Green Reading

On eve of Olympic golf decision

Golf Channel will break into regular scheduled programming at 9 a.m. Thursday for a live news conference that will update the fate of golf in the 2016 Olympics. The news conference will include Joe Steranka, chief executive officer of The PGA of America, and Ty Votaw, executive vice president of international affairs and communications for the PGA Tour. At 11 a.m., Votaw will join Live From the PGA Championship to discuss the decision of golf becoming an Olympic sport.

Tiger toot exposes shortcomings in TV commentary

Tiger Woods or his caddie Steve Williams  broke wind while standing in the 18th fairway just prior to finishing off Woods' victory in the Buick Open last weekend, and everyone watching the broadcast knew it. As soon as the loud and enduring fart was picked up on sensitive hand-held microphones in the fairway that are meant to hear conversations between caddie and player, Woods and Williams began chuckling like naughty schoolchildren. CBS commentators refused to recognize the fart, even though millions of viewers could hear it and see Woods' reaction. The incident and the reaction of CBS' talent _ or lack thereof _ is another example of golf commentators refusing to even peer outside the box in their coverage. They'd rather discuss someone's swing than one of the most interesting things that happened during coverge because it might reflect poor taste by a player. I was watching a couple years ago when Sergio Garcia spit into the cup after taking his ball out, and the announcers that day paused when it happened because they obviously saw it, but chose not to comment on it. Cameras cut away and nothing was ever said about it during the contest.
It was discussed on talk shows and shown on the Internet and other programs afterward, as was Woods' fart. Why should announcers pass on the opportunity when they have the first chance to comment? If it happens during the telecast, the viewers see it and its interesting, acknowledge it please.

CBS drops call at AT&T

CBS and the PGA Tour should be ashamed of themselves. After leaving Coastal Carolina's men's basketball upset of VMI, I tuned into CBS to catch the final hour or so of coverage of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. I heard Grand Strand resident Dustin Johnson had a three-shot lead late in the third round, so I figured I'd see how he closed out the round. He closed out the round well, expanding his lead to five shots, but I didn't see it. What I did see was an interview with Huey Lewis, who hasn't been relevant for 20 years, and Lewis, Brandy Chastain, Peyton Manning and a host of other non-golfers hit a bunch of bad golf shots. I did get to see one pro golfer hit shots. CBS showed every shot on Phil Mickelson's final holes, so I got to see him pull within 13 shots of the lead. Suspenseful television. He should be a real factor in the final round. I didn't see a single player within 10 shots of the lead hit a shot.
Have the executives at CBS lost their collective minds. I enjoy watching Bill Murray's antics and the rest of the celebrities hit the occassional shot or give the occassional on-course interview. It's what makes the AT&T such an entertaining event. But you can't completely ignore the actual competition of the golf tournament. Tournaments strictly for celebrities have their time and place. It's the silly season in November and December. Is CBS and the PGA Tour telling us we shouldn't care about the professional competition at the event. I know the event is at three courses and they like to feature Pebble Beach. But are cameras banned at Poppy Hills and Spyglass. At least put them on the final few holes of each course so we can see leaders playing their final holes. And though Johnson finished a full half hour before the broadcast ended, he was not interviewed on camera. The player with a five-stroke lead never appeared in a three-hour broadcast.  It's disgraceful.
Hopefully we'll get to see Johnson try to close out his second PGA Tour victory now that the celebs are pretty much done. Unless Mickelson is closing out a 77 that must be seen.