Golf Channel documentary - 10th anniversary of Annika in PGA event

To mark the 10th anniversary of Annika Sorenstam playing in a men's PGA Tour event, Golf Channel is airing an original documentary to chronicle her appearance at the Colonial. The 30-minute program Go Annika will debut on Wed 5/22 at 9 pm ET with multiple replays scheduled. While Annika was not the first woman to complete in a PGA event, she was the first in 58 years and the first one to be televised in doing so.

The Thu/Fri rounds of that 2003 tournament were televised by the USA Network which showed every one of Sorenstam's shots. USA Network actually came on the air at 9:58 am ET that Thursday to start with her opening drive. The TV crew on USA Network for the event included Bill Macatee, Peter Kostis, and Patty Sheehan. Annika's participation in the tournament produced record ratings on USA Network for a PGA Tour event.


Despite missing the cut, Annika also figured prominently in the CBS weekend coverage which added an hour of Saturday coverage to spotlight her performance. David Feherty who was also on the telecast team that weekend is among the interview subjects for the documentary.

The Golf Channel site has a preview clip.

Here is an interesting look back at previews of the TV coverage from 2003 newspapers: Richard Sandomir in the NY Times and Rudy Martzke in USA Today. And here is how Larry Stewart of the LA Times reviewed the opening round TV coverage.