Tonight at 9 p.m. the 12th season of Golf Channel’s “Big Break” crowns a champion, and at a time when people are interested in golf for all the wrong reasons, it shows some of the right ones.
The people competing are not multi-millionaires, they are just talented individuals looking for a break.
But does the series really give anyone a big break?
“Absolutely,” said Bri Vega, winner of “The Big Break VI: Trump National.” “It really was in all senses of the word a big break and I still get a lot of perks from it.”
Bri Vega (Mark Ashman / GOLF CHANNEL)
Andrew Giuliani (Mark Ashman / GOLF CHANNEL)
Kristy McPherson (Mark Ashman / GOLF CHANNEL)
“It not only helped me but it helped the Duramed Futures Tour because people who watch the Golf Channel watch our show and then they know that our tour even exists,” she added.
There is no question that being on the popular show gives you exposure, but is it still a big break if you lose?
Andrew Giuliani, who was cut one shy of making the final four in the current season, “Big Break Disney Golf”, has increased his fan base dramatically from being on the show.
“I think in some ways it was [a big break] because I’ve gotten thousands of letters and emails from people saying that they really liked my attitude and have become a fan of me because of it and I really appreciate that,” said Giuliani.
Even getting eliminated fairly early doesn’t appear to hurt.
“I did pretty bad on the show,” said Kristy McPherson, who was eliminated on the third episode of The Big Break VI: Trump National. “But people always tell me, ‘I loved you on the Big Break’, and I always tell people you’re a true Big Break fan if you even know I was on the Big Break. I think I have a much larger fan base from being on the show.”
So the time in the spotlight appears to be worth it, but what about the grand prize? Does anyone make the most of that?
As the only winner in Big Break history to take a cash prize, Derek Gillespie is sitting pretty.
“$100,000 is a lot of money, especially when you play mini-tour golf where you don’t have a chance that often to play for $100,000, especially in a two-week span,” said Gillespie of his cash grand prize.
Gillespie’s season was the first and only time Big Break gave a top cash prize instead of a tour exemption, which was fine with him.
“In the past they got one exemption into a [PGA or LPGA] tour event. It’s a great opportunity if you’re playing great and you take advantage of it. If you go there, you still have expenses. You’ve got to pay a caddie a thousand a week and say if you miss the cut, was it a big break? Obviously not. You’re probably a couple of grand in the hole with expenses and everything,” he said.
And even though most haven’t capitalized on their exemptions, their game — both mental and physical — has improved by being on the show.
“At the time in 2006 I was really struggling with my golf game and I was having a really frustrating season and I went into the show with no expectations but it really taught me that I perform really well under pressure,” said Vega. “And if I put my mind to something I can get it done and I really surprised myself by winning the whole thing with all the great contestants that were on the show at the time.”
Keith Allo, Golf Channel’s VP of Programming, thinks “what this show does is it combines the competition element with the mental side of it and we get a peek into the mental side of it. And more times than not that’s either what allows them to be successful or allows them to fail, is really the mental side of it.”
A good mental attitude appears to be a key component to victory on the show as well as on tour.
“It really teaches you how to literally hit one shot at a time and you have to make every shot count because if you hit one bad shot you’re going home,” said McPherson.
During the two weeks McPherson was away shooting Big Break, she dropped from fourth to 10th on the Futures tour money list and only the top five get their LPGA tour card.
She rallied to get her LPGA card and is now on the LPGA tour and is in the top 20 in the world rankings.
Giuliani also believes he went into the show in a good frame of mind and even has a book to credit with his success.
“What it showed me most of all is that I had the mindset to compete out there. I think a lot of people talk about the physical part of the game but I think the mental part of the game is far overlooked, and, in my opinion, by far more important,” he said.
Reading the Dr. Rotella books seems to have been the difference for him.
“It’s been amazing for me how much it’s helped me mentally with the game and I think that it was one of the real reasons why I was able to do as well as I did on the show,” he added.
A month after filming wrapped on Big Break Disney Golf, Giuliani won the Met Open, a pro torunament.
Unlike many challenge based reality shows, Big Break doesn’t ask people to do the impossible.
“If you play golf, none of what we have them do is crazy in terms of being unreasonable,” said Allo. “We don’t say you have to hit a ball 400 yards or you have to hit a hole in one. It’s probably, in my opinion, one of the best produced reality shows both from a production standpoint as well as from a story telling standpoint that’s out there.”
But at the end of the day the thing that sells all reality shows is the crazy characters. Especially the ones that can’t understand why they’re as good as they are and aren’t doing better on the show.
“Sometimes people go in there assuming that they should be the person that should win and every time that person thinks that they should win, they never win,” said Vega. “I was an underdog and I had no expectations. So I think going into the show with no expectations and just having fun is the best advice.”
The 13th season of Big Break, one of Golf Channel’s highest rated shows, plans to film early next year with a planned summertime premier.