Behind The Scenes

ESPN’s 31st annual employee golf tourney draws nearly 400 entrants

An essential part of ESPN’s success is the simple notion that its workforce is filled with thousands of sports fans.

That plays a huge role in serving passionate audiences with content that is both authoritative and distinctive on a daily basis. As you might expect, sports participation is also a big part of many ESPN employees’ lives — past and present.

In addition to various intramural leagues at ESPN, there is also the yearly employee golf tournament where sports skills are on display. This year’s event, the 31st annual, featured nearly 400 employees and a scramble, team-only scoring format.

To make things even more interesting, each foursome received a yellow ball with their team number on it. The object was to play the round without losing the yellow ball (players in each group rotated by hole who was responsible for hitting the yellow ball).

The return rate for yellow balls was approximately 1 out of every 3 groups, while many of the returned balls featured scuff marks, water stains or faded numbers and likely were recovered only after extensive searches.

In terms of scoring, three teams finished at 13-under Par, so the champions had to be determined through a tie-breaker.

An added element was a prize-filled raffle with all the money collected going directly to The V Foundation for Cancer Research.

It’s the latest example of the diverse collection of sports fans who make up the ESPN employee base making a difference in the lives of others.

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