Golf Online will be launched on the Web January 24 by Times
Mirror Magazines with Greg Norman hosting the kick- off,
according to AD AGE ONLINE. The site will offer info on golf
courses, resorts and a database "with 100 golf tips and lessons."
Ad spots cost $5,000 per month on the home page and $2,500 for
"major sections." Golf Magazine is "considering partnering with
a search engine company to rate sites with golf content,"
according to Dominic Schmitt, a producer with Times Mirror
Magazines (AD AGE ONLINE, 1/11).
BIG CHANGE AT CBS GOLF? Veteran CBS coordinating producer
Frank Chirkinian will be "handing over the reins of CBS' golf
coverage," according to Rudy Martzke of USA TODAY. Chirkinian,
who is in the second of a five-year deal that pays about $800,000
a year, would remain the main producer this year. But, according
to Martzke, "under CBS' plan, he'd turn over most of his line
producer duties" in the last three years of his deal. CBS Sports
Exec Producer Rick Gentile said he and CBS Sports President David
Kenin will meet with Chirkinian this weekend "to work out a
schedule." Gentile: "Frank will never voluntarily leave the
truck, but this will mark the transition, as we agreed when he
signed his last contract." Chirkinian had no comment, other
than, "It's a mean world out there, pal" (USA TODAY, 1/11).
