NBC Presents Nine Hours of Coverage of "Golf's Fifth Major" (THE PLAYERS Championship) This Weekend Including Debut of "Cablecam" at Daunting 17th Hole

NBC will broadcast third and fourth round coverage of THE PLAYERS Championship Saturday, 2-6 p.m. ET and Sunday, 1:30-6:30 p.m. ET. ESPN will televise the first two rounds on Thursday and Friday.

NBC Sports, in conjunction with ESPN and the PGA TOUR, will debut "Cablecam" at the par-3 17th hole at Sawgrass for THE PLAYERS Championship. "Cablecam," a camera mounted more than 20 yards above the crowd, will travel down a designated out-of-play area to provide unique aerial views of the dramatic island green and better follow the flight of the ball as players shoot for the green...or the water.

17TH HOLE FACTS AND FIGURES (COURTESY PGA TOUR):

The famed "island green" was designed to ensure dramatic finishes by not allowing the leaders to play defensively to protect a lead. It generally requires players to hit between a 7-iron and a pitching wedge.

BUNKER CAM:
NBC will utilize a microscopic lens embedded in the lip of the tiny front bunker.

OTHER UNIQUE CAMERAS"
NBC will use two manned cameras placed on the 17th hole. A camera operator is lifted by a crane 120 feet into the air above the trees from right of the 16th fairway where his camera has a clear view of 16, 17 and 18. Another camera operator is ferried to the island right of the 17th green where he is marooned for approximately eight hours to get reactions from the 17th tee and operate the super-slow-motion camera.

17TH HOLE LORE:
-Of the 23 winners of THE PLAYERS, only one winner has made a bogey on the 17th hole on Sunday, Steve Elkington in 1991. Of these winners, 13 have made par, nine have made birdie and one made bogey.