CBS intern enjoys crazy week at John Deere Classic

Jake Norcia ’16 is a multimedia journalism/mass communication major. His career goal is to become a sports broadcaster, doing play-by-play or color commentary. This summer, he’s interning at WHBF-TV, the Quad Cities’ CBS affiliate.

Norcia has covered high school baseball and softball and the Quad Cities River Bandits minor league baseball team. But most recently, he covered the John Deere Classic PGA golf tournament just east of Rock Island in Silvis, Ill.

The John Deere Classic landed in national news as 21-year-old Jordan Spieth, already the 2015 winner of the Master’s and U.S. Open, notched his fourth Tour victory ahead of the British Open, which begins today.

I have learned a lot about what the news business entails and how much work goes into each broadcast. I feel like many people at home think how cool it is to be on TV, but they probably don’t understand the amount of effort happens behind the camera.

During this internship, I have learned how to shoot video and edit the clips to put into a broadcast. I have also learned how to transcribe and put in text pages that go on TV when the news comes on.

Many of the things I do with this internship are behind the scenes because I am not allowed on camera. My responsibility is to make sure each show is prepared well and goes smoothly.

Having an internship with so much hands on experience will definitely be beneficial to me in the future. I also believe that working at a big-time event like a PGA tournament is something that will help with whatever situation I get involved with.

At such a busy tournament, it was really important to work well with others on your team, and help them out if they needed it. Since it’s such a hectic time, people can get overwhelmed, which is why it’s important to work hard and communicate well with your coworkers.

Although John Deere Classic week was an extremely busy time, it was absolutely worth the experience. My first day out on the course was Tuesday, July 7, where I filmed press conferences of some of the big names in the tournament — Jordan Spieth and Zach Johnson.

Norcia captures comedian Bill Murray's final putt

On that same day, I went out and covered the Boys and Girls Club Charity Shootout in East Moline. The event included Spieth, last year’s JDC winner, Brian Harman, and famous actor/comedian Bill Murray.

It was extremely cool to be talking to some of the biggest names in golf and also share some laughs with Bill Murray. After that first day I felt really tired because we were working long hours, but covering these well-known public figures made it very enjoyable as well.

The next day I went around TPC Deere Run (the course for the JDC), and filmed the pro-am tournament. I was amazed by the amount of people that came out to see that event. There were crowds of 200-300 people following Bill Murray around to every hole. I was fortunate enough to have inside-the-ropes access to every hole, making it easier to get good angles and footage from the tournament.

Thursday and Friday were the first and second round of the actual tournament, which saw Spieth struggle a bit, though he still made the cut. These days were extremely tiring because I would run from the first tee box catch a Steve Stricker drive, then down to the second green to catch a Zach Johnson birdie putt, then race up to the fourth green in hopes of catching Justin Thomas (the tournament leader at the time).

It was a lot of work to hold a tripod or a camera to every hole, everyday. There were times where my button-down shirt would look a different color because of all the sweat.

My favorite part of the weekend was Saturday, when my responsibility was to follow Spieth the entire day. It was my job to get interviews from Spieth fans and also get highlights of him making eagle and birdie putts, as well as hitting playable shots from the rough.

I knew about Spieth coming into the tournament, and he had so much hype and support from the people in the Quad-Cities area. I didn’t realize just how good this kid was.

I was amazed at how a 21-year-old (the same age as me) could dominate professional golf the way he could. Spieth made miraculous shot after miraculous shot, and even got robbed on a few.

What I enjoyed most about him was that his attitude and mindset never changed. His ball would inexplicably jump out of the hole when it was half way down, just to come back and make the next putt to finish with a birdie.

Then on the 17th fairway, he hit the most amazing shot I have ever seen. From 106 yards out — more than the length of a football field — he hit his shot a few yards past the hole only to have the skill and presence of mind to spin the ball back straight into the hole. When he made that shot you could hear the roar of the crowd across the entire course.

It was an amazing environment, and one that I was lucky enough to be a part of.