The Golf Channel (TGC) "admits it got caught up in a
'Tiger Frenzy'" during Thursday's first round of the PGA
Tour's Buick Open, "devoting more time to taped replays" of
his early-day round than live coverage of the tournament's
leaders, according to Rob Brodie of the OTTAWA SUN. TGC
anchor Mark Lye "issued an on-air apology" to open Friday's
broadcast, stating, "Those of you that did tune in
(Thursday) may have felt like we overdid it a little showing
some taped play of Tiger Woods. That's usually not our
policy here. But today we're back to business as usual.
We're going to live golf." Brodie noted that TGC's first
live shot following the apology was of Woods (OTTAWA SUN,
8/12). ESPN's John Feinstein, on Woods after TGC aired the
taped coverage of him: "That's being bigger than the sport
and that's potentially dangerous" (ESPN, 8/13). USA TODAY's
Rudy Martzke gives the "Shank Award" to TGC for it's taped
Woods footage. TGC's Dan Higgins: "We went a little
overboard" (USA TODAY, 8/14). In Detroit, Kupelian & O'Hara
wrote, "Even Woods agreed that the live show should be the
attraction. To be honest, watching Thursday's Tiger-
dominated telecast made it look like he was on the second
round of a doubleheader" (DETROIT NEWS, 8/13). In Atlanta,
Prentis Rogers wrote that "at the top" of FSN's second-round
coverage, Peter Oosterhuis "apologized for Thursday's
telecast" because it "centered so much" around Woods that
"it offered no air time" of first-round leader Woody Austin.
Rogers: "While that was unfair to Austin, is there any doubt
Woods struggling to get a 70 was more compelling to viewers
than Austin shooting a 63?" (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 8/12).
CBS ANY BETTER? In Ft. Lauderdale, Randall Mell asked,
"How much difference does Woods make to a telecast? He
played in four of the first eight PGA Tour telecasts aired
by CBS this year. The Tigerless tournaments garnered an
average Sunday rating of 2.9. The Tiger events averaged
6.9" (SUN-SENTINEL, 8/13). CBS Coordinating Producer Lance
Barrow, on whether there is any "such thing as too much"
Woods: "If he's not part of the telecast or he's not part of
the tournament because he's not playing well, that is a
story. And we need to document that a little bit -- not a
lot" (Daytona Beach NEWS-JOURNAL, 8/13).
