The 19^th Hole

February 12, 2007

When To Get Off Of The Soap Box

I tuned into the CBS Sunday telecast of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.  Phil Mickelson seemed to have found his game and was looking to capture his 30^th career Tour victory in the process of prepping for the majors.  Lefty went on to pull away from the field on the back nine and take the title in a runaway. 

Of course, when tournaments get out of hand, the golf itself can get a little dry.  The competition did not post much of a threat to Mickelson, so they were not going to get a whole lot of air time or attention from the commentators.  The Watson’s got some well earned time on camera.  So did Davis Love III, who was profiled for a scholarship he backs along with an annual clinic that was attended by approximately 50 people from what the footage showed.  There was not much else to say about the rest of the field.

That left the CBS golf team lots of open air time to focus on Phil Mickelson.  The boys gushed about how well Mickelson was playing and how he did not even try to screw it up and make things a little interesting.  Lefty was decimating Pebble Beach and there was speculation on the back nine as to whether or not he could set the scoring record for the event.  (He wound up tying O’Meara’s 268 on -20.)

Then Nantz took the dead air as an opportunity to opine.  He talked about how he was impressed by Mickelson’s commitment to play in this event year after year.  Nantz said that Mickelson recognized the importance of the event to the area and the PGA Tour.  Philly Mick plays every year even though the rounds are WAY longer than they need to be, the weather is usually pretty lousy for at least half of the event, and the poanna grass at Pebble can really be annoying to putt on for a few rounds.  Nantz went on to say that more (top) players should be involved in this event because of its high profile and importance to the start of the Tour season.

Nantz was doing his best impression of the Kevin Nealon character “Mr. Subliminal.”  It was not very good, though.  It seemed pretty apparent that Nantz was referring to world number one Tiger Woods.  Woods has not been at the AT&T/Crosby since 2002 when he finished in a tie for twelfth.  Rumors circulate each year as to whether or not Woods will participate in the event or go with the Nissan Open – his California event of choice since 2003.  (This year, he went with neither event.) 

That kind of chatter is normally fine, but is not for Jim Nantz to do on the air in the middle of another golfer’s glory.  Mickelson was lighting up the field and it is his and CBS’s duty to highlight his fantastic play on the course.  Instead, Nantz took time out of that job to take a jab at Tiger Woods and his playing schedule.  That is just irresponsible to me.

I can understand why Nantz may have said what he said, though.  Nantz has not been this verbal about Woods’ limited playing schedule before to the best of my knowledge.  Then again, before this season, three of the four major broadcast networks were splitting coverage of the PGA Tour.  Now, there are only two – CBS and NBC.  That means that CBS is on the hook for ratings for the events that they have picked up from ABC and the events they already had on their schedule.  If Woods decides to play the same schedule as last year, or even less this year because of the birth of his first child, then CBS is likely to broadcast a higher percentage of events without Woods in the field this season.  That’s just bad business for CBS Sports.

On top of all of that, CBS bought into the concept of the FedEx Cup with the selling point that a shorter season with a playoff system would inspire more tournament entries from the superior players.  And by superior players, I mean Tiger Woods and sometimes Phil Mickelson.  So far, that has not been true in two events for CBS – Woods played at the Buick Invitational last year and was not at Pebble.  Next week, Woods won’t be at Nissan even though he played there last season.  CBS is not getting an early return on their additional investment.

This is not to say that Nantz was taking the company or Tour line here.  Nantz may legitimately feel that the history of this event is sacred and that the tournament could use the support of Woods and other players – even if there are headaches involved.  If that is the case, then I completely agree with him.  Logic says that the more top players that the Tour can get to commit to an event; the more likely it is to do well in the community it serves, on television, and with corporate sponsors.  After all, when Woods makes an appearance at an event, more people come to watch and more people sit in front of their TVs to see him play. 

The Pebble Beach event thrives without Woods, though.  The event is one of the few strong enough to stand on its own history and reputation without the world number one.  The event is not on the chopping block, unlike the International.  It has support from all of the right sources except for Tiger Woods.

That said, the comment by Nantz was completely misplaced, came across as blowhard, and took away from Lefty going on to set tournament history.  We all want Tiger Woods to play more often.  That’s why the PGA Tour invented the FedEx Cup.  It’s why the networks probably wish there were a dozen majors instead of four. 

The reality of the situation, though, is that Tiger is not going to play more often this year than last.  He will likely scale back early in the season to compensate for a very packed stretch run of the Tour season.  This means that the early season events will likely suffer and be overlooked by many of the world’s best – including Woods, Ernie Els, and Retief Goosen.  As golf fans, we must accept that reality.  Nantz, being a golf fan, should accept that as truth as not take advantage of his position to call out a player on the air for not playing more often.  It just does not look good for the voice of a network to be not so subtly upset about the absence of a sport’s best player from their air. 

Golf broadcasters are known for verbally protecting players when they hit poor shots and fail to execute.  Woods is executing better than any golfer in the world right now, though.  Since he is playing so well, I guess he could not be afforded the same protection as lousy golfers.  Combine this with Woods’ less than stellar relationship with analyst Peter Kostis and I am sure the eye network will be seeing a lot more of Tiger on their air in the future.

Ryan Ballengee is host of The 19th Hole Golf Show, found at The Golf Newsnet.com.  Having graduated from the University of Maryland in 2004 and 2006, Ballengee brings the perspective of the younger golf fan to the microphone and his columns.  Over the nearly five years he has been broadcasting and writing, Ballengee has developed a reputation for a unique interviewing style that asks both the difficult and fun questions. You can also get The 19th Hole on the go through podcasting by clicking here The Golf Newsnet Contact Ryan via e-mail at the19thholeshow@hotmail.com.