Reality television remains all the rage with "Survivor," "Big Brother," "The Bachelor," "The Bachelorette," etc., filling airtime on a nightly basis. Politics and personalities are the featured elements of those shows, which have earned big ratings for the various networks. Starting tonight, however, the Golf Channel enters the reality TV arena with its version, "The Big Break." The premise of the series is this: 10 scratch golfers from across the country put together in northern Michigan and put through 10 skill challenges that will test both their physical and mental abilities. "We're really breaking ground," said Tony Tortorici, executive producer for the Golf Channel. "There's never been a series quite like this for fans of the game. For all of the contestants, the potential payoff of playing on a tour that spawned greats like 2003 Masters champion Mike Weir is an opportunity of a lifetime and a chance to realize their dreams." He referred to the ticket into four Canadian Tour events in 2004 that the last man standing will receive as a reward for his ability to handle the challenges best. One golfer will be eliminated each week of the series, based on his performance in that week's challenge. The golfers will be tested on aspects of the game like knock-down shots, flop shots and difficult bunker shots. But, as you might expect, there's a catch. The contestants have to shoot their way through and around some very interesting props that will not only increase the difficulty of the challenge, but provide some unexpected and humorous twists for viewers. The winner of each week's challenge will receive a prize, but he will also receive something that might be even more valuable: a mulligan. Given to the player with the best performance in each challenge, the mulligan will be an extra shot the player can use at his disposal in the subsequent elimination challenge. That's the part of the challenge when the pressure is the greatest and the player with the worst performance goes home. The contestants for this show was put together from auditions across the country and is a wide-ranging group. Some of the 10 are involved in the golf business, others are not. One is an operations manager with the Federal Aviation Administration, another is a landscape and construction worker. A couple of players have played in golf's minor leagues -- the Hooters Tour, etc. The youngest is 25, the oldest 55. The series was staged at Treetops Resort in Gaylord, Mich., and Treetops owner and managing partner, Rick Smith, is one of the co-hosts. Smith is one of the best instructors in the game. Two of his better-known students are Greensburg native Rocco Mediate and Phil Mickelson. Additional Information:

Details

'The Big Break' 9 p.m. Tonight, Golf Channel

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