David's No Goliath: W/Tiger Out Of Contention, Ratings Down

ABC's final round coverage yesterday of the 130th British Open earned a 4.6/14 Nielsen overnight, down 39% from a 7.5/21 last year. Saturday's third round coverage drew a 3.9/12, down 26% from a 5.3/16. This year's coverage had an additional hour on both Saturday and Sunday (THE DAILY). In Atlanta, Prentis Rogers writes that announcers Mike Tirico and Curtis Strange "came up big." Rogers: "It could be argued Strange had a major breakthrough, too, with his strongest work yet as an analyst. ... But more impressive was Strange's candor about Tiger Woods" (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 7/23). In L.A., Mike Penner writes, "As good as ABC's coverage was — and no U.S. network has a better golf host than Mike Tirico — the proceedings gained a distinct lift whenever Peter Alliss of the BBC stopped by for a bit of guest commentary" (L.A. TIMES, 7/23). In San Jose, Tim Kawakami writes that Tirico is the "best host in golf, classy and witty, and borrowing the BBC's Peter Alliss, as usual, gave honor to the broadcast" (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 7/23). But in N.Y., Richard Sandomir writes that ABC's final-round coverage "for three of its five and a half hours yesterday was an unnerving, discontinuous botch that could have driven anyone to turn it off. Commercial breaks seemingly came every five minutes, full leader boards were discussed too much, key golfers were ignored and story lines forgotten" (N.Y. TIMES, 7/23).

TIGER VS. DUVAL: In N.Y., Phil Mushnick: "ABC's coverage yesterday morning, after three days of showing every step Woods took, was relatively disinterested in Woods, its golf-wise staff understanding that Woods wasn't 'still in it'" (N.Y. POST, 7/23). USA TODAY's Michael Hiestand writes ABC "didn't have Tiger Woods in contention, or a tight finish. ... But in winner David Duval, it got a break: Duval, along with Woods [Annika Sorenstam and Karrie Webb], is in a July 30 made-for-TV matchup [on ABC]" (USA TODAY, 7/23).

TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT? Mushnick also wrote that there "has been some off-the-record grumbling" at CBS and NBC over the PGA Tour's new $850M, four-year TV deal, which starts in '03. ABC has been assigned three "Tiger Tournaments" — non-major events in which Tiger Woods usually plays — that "used to belong" to CBS and NBC. Mushnick: "Adding to the grumbling is the fact that Woods, a TV ratings machine, is now perceived as something of an ABC property, having recently signed an endorsement deal with Disney, which owns ABC" (N.Y. POST, 7/22).