Masters
considering extended TV coverage
CBS could get
an unprecedented chance to televise all 18 holes of the final round
of the Masters beginning next year.
Augusta National
Golf Club has long kept the front nine off television and has limited
coverage of the Masters to three hours, while most other golf telecasts
run four. The tradeoff: The network airs only four minutes of commercials
per hour, allowing it to show about as much golf as the typical
four-hour broadcast.
Things could
be changing thanks to the longstanding public outcry against limiting
coverage to just the back nine.
``It takes
us a long time to get around to making a decision,'' Augusta National
chairman Hootie Johnson said Wednesday.
Augusta National
has long felt that keeping the front nine off TV adds to the mystique
of the course. For most, a trip to the course is the only way to
see the first nine holes.
Last year,
some of the front nine was shown on TV when CBS picked up Vijay
Singh and David Duval playing the beginning of their weather-delayed
third round on Saturday.
But that was
hardly the wire-to-wire coverage that golf fans have grown to expect
from all the other tournaments. Johnson said coverage might be expanded
by an hour or 90 minutes for the final round.
``That's it,
by popular demand, on Sunday,'' he said.
TOMS TERRIFIC
A win to celebrate
or not?
Helped by a
hole-in-one on the third hole, David Toms shot 5-under par Wednesday
to win the traditional Masters par-3 tournament.
Of course,
winning this event isn't always a good thing. No winner of the par-3
tournament has ever gone on to wear the green jacket.
Toms beat Loren
Roberts by one stroke. A group of five - Franklin Langham, David
Duval, Jim Furyk, Greg Norman and Ben Crenshaw - finished at 3-under
in the nine-hole event.
Darren Clarke,
Scott Verplank and Chris Perry also had holes-in-one.
TIGER'S VIEW
The weather
is supposed to be good, and a few of golf's most impressive records
have already fallen this season, leading to some speculation that
Tiger Woods' course-record 18-under-par 270 could fall this year.
Not so fast,
says Mark Calcavecchia, who set the PGA Tour record for a 72-hole
tournament earlier this year, shooting 28-under-par 256 at Phoenix.
``This course
is so penal,'' Calcavecchia said. ``The difference between a good
shot and a bad shot is significant. That's why I don't think anyone
goes low here very often.''
Joe Durant
also set a record this year for a five-round tournament, shooting
324 at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. He's not as pessimistic as
Calcavecchia.
``I think it's
realistic any week,'' Durant said. ``If a guy gets a hot hand and
feels good, strikes the ball well, you can't ever say it can't happen.
The way guys play nowadays, it wouldn't surprise me at all. It might
surprise some people, but it wouldn't surprise the players.''
ADVICE FOR VIJAY
Along with
Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo is the only player to win back-to-back
Masters, in 1989-90. He said a change in mindset in the weeks leading
up to the 1990 tournament made the difference.
``I was trying
to defend for 11 months, then the last month before it, I said,
`Hell no, I'm going to go and win,''' Faldo said. ``I'm not trying
to defend, I'm going to go there, it's a brand new Masters, I'm
going to go and win it.''
He wound up
in a tie with Raymond Floyd, and beat him in a two-hole playoff.
``I kept telling
myself, `I can't give the jacket to Ray,''' Faldo said. ``It didn't
feel right. Getting into the playoff made me want to hold onto it
even more.''
TRADITIONAL THREESOME
For the second
straight year, Nicklaus is paired in the first two rounds with Arnold
Palmer and Gary Player. That might be a golf fan's delight, but
the Golden Bear hopes it doesn't become a Masters tradition.
``I like playing
with them, but I like to see some of the younger kids play, too,''
Nicklaus said. ``This kind of takes us out of the loop. And you
have to look at it from the other perspective. What about young
kids who would like to play with us?''
Nicklaus said
one of his biggest thrills came at the PGA Championship he won in
1971, when he played with Gene Sarazen, who was in his late 60s.
``Do I mind
playing it like this? No,'' Nicklaus said. ``That's not the issue.
It's an issue of tradition of the tournament. Rather than have it
become a tradition of the tournament, it would be nice to play with
young kids.''
NO DALY
John Daly wrote
Augusta National Golf Club a letter earlier this year, asking for
a spot in the Masters.
His five-year
exemption for winning the British Open in 1995 expired last year.
He sought an extension because he missed the 1997 tournament while
he was in an alcohol rehabilitation center and hoped to have that
year restored.
Request denied.
``It's tough,''
he said last week. ``I haven't played good enough to be in the tournament.
It kind of makes me feel the two majors that I did win don't seem
to mean anything to committees and stuff anymore. That hurts my
ego a little bit.''
Daly also won
the PGA Championship in 1991.
DIVOTS
The Masters
will show the starting ceremony live on its Web site at 8 a.m. Thursday.
Sam Snead, 88, and Byron Nelson, 89, will hit balls off the first
tee. Other Internet firsts: the trophy presentation, the interview
with the champion, and live play-by-play broadcast. ... Ben Crenshaw
was the last first-round leader to win the Masters. He did that
in 1984. Last year's first-round leader, Dennis Paulson, finished
14th.
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