A CBS camera captures all the action on the ninth hole of Harbour Town Golf Links during Friday’s second round of the Verizon Heritage. JAY KARR • The Island Packet
By LANCE HANLIN
lhanlin@beaufortgazette.com
843-986-5540
Golf fans attending this year's Verizon Heritage can watch all the action with their own eyes. Everyone else is depending on Lance Barrow and his traveling army of 250 employees.
"Golf is the hardest sport to do in television," Barrow said. "There is more than one ball, nobody has numbers on their backs and nobody ever calls a timeout and stops playing. In golf, you don't get any breathers. That's the real challenge."
The CBS Sports broadcast will officially begin at 3 p.m. today but Barrow's team has been hard at work for more than a week. The first crews arrived April 8 and began setting up the massive compound located on the back nine.
The ideal compound is 200 feet by 200 feet. The setup at Harbour Town is an odd shape, due to the amount of trees on the course, and stretches along the 16th and 17th holes. The complex is a small village, filled with numerous trailers and trucks and is equipped with electricity, bathrooms, phone lines and broadband Internet. The crew has its own security, provides its own meals and even has its own golf carts delivered to the course.
"We do this 20-something weeks a year," production manager Bruce Sobolov said. "Everybody knows what they're doing. We're a self-sufficient operation here."
The crew has 26 cameras spread around the course. Their coverage actually started with the first round two days ago. Barrow's team did the entire broadcast Thursday and Friday for the Golf Channel, using the Golf Channel's announcers.
Today and Sunday, they will go live from 1 to 3 p.m. on The Golf Channel and then 3 to 6 p.m. on CBS. It will result in 16 hours of live TV coverage over the four rounds, up four hours from last year.
"Without question, they're the best in golf," Verizon Heritage tournament director Steve Wilmot said. "It's a great partnership for us and this community. The eyes of the world are upon us."
The CBS broadcast team will include host Jim Nantz and former Heritage champion Nick Faldo. Peter Oosterhuis, Gary McCord and Ian Baker-Finch will be the tower announcers. David Feherty and Peter Kostis will be out walking the course.
"CBS has been covering the Heritage since the late 70s," Barrow said. "We know our way around here."
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