This weekend's Players Championship is often advertised, certainly by NBC, as golf's fifth major tournament.
Actually, the sport has four majors, but the tournament at Tournament Players Club Sawgrass is special because of the purse, $9.5-million (U.S.), which draws a field as strong as any that will compete at a PGA Tour event, although Tiger Woods, recovering from a knee operation, is a no-show this year.
For the viewer, the par-3 17th hole and its famous island green accounts for a large amount of the Players' appeal. Hitting and staying on the green, which is out on a water-surrounded peninsula, is an intimidating and sometimes harrowing experience for a golfer.
Three years ago, Bob Tway posted 12 in windy conditions. But, of course, anything that makes life miserable for a golfer enhances the drama of the event and is good for television.
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"I've dipped a few sleeves in [at the 17th] through the course of time," NBC analyst Roger Maltbie, a former tour pro, said this week on a telephone conference call. "I used to make it a habit on Wednesday [during the practice round to] fire one or two of them in the water just to get it done. I figured I'd serve the terrible water god at 17 and I'd be done for the week."
Whatever horrific development unfolds at No. 17, it's unlikely to be missed by NBC.
Ten cameras will shoot the hole, including a microscopic lens embedded in the lip of the bunker at the front of the green. A camera operator will be hoisted 120 feet in the air, above the trees, to shoot the 17th hole as well as the 16th and 18th. Another operator will be on the island to shoot the golfers at the 17th tee and also operate a slow-motion camera. Then there's the audio coverage of the ball hitting the water. (A total of 120,000 balls are fished out each year.) NBC will have 15 "splash mics" at the hole to specifically to record the sound. In total, 21 microphones will be used at the 17th.
New technology includes a "Protracer" that shows the fight of the ball. The "Green Grid" computer animation shows the direction a ball will roll when it hits a particular area of a green. NBC will employ 42 cameras in total.
Coverage today and tomorrow will be from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. EDT.
Hockey Night triple
With NBC Sports busy at Sawgrass, the CBC was able to get the scheduled times it wanted for the opening weekend of the NHL conference finals.
It received prime time tonight for the second game of the Dallas Stars-Detroit Red Wings series and tomorrow for the second game of Philadelphia Flyers-Pittsburgh Penguins.
Because of the proximity of Pittsburgh and Detroit, Hockey Night in Canada host Ron MacLean and commentator Don Cherry will travel back and forth between the two cities, covering three games in three nights.
They were in Pittsburgh last night for the first game of the Flyers-Pens series. This morning, they will fly to Detroit. And they will return to Pittsburgh tomorrow for the second game of that series.
-- The CBC has turned to sports for its Test the Nation series. MacLean and Wendy Mesley will be the hosts of the sports-themed trivia tester airing on May 25. Sports personalities and 240 contestants participated.
-- TSN's telecast Thursday of the first game of the Stars-Red Wings Western Conference final series was watched by 703,000 viewers, down 18 per cent from 860,000 for the first game of Anaheim Ducks-Detroit last year, which aired on a Friday, a less competitive night.
