off course, a special Geelong Cats challenge at Simonds Stadium and local tourism. In addition, the one-hour program will showcase all the festivities of the Pro-Am that included current and past AFL players, a former Australian cricketer and a host of media personalities.
Simon Brookhouse, CEO at Golf Victoria said the ability to broadcast the Vic Open in a program of this nature on free-to-air is a great opportunity for the general public to view tournament golf in a different light.
“To be able to broadcast this show on a primary free-to-air channel is a major coup for Golf Victoria and the sport overall. You have to go back to the early 2000’s when the Vic Open was last shown on one of the four major networks.
“We think what we’ve been able to produce in conjunction with Australian Network Productions (ANP) is something that is refreshing to the viewer and captures not only tournament action but gives an entertaining insight into a selection of some of golf’s premier and developing Australian, and international players,” said Brookhouse.
Executive Producer from ANP, Sean Mulcahy spoke about the delivery and vision his production team had for the show.
“The absence of regular domestic golf broadcasting in Australia has deprived golf lovers. We have tried to make golf television entertaining and more palatable to a younger audience, thereby hopefully influencing their participation in the sport,” Mulcahy said.
The 2013 Vic Open was a major hit drawing the biggest crowds in over two decades. The fields included some of the sport’s biggest names including Laura Davies, Richard Green, Stacey Keating, Craig Parry, Sophie Gustafson and Peter O’Malley. The 72-hole four day event is unique to world professional golf with both the men and women playing concurrently on the same course on the final two days of play.
“The show fits well with the Vic Open’s innovative ways to running professional tournament golf. Viewers will enjoy experiencing the highly innovative eye cam as you experience the shots of some of the players through their own eyes. The players from the PGA Tour of Australasia and ALPG were extremely accommodating and supportive of our intentions to try new things to increase the level of interest in watching golf on television.
“We sincerely thank Channel 9 for the fantastic support they’ve shown in our idea and we look forward to working with them for future Vic Opens and golf events. The timeslot we have secured is sensational and I hope everyone tunes in to see it for themselves,” Brookhouse added.
Life is Greener – Vic Open 2013
Date: Sunday 14 April
Time: 1:00pm
TV Broadcaster: Channel 9