Musco Lighting - Battle at Bighorn 2000

The Battle at Bighorn
Bighorn Golf Club • Indio, California

The second televised, prime time golf event drew plenty of fan support — both on the golf course and with the television audience.

The live prime time golf event The Battle at Bighorn pitted Tiger Woods against Spain’s rising young star, Sergio Garcia. ABC Sports again called on Musco to provide temporary lighting for the final holes — making a big statement about the appeal of nighttime sporting events.

In order to ensure prime time coverage nationwide and be prepared for play after sunset, ABC again called on Musco. Last year, temporary lighting systems illuminated the last three holes at the Showdown at Sherwood. This year, ABC extended the lighting to four holes for added assurance — a move that proved necessary. Playing under overcast skies, the golfers played #14 in near darkness before playing under Musco systems that turned night into day for the final four holes.

The spectacular Canyons course at Bighorn Country Club in Palm Desert, California provided a beautiful setting, but made light placement particularly difficult — especially around the greens where plants were on individual sprinkler systems. Pulling all the variables together, Musco engineers worked out a plan for light placement and equipment best suited for each area. In all, four Musco Lights™, two Mini Muscos™, and 19 TempLight™ Systems for 186 fixtures providing 603,000 watts of lighting power.

Mike Webb, ABC Sports senior production executive, watched the show as a television viewer. “When they got to hole 15, it was like watching a day game. I just thought it was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen on TV,” Webb said. “We wanted the event to air live on the East coast and without the lights, we would’ve needed to start earlier and then either join them in progress or put it on a short turnaround tape delay. Since neither was a viable option, we chose to have them play under the lights.”

“I can’t think of anything we asked for that Musco didn’t provide,” said Doug Schmitt, technical director for ABC Sports. “It was perfect . . . There’s no other way to describe it.” •

Lighting golf courses provides a unique set of challenges. Technicians must place lights out of the way of the golfers, work around trees and obstacles which could throw shadows, yet achieve the necessary lighting without dark spots. Light placement without disrupting the aesthetic beauty of a golf course is always an issue as well.