Posted by Ryan

1. OK, someone’s going home today. So there’s only one team that can’t go home today, and it’s Rob and Charlotte. Odds are good we’re going to get our first elimination at the end of this episode. I’m really surprised we’ve come this far without someone getting booted. I’m not sure if this is indicative of the quality of the teams or just the randomness of the game.

2. Andy and Parker drop some knowledge. Facing a trivia challenge on the beach at Treasure Island in Tampa, Andy and Parker display some memory skills I wouldn’t have suspected they had. They remember two key details from the game so far: The name of the fort in St. Augustine in the first episode (Castillo de San Marcos) and the names of the courses that inspired the holes they played at Golden Ocala (Augusta, St. Andrews and Royal Troon).  Andy and Parker are the first to snag both antique hickory-shafted clubs and hit the road to Belleair Country Club in Clearwater.

3. Don’t make me come back there! This episode featured more backseat driving than we’ve seen in the series so far. Jay was getting all over Peach for not getting into the right lane. “C’mon, Peach! You’re blowing it!!” And I thought Andy and Parker were going to step out of the car and throw down right in traffic after they went from first place to last place just driving. Andy says, “Don’t worry about the driving part. We can’t control this driving part. All we can control is the golf part.” He’s right. The most dramatic shifts in the game seem to have come on the road, and there’s not much teams can do about it. Unless you screw up your directions, it’s all about the luck of the traffic.

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Tags: Highway 18, Reality TV, Recap, Sports by Cubicle QB
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Posted by Ryan

1. Odds are good someone’s going home. Three teams have a shot at getting sent home today: Raul and Jameica, Andy and Parker and the Ashleys. If I were a betting man, I’d put money on the Ashleys to get the boot. But I think I’ll be a little disappointed if no one goes home today. I think maybe I’ve watched too many mean-spirited reality shows, and much of my enjoyment comes from teams or individuals getting kicked off. But really, there’s no one team I dislike and want to see kicked off — I just want someone to get kicked off.

2. And boom goes the dynamite. Watching these teams struggle through the Golf Central segment reminded me a little too much of this guy:

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Tags: Highway 18, Reality TV, Recap, Sports by Cubicle QB
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Posted by Ryan

1. Rob’s knowledge of Caddyshack is poor. One of the Ashleys is preparing to hit her shot on Daytona Beach, and Rob starts quoting the “Be the ball” Ty Webb Zen golf thing from Caddyshack. But wouldn’t the “Noonan!” psych-out technique be more appropriate here? Either way, if his desired effect was to annoy, then he succeeded. It doesn’t faze the Ashleys, though. They come in second, right behind Peach and Jay.

2. Rashard Lewis’ latest CD drops Tuesday. Rashard Lewis of the Orlando Magic lends his voice talents to the CD in the teams’ Enclaves, instructing them to go to the Magic practice facility, the RDV Sportsplex in Orlando.

3. “Boys, like, make mistakes, too. You know?” A true gem of wisdom from the Ashleys. But the Ashleys made a huge mistake and went the wrong direction on the highway to Orlando.

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Tags: Highway 18, Reality TV, Recap, Sports by Cubicle QB
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Posted by Ryan

1. “I love you, man!” Thanks to Andy hitting his shot in the target at the horse farm, the two guys get a nice head start on the other teams on their way to Daytona. Parker professes his love for Andy, and their budding bromance will be an intriguing subplot for the rest of the series.

2. The Ashleys’ airbags have deployed. Golf is such a mental game. One bad shot can get in your head and lead to many more bad shots. The Ashleys are in a state of panic during the golf challenges, and they’re second-guessing themselves. Just how messed up are they? They’re giving the OnStar operator headaches, and those people are trained to deal with panicky accident victims.

3. The wheels on the bus go nowhere. Thanks to a train and a schoolbus that has to stop at railroad crossings (annoying!), the Ashleys get caught up to Peach and Jay and Rob and Charlotte on the road to Daytona. The Ashleys pull an aggressive move to get around the bus, but Rob cuts them off. Peach seems stuck behind the bus (they never really give you a sense of where the cars are on the road here) and gets caught by the light.

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Tags: Highway 18, Reality TV, Recap, Sports by Cubicle QB
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Posted by Ryan

1. Keri Murphy Is Easily Amused. I interviewed host Keri Murphy about Highway 18, and she really played up this episode and its swamp challenge. “They came out to the swamp — it’s full of gators — and they think that they’re going to have to do some sort of golf challenge. But really, they just had to find their way back,” Murphy says. “Getting them out of the swamp was pretty hilarious.” Now, having seen this episode, the “swamp” looks more like a park that had a gator in it somewhere. And the teams just followed a path straight to a parking lot to get out of it. That was it? Where was all the hilarity? Maybe it hit the cutting-room floor. Or maybe you just had to be there.

2. In North Carolina, They Spell Things How They Sound. Parker and Andy were also described as hilarious, but I suspect maybe a lot of their best material wasn’t suitable for air. Andy saying “poo-poo” seems to be about all they can get away with.

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Tags: Highway 18, Reality TV, Recap, Sports by Cubicle QB
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Posted by Ryan

We’re ready to tee off our recaps of GOLF CHANNEL’s Highway 18 reality competition series. Following each episode of the series, we’re going to give you nine highlights, observations, predictions or snarky comments. We’re going to go out on a limb here and assume that if you’re checking out our blog here, you’ve already seen the episode and don’t need shot-by-shot recaps. Oh yeah, there will be spoilers, so you’ve been warned.

Before hitting the Quick Nine on the premiere episode, aptly titled “The Journey Begins,” we’ll introduce the contestants:

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Tags: Highway 18, Reality TV, Recap by Cubicle QB
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Posted by Ryan

Anyone who’s played golf knows that it’s a stressful game. But a typical round doesn’t also include a road race, tough trivia questions, getting dropped off in a swamp and having eight people trying to get you kicked off the course.

GOLF CHANNEL’s new 10-episode reality competition series Highway 18, premiering July 22 at 10pm ET, puts five teams of two golfers on the ultimate road rally through Florida, as they face golf challenges both on and off the course to stave off elimination and be the last team standing. “There’s a race element to it, there’s a golf element to it, and there’s this cooperation element to it and how two people work together to not only find where the next hole they have to play is but perform at the next hole,” says Jay Kossoff, GOLF CHANNEL executive producer of original productions.

The teams, as you might expect, are made up of colorful and often clashing personalities. But each competitor has a serious passion for golf and the skills to go with it. The team of Andy and Parker, two Southern buddies, party as hard as they play golf. Ashley and Ashleigh are blond, flirty BFFs who coordinate their outfits and hide their competitiveness behind ditsy demeanors. Friends Raul and Jameica, both with careers in golf, are known to hustle opponents. Siblings Rob and Charlotte are both perfectionists willing to do whatever it takes to win. And the father/son team of Peach and Jay test the maxim that father knows best.

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Tags: Highway 18, Sports, TV News & Program Updates by Cubicle QB
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