It was a gorgeous day for golf yesterday. Some lucky stiffs, part of a tournament record crowd of 46,000 plus at Congressional, got to enjoy some of it by following Tiger Woods, who shot a four under 66 to become the leader in the clubhouse.
By the end of the day, Woods was still on top of the leaderboard with a 10 under score that bested Rod Pampling by one, first-day leader Anthony Kim by two, and three ahead of Jim Furyk. Woods’s 130 mark also established a new 36-hole record at Congressional.
Tiger’s early tee time was the result of a rule on the PGA Tour. To try and make things fair for the entire field, the pros start out in the morning for Round One, and in the afternoon for Round Two, or vice versa.
From a fans’ and marketing point of view, it’s tempting to want this rule changed to where the marquee players tee off in the afternoon both days. This aspect of the tour, however, is probably not going to change. What will hopefully be looked at is the anachronistic coverage of a golf tournament. I mean, there it was, Tiger Woods, certainly the greatest golfer of our time, arguably the greatest athlete in the world, and a man just valued at $100M, making birdies and surging to the top in front of the huge throng.
And yet, only the gallery, whose cell phones and cameras are confiscated if they try to bring them on the course, was watching. All across the world, technology is breaking down barriers of communication and making the world smaller and smaller. But as Tiger made his move yesterday, his legion of fans and all others interested were shut out. No TV, no radio, just the live scoring graphics and some twittering by reporters.
I watched some of The Golf Channel’s coverage yesterday. At one point they finally showed some of Tiger’s highlights. But it was a mere tease, showing just two of his birdies.
The TV coverage turns to CBS for today and tomorrow. With Tiger in the lead and in the last pairing, no problem. Fans, the network, sponsors, and the media are in heaven.
But still, the producer in the booth calls all the shots. Maybe one day soon we’ll have pay per view with “The Tiger” package. For now, there’s still the frustration of knowing there are going to be days when the only Tiger birdies we’re getting, is the reporter’s tweets…
Note: Tiger’s earnings this week
will go to his Foundation.
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