Cross & Crescent

When golf stars Lorena Ochoa, Karrie Webb, or Annika Sorenstam approach the tee before a LPGA tournament, Brian Hammons (Butler 1983) from The Golf Channel is there.

Making a Strong Entrance

When Fred Haas, Jr. (Louisiana State 1937) played his first PGA Tournament, he did so as an amateur — and won.

By July 1945, Byron Nelson was on a winning streak, having won nine straight tournaments on the PGA Tour and was getting better.

On July 26, Nelson shot a 66 the first day of the Tam O’Shanter tournament in Chicago. The next two days he shot a 68 and a 67. Finishing an amazing 19 under par, Nelson secured his 10th consecutive victory.

One week later, he garnered his 11th win at the Canadian Open in Toronto.

But in August 1945, Nelson finally met his match when Haas won his first PGA Tour at the Memphis Invitational as an amateur. Nelson placed fourth.

Haas went on to have five tournament victories in the 1940s and 1950s. He even played on the 1953 Ryder Cup team.

His tendency to make a strong entrance repeated itself when Haas entered the Senior PGA Tour in 1996, for he won the Senior PGA Championship on his first attempt.

He never did manage to secure a second senior trophy, though he twice came close, placing second in 1970 and 1977.

Haas was born in Portland, Oregon, on January 3, 1916, and died in Metairie, Louisiana, on January 26, 2004.

For almost 12 years now, Hammons has been on air calling the shots for the first network created for golf fans. “The Golf Channel went on the air January 17, 1995. I did the very first show on the Golf Channel,” says Hammons, who has been there ever since.

Any fan of the sport would easily recognize Hammons’ “Keep it on the short grass” catch phrase or his signature mustache. While catch phrases and facial hair are a part of his charm, it’s Hammons’ ability to tell golf’s story that has become an integral part of the game.

A Game to be Played

Journalist Dave Marr was once asked by his employers at ABC why golf’s TV ratings weren’t higher. He said, “Golf is a game to be played, not watched.”

While there may be some truth to his statement — a 2002 Golf Digest survey found that 94 percent if its readers would rather play golf than watch it on television or in person — media entrepreneur Joseph Gibbs and golf legend Arnold Palmer felt there was enough interest in golf among the public to support a 24-hour-a-day golf network.

Already an established TV announcer in Indianapolis, Hammons was following the development of The Golf Channel in several magazines in 1994. When he learned that a friend was moving to Orlando to help get the network started, he sent in a tape and was offered a job.

“I was very fortunate to get in on the ground floor when The Golf Channel first opened,” says Hammons. “We went on the air January 17, 1995. I got down there in December of 1994. Being able to get involved with a company that started from scratch and is now big in the golf industry is very satisfying.”

The Golf Channel’s impact may not have been as great as the boom Tiger Woods brought to the game, but it sure packs a 400-yard wallop.

“We now have a 15-year contract with the PGA Tour,” says Hammons. “We’re basically partners with the Tour. We came from the ground floor and are now approaching the penthouse. It’s been quite a ride and I’m very proud to say I’ve been a part of it.”

Play-by-Play

Watching golf on TV wasn’t always this successful. “I can remember back when television first jumped into golf,” says Tom Meeks (Butler 1963), USGA’s former senior director of rules and competitions. “They would televise maybe the last three or four holes; that was all you got.”

“Let’s face it, there are a lot of things happening in any given round at any given time that could have a major affect on the outcome of a championship,” says Meeks. “So thanks in part to The Golf Channel, golf now has gone from just barely grassroots coverage to featuring the entire round.”

Hammons is The Golf Channel’s anchor for its award-winning news show, “Golf Central.” So for the first nine or 10 years, “I was pretty much stuck at the studio,” he says. “But in the last few years, I’ve branched out by adding some play-by-play commentary for the LPGA. I’ve gone from being a homebody in Orlando to America’s guest.”

Next year, Hammons will not only continue to offer play-by-play coverage for many of the LPGA tournaments, he will also cover a lot of the Champions Tour (formerly called the Senior Tour).

“I enjoy doing the play-by-play,” says Hammons. “It’s not something I had done a lot of in my career for I’ve been a studio guy 90 percent of the time. But I enjoy the off-the-cuff aspect of play-by-play, which is completely different than doing a studio show.”

Play-by-play commentary for a round of golf is very different than the commentary of faster-paced sports such as football or basketball. There are a lot of gaps in the game that need to be filled. It’s in these gaps that Hammons shines.

“With golf, there are so many stories,” he says. “A typical field can consist of 144 players or more, and every one of them is a good story. For example, there’s a 17-year-old kid who just earned his PGA card and who overcame Leukemia. He will now be playing at the highest level of golf.”

“Everybody has a story out there,” says Hammons. “Tiger Woods isn’t going to win every week. There are guys who are going to win that you’ve never heard of before; and if he is leading the tournament, we’ve got to give you a reason to stick around and care for him.”

An Early Start

At the age of 18, Hammons’ break into television came early. “I was a freshman at Butler, so I was fortunate to get an early start.”

“I knew I wanted to be a sports broadcaster at an early age,” says Hammons, who aspired to become a baseball announcer. When considering which college to attend, he ruled out Indiana University because on-the-air jobs were restricted to seniors.

“I was too impatient for that, so I turned to Butler,” he says, which allowed freshmen to be on the air.

His big break, however, didn’t happen on campus. Hammons’ first on-the-air experience occurred while he was interning for WRTV Channel 6, a local television station in Indianapolis. “I started helping the sports director there. One thing led to another and the next thing I knew, I was on the air.”

Clearly, Hammons’ break into the industry happened at a very early age. While he enjoyed his brief involvement with Lambda Chi Alpha — he was elected vice president of the chapter when he was a freshman — his professional ambitions became his primary focus.

“At 18, I knew I had received a huge break and I wasn’t going to blow it,” says Hammons. “I was more interested in developing my career than I was interested in being a typical college student. While I liked the guys, the fraternity no longer fit in with what I was doing in college.”

Before long, Hammons’ new fraternity became the game of golf and everything that came with it. Golf’s leading expert on rules and competitions, Meeks, was one of them.

“I’ve known Tom Meeks since I came to the Golf Channel because he was the guy who set up the US Open,” says Hammons.

“If you are golf fan, you know that the US Open is usually the most difficult tournament of the year and that the courses are the hardest the players will ever play. Tongue-in-cheek, players would curse him every year for the difficult setups he laid out at the US Open. He is one of the nicest guys you will ever meet.”

Meeks feels the same. “Brian’s a neat guy who is very knowledgeable when it comes to golf and all of the aspects of golf,” says Meeks. “It’s always been fun for me to be around Brian, particularly with our relationship with both golf and Butler.”

Hammons and Meeks have long known each other were from Butler University. It wasn’t until this story, however, that they learned they were both Lambda Chis. Sometimes, the best play doesn’t occur until you’re on the green of the 18th hole.