Is golf coverage turning into all Tiger all the time? Some readers and viewers of the Golf Channel and tournament telecasts elsewhere think so. They're right in many ways, but Woods drives the sport and ratings. He must be addressed. Relentlessly.
"There's no question that Tiger dominates our PGA Tour coverage," Page Thompson, president of the Golf Channel, said this week. "He's a once-in-a-lifetime talent. The ratings indicate people want to watch him, and it's a privilege for us to cover Tiger and devote as much attention to him as we do."
The Golf Channel has been airing what it's calling Two Weeks of Tiger. Interested viewers will have seen reruns of many of his wins, including his 15-shot victory in the 2000 U.S. Open. They'll have watched a half-hour special called Tiger and Phil 2008 Debut. The show featured Woods and Mickelson making their PGA Tour starts this year at last week's Buick Invitational in La Jolla, Calif. Woods won by eight shots. Mickelson tied for sixth place, 13 shots behind Woods.
There's more wall-to-wall Woods this week. He flew 20 hours to play in the Dubai Desert Classic. The Golf Channel will be showing the tournament, which starts today. The media there have already handed the tournament title to Woods.
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It's too much for some people. They consider the coverage hyperbolic, excessive, over the top and whatever other terms are available. A Canadian expatriate who lives in Napa, Calif., wrote a thoughtful, lengthy note the other day.
She wrote that she "couldn't care less what Tiger does or doesn't do on the golf course. Sure, he's a great player, but I just can't get interested in him any more. ...I would much rather watch Adam Scott set a fire on the European Tour, as he did this [past] weekend, and win by three, than tune in to Tiger-mania."
Scott shot 61 in the last round to win the Qatar Masters by three strokes over Henrik Stenson. Anybody interested in the tournament and in Scott - and the many other fine players not named Woods - could have watched it on the Golf Channel. They'll be able to watch Mickelson, Mike Weir, Vijay Singh and Geoff Ogilvy on the Golf Channel today and tomorrow when it carries the PGA Tour's FBR Open in Scottsdale, Ariz. CBS will take over on the weekend.
Clearly, then, there's coverage of players besides Woods. But, as Thompson said, "Tiger's so visible that I think people maybe don't see that we promote other players."
Thompson pointed out that the Golf Channel has aired special half-hour shows on players such as Will MacKenzie, Camilo Villegas and Luke Donald. He noted that the Golf Channel covers not only the PGA Tour, but also the European, Nationwide, LPGA and Champions Tours.
"But when Tiger's in the field, he is the story," Thompson reiterated. "We get ratings numbers every day. Our ratings at the Buick were up 50 per cent this year."
Meanwhile, CBS's weekend coverage of the Buick was up 28 per cent on Saturday from a year before and down 18 per cent on Sunday. Woods had as much as an 11-shot lead on Sunday, so perhaps some viewers tuned out. Nevertheless, the network's numbers were the highest of any telecast since the PGA Championship last August.
That's because of Woods. He's a virtuoso. As one reader wrote, unhappily, "In the age of the Tiger, it is so hard to find other relevant topics." He also argued that the media, "if they want to survive, will have to cover the game much better than they have."
That's not what the ratings numbers suggest, although Tiger ennui could set in deeply should he find himself without challengers. He's won 22 of the 53 PGA Tour events he's played since 2005, including five major tournaments. That's more than unbelievable. It's crazy.
It's no wonder, then, that Peter Kessler started and finished his daily show Making the Turn on XM Radio on Tuesday with segments devoted to Woods. The highly respected and outspoken teacher Bob Toski was Kessler's last guest. Toski led the PGA Tour's money list in 1954, and at 81, spends his days on the lesson tee in Coconut Creek, Fla.
"He's the best player I've ever seen in the history of the game," Toski said, "and I've seen them all."
The conclusion? Demand deeper coverage of more players, sure, and search out the stories that make their way into print, radio and television. But be clear: For now, and the foreseeable future, expect more Tiger, all the time.
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