Under Roy And Grabert, NBC Sports Delivers During The U.S. Open

There is a reason why NBC is so often considered the gold standard of golf coverage. Anyone who has ever doubted the network’s abilities needed only to watch the prime-time coverage and the Monday playoff win by Tiger Woods over Rocco Mediate at the U.S. Open from Torrey Pines. It was a virtually flawless broadcast.

NBC Sports Producer Tom Roy and Director Doug Grabert were in charge of all the coverage from Thursday through Monday, both on ESPN and NBC. Throughout the five days, their production team was focused on the return to competition of Woods after a three-month layoff because of knee surgery. Woods’ progress was followed closely as he limped and grimaced his way around the course.

But it was NBC’s adroit camerawork that helped tell the story for viewers. Take, for example, Saturday’s third-round coverage. On the 17th hole, Woods was left in the rough, but he popped the ball back onto the green with his wedge where it miraculously bounced, hit the flagstick and then landed in the hole for a key birdie during his run on Saturday. Roy and Grabert had the perfect replays of the shot, including one from the blimp giving a clear aerial view of how the ball rattled the pin and dropped straight down into the cup. This was quickly followed by two outstanding reaction shots that proved even Tiger knew that something extraordinarily lucky had just happened.

On the very next hole, the network used their NBCEEIT tool as Woods limped to tee off at the par-5 18th hole. This special slo-mo feature provided an extreme close up of Woods’ injured knee as he teed off. Viewers could appreciate the tremendous torque he placed on it as he hit his drive into the fairway.

While Woods was the main story, Rocco Mediate, the 45-year-old journeyman ranked 158th in the world, quickly became the second big storyline. He was leading the tournament on Sunday, and NBC provided viewers with insightful extras. Viewers picked up conversations with his caddie about club selection, distances and course strategy. It was insider access that really is a boon for viewers.

The graphics that NBC used were bright and easy to read. In the upper third of the screen was shot information, distance, player’s name and score. The full screen scoreboards had easy-to-read names, scores and holes completed.

One major complaint about the network’s golf coverage is that there are not enough leaderboard updates. While we understand the M.O. of trying to keep viewers tuned in, the network needs to understand that fans tune in and out of a broadcast frequently and they should be able to know who is winning. NBC could learn from ESPN, which has a scoreboard striped across the screen all the time. They have the leader on top of the top screen strip, and then they constantly run through the field alphabetically, a great tool for viewers to keep up if the TV sound is down or if they tune in late.

NBC Sports’ lead broadcast team of Dan Hicks and Johnny Miller provided quality observations throughout the weekend. Miller again proved that he is not afraid to criticize even the world’s No. 1 golfer, as he did on Saturday, when Woods hit his second shot on the 18th that landed him in the rough off the green, saying, “What was he thinking? If he just lofts it a bit left and plays it safe, he is on the green and playing for an eagle. I have no idea why he tried to come in the backside of the green. It was an unnecessary gamble.”

Miller also was prescient in predicting Woods gutting it out. He talked about that on the 17th hole on Saturday, saying, “I think we are going to see a Kirk Gibson-type finish here, but I am telling you if this wasn’t the U.S. Open, Tiger would be going home after this round.”

To me, the low-key Hicks is the perfect complement to the outspoken Miller. He nailed the moment perfectly when commenting about the putt that Woods made on the 18th hole on Sunday to force a Monday playoff, saying “When you’re Tiger Woods, they don’t wiggle out.”

After the weekend’s coverage, Roy and Grabert sealed the network’s nearly perfect work on the tournament by nailing the drama of Monday’s playoff contest. Perhaps the best moments were on the final two holes of the 19-hole playoff. On 18, the cameras focused intently on a confident Woods, who was able to a sink birdie putt to tie Mediate. Meanwhile, the tight camera shots of Mediate’s face showed the pressure as he made par to send the playoff to an extra hole. Hicks read the situation right, saying, “I think that things are beginning to slip. It looks to me that this Cinderella story is coming to an end.” With the camera on Mediate, Miller said, “The U.S. Open comes down to who handles the pressure best.” Again, the close-ups at the last hole told the story. Woods was in a zone as he sank the winning putt, while Mediate pushed his to the left as his luck ran out.

After his playoff win, Woods told NBC’s Bob Costas that it was the “greatest major victory of my career.” Miller followed up by saying, “This is the greatest U.S. Open in my lifetime.” In the end, it also might have been the best major that NBC Sports has ever covered.

Jim Williams is a seven-time Sports Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director and writer who lives in Baltimore. He will be reviewing sports programming occasionally for SportsBusiness Daily and SportsBusiness Journal. He can be reached at jameswilliams360@comcast.net.

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