Residual check earners Cheech Marin and Don Johnson may want to scale back their dining plans this week as "Tin Cup" gets squeezed from Golf Channel’s schedule to make room for the fresh-from-theaters debut of…"The Squeeze."
While a movie debuting on television is hardly newsworthy, the paucity of golf films makes this Terry Jastrow-envisioned film a bit of an event. Debuting Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET on Golf Channel, "The Squeeze" stars Jeremy Sumpter and Christopher McDonald in a story that sounds something like "The Sting" meets "The Color Of Money" in the vein of, oh what the heck, "Tin Cup."
Described as the faith-based story of “a young man with uncommon golf skills (who) becomes caught up in a deadly high-stakes golf match between big-time gamblers,” the film saw a brief theatrical release in April. Variety’s Bill Edelstein wrote that "The Squeeze" is “so handicapped by prosaic dialogue and the earnest young couple at its core that the ingenious “based on actual events” twist at the end feels more like an impossible lie.”
On that positive note, here’s the trailer:
Sources say the deal to acquire "The Squeeze"’s television rights also came with Jastrow’s archive of 1990’s Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf episodes featuring Jack Nicklaus, Seve Ballesteros, Tom Watson, Ben Crenshaw and others. This will add some longed-for retro-programming to a Golf Channel slate often dominated by live tournament golf.
To Mexico They Come
The European Tour keeps the Asia-swing going with the BMW Masters starting at 9 a.m. ET each day on Golf Channel (Justin Rose, Race to Dubai leader Danny Willett and last week’s star Li Hao-tong headline), while the PGA and LPGA tours return to North America.
Those receiving NBC Universo can listen to the OHL Classic from Mexico in Spanish. Viewers have the option of hearing Keegan Bradley, Angel Cabrera, Stewart Cink and Emiliano Grillo’s names in a foreign tongue as the tour returns to Mayakoba, a favorite stop of players. The unprecedented Spanish-language broadcast of a golf tournament sets the stage for 2016 when NBC Universo will carry the Open Championship and Rio Olympic golf, while serving a desperately neglected segment of the viewing population. Edgar Lopez and Camilo Benedetti will handle the call. (Benedetti was a member of the Web.com Tour from 2007-'14 where he earned 16 top-10 finishes.)
Coverage of the OHL on Golf Channel starts Thursday through Sunday at 1 p.m. ET, while NBC Universo covers both weekend days beginning at 1 p.m. ET.
The LPGA plays its penultimate event in Mexico City this week: the Lorena Ochoa Invitational (Thursday-Sunday 4-6 p.m. ET). Christina Kim returns to the site of her dramatic 2014 win, while Inbee Park and Lexi Thompson also headline the event going forward without World No. 1 Lydia Ko, who withdrew citing fatigue.
According to GolfChannel.com’s Randall Mell, Ko’s recent four-week stint through Asia has her tired and not quite ready to return for the last event before the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship.
However, judging by the video she posted Sunday on Instagram, Ko is getting in shape…
Water Week: A Real Goat Track
On Friday’s "Morning Drive" Matt Ginella continues this week’s programming devoted to the most vital and least sexy topic in golf: water usage. Several features and guests are lined up for Morning Drive each day, including a Tuesday roundtable discussion amongst several leaders from the GCSAA, USGA, Toro Company and Pinehurst Resort.
Most intriguing to hear may be the update on John Ashworth’s effort to re-imagine Oceanside, Calif.'s rundown Goat Hill Park Golf Course. Here is Ginella’s previous report on the effort to save the course, which was successful and now will be bookended by a noble effort to reduce water usage.