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What: “The Big Three” documentary

Where: The Golf Channel, tonight, 6.

Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player, when they dominated golf in the early 1960s, were all represented by Mark McCormack, the creator of International Management Group. McCormack also created a golf show featuring his three clients. Appropriately, it was called “Big Three Golf.”

The series, which involved the three going head to head in medal play in 18-hole matches, hasn’t been on television since 1966. The winners got a whopping $50,000.

Now, the Golf Channel is resurrecting the series. It will kick off with this excellent half-hour documentary, titled “The Big Three,” which focuses on the three golfers and explains the series and how it came about. After the documentary, at 6:30 p.m., will be the premiere of the “Big Three Golf” series.

Two more episodes will be shown Tuesday and Wednesday at 6 p.m., with subsequent episodes, 12 in all, running Wednesdays at 7 p.m., beginning Sept. 29.

The documentary offers some great old footage and also deals with the roots of televised golf. It’s pointed out that in 1952, Horton Smith, the president of the PGA, was quoted as saying television was a gimmick that would go away and that it would be too costly to televise a golf tournament. The first live telecast was a year later.

A taped golf series, “All Star Golf,” was created in 1954 and that spawned others, such as producer Frank Chirkinian’s “Match Play Golf.” The best known of these was “Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf,” which started in 1961. McCormack had thought of doing something similar, “Arnold Palmer Against the World,” in which Palmer would take on various opponents around the world.

But Shell beat McCormack to the punch. So McCormack and Jay Michaels, father of ABC’s Al, came up with “Challenge Golf,” with Palmer and Player, and that show led to “Big Three Golf,” with Bob Rosburg as host.

In the documentary, Palmer, Nicklaus and Player reflect on the fun they had. “Guys can be good friends but still try to beat each other’s brains out when they get on the golf course,” Nicklaus says.