Big Break X: Michigan Co-Hosts & Producers
Billy Ray Brown
Co-Host
In his first stint as a co-host for Big Break, Billy Ray Brown brings insight to the series from a professional golfer’s perspective. While he currently serves as an on-course reporter for GOLF CHANNEL’s Champions Tour events and select PGA TOUR events in 2008, Brown won three times in a 12-year-career on the PGA TOUR. Following his retirement from competitive golf in 1999, Brown worked for ABC Sports as an on-course and joined GOLF CHANNEL’s broadcast team in 2007. Born, raised and a current resident of Missouri City, Texas, he attended the University of Houston, where he was a member of the 1984 and 1985 national championship teams. A four-time All-American, Brown won the 1982 NCAA Division I Champion as a freshman. Coming from an athletic family, his father, Charles, was a tackle for the Oakland Raiders and his brother played center for the St. Louis Cardinals.
Stina Sternberg
Co-Host
Co-hosting her second Big Break, Sternberg also serves as host for the GOLF CHANNEL’s Golf With Style and was a panelist on Fore Inventors Only. A current Golf Digest columnist and former Golf For Women Senior Editor, she is an International Network of Golf’s Equipment Writing Award winner. In 2004, she hosted 'Two Days in Paradise,' a monthly travel segment on USA Network’s PGA TOUR Sunday. Prior to entering the publishing industry, Sternberg was owner and head golf professional of the Great Golf Pro Shop and Indoor Teaching Center in Westport, Conn., where she personally conducted more than 600 lessons a year. Simultaneously, she was the co-owner and pro shop director of Sisjo Golf Club in Gothenburg, Sweden. In 1993, Sternberg spent a year as host and field reporter for the Sportnytt sports show on Swedish Network Television in Stockholm, Sweden. In the years following, she moonlighted as a freelance New York correspondent for Swedish television and radio, reporting on American sports and entertainment news and hosting a weekly radio segment called "Stina’s Report from New York." Sternberg was a member of the PGA of Sweden’s teaching division from 1996 to 2000. She began playing golf at the age of 7 and entered the golf industry as a 14-year-old, repairing golf clubs in pro shops on weekends and holidays.
Jay Kossoff
Vice President and Executive Producer, Original Productions
As executive producer and managing director of original productions, Jay Kossoff is responsible for all original programs created by the GOLF CHANNEL, including the award-winning Big Break series, documentaries, travel programming, the GOLF CHANNEL classics, and long-format special presentations. Kossoff oversees the creative look and content of each program, as well as creates and develops future programming. Since 1994, Kossoff has played an intricate role in the GOLF CHANNEL’s programming success, including his work as director and producer of the GOLF CHANNEL’s first full-length feature documentary, the award-winning and Emmy-nominated Arnold Palmer: Golf’s Heart and Soul. The New York Festivals, Telly Awards, AXIEM Awards, Gracie Allen Awards, Miller Lite Sports Journalism Awards, Victor Eutelsat TV Sports Award and Women’s Sports Foundation have all honored Kossoff’s work at the GOLF CHANNEL. A graduate of the University of North Florida, Kossoff was previously employed with PGA TOUR Productions.
Paul Schlegel
Senior Producer, Original Productions
As senior producer of original productions, Paul Schlegel has worked in some capacity on a majority of the network’s original productions. A staff member since the GOLF CHANNEL’s inception, Schlegel’s work includes Big Break and various special presentations and highlight specials. Schlegel previously was employed with WRGB-TV, the CBS affiliate in Albany, N.Y., where he won an NPPA Award for feature stories and AP Spot News Coverage. Another stop was with ESPN, where he served as a photographer and editor. Schlegel is a graduate of Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.
