Golf, more than any other televised sport, provides viewers up-close, personal looks at athletes.
The cameras can follow a golfer from his tee shot through his picking the ball out of the cup. And along the way, viewers see a golfer’s face with a variety of emotions.
So it was during this year’s Masters, with Jordan Spieth, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson getting a lot of face time.
But the most up-close, personal scenes in this year’s tournament had nothing to do with championship play.
Late Friday, two-time Masters champion Ben Crenshaw ended his 44th tournament appearance with a round he’d rather forget.
But that was not the TV story.
After making a bogey on the 18th hole, the 63-year-old Crenshaw walked off the green, a smile gradually appearing on his face as he greeted Carl Jackson, his longtime Masters caddie (39 out of 44 Crenshaw appearances), who, because of health problems, was unable to carry Crenshaw’s s clubs during his two-day, 36-hole Masters finale.
ESPN provided a close-up view of the taller Jackson, attired in a white caddie outfit, wrapping his arms around the smaller golfer as an expression of the deep love between the two.
The golf weather gods added to this surreal, emotional drama. Clouds had appeared when Crenshaw approached the 18th green. Soft raindrops began to fall when the two embraced.
Crenshaw’s personal and competitive lives are the subject of “A Walk Through Augusta,” an hour-long Golf Channel special premiering at 8 p.m. Monday.
The documentary, using archival film and more recent tape, covers all facets of Crenshaw’s career, including his appearances at the Masters.
Ratings roulette. Saturday’s Masters coverage on CBS produced the highest Nielsen audience for third-round play since 2011, and the ratings were up 48 percent from last year.
According to Nielsen, viewership grew during coverage. An obvious question: How much of this gain was because of the positive play of Woods?
NCAA Tournament wrapup. As you may recall, I’m not a fan of three broadcasters working a live event in a booth or along the sideline.
And the CBS troika of Jim Nantz, Bill Raftery and Grant Hill really didn’t change my view.
Still, the trio made enormous strides from an awkward relationship early in the men’s tournament to mostly professional cohesiveness during Final Four play and the championship game.
Hill, a former Duke and NBA star, finally found his niche to meld in with Raftery’s effervescent style and Nantz’s old-pro broadcasting approach.
Look for the trio to return next year.
An announcing spotlight fell on Brian Anderson, Milwaukee Brewers baseball announcer, who had worked several previous tournaments. In addition to turning in workmanlike coverage in the early rounds, Anderson was excellent during the dramatic Elite Eight game between Kentucky and Notre Dame when he was the last-minute replacement for an ailing Marv Albert.
Noteworthy: The 2016 champ- ionship game will be on TBS rather than CBS as the networks begin yearly, alternating final-game coverage.
Longtime Denver journalist Dusty Saunders writes about sports media each Monday in The Denver Post. Contact him at tvtime@comcast.net.
“Never give up” an inspiration
A three-minute news clip sometimes provides the impact of a lengthy sports documentary.
This was the case Friday when the “NBC Nightly News” aired a report on the death of 19-year-old college basketball player Lauren Hill, whose battle against brain cancer had become an inspirational story across America.
The cameras deftly covered her “Never give up” philosophy as a human being and a player at Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati while also recording reactions to her death by family, friends and teammates.
Harry Smith, a former Denver TV and radio personality, provided an eloquent narration, recalling how Hill’s life and love of basketball impacted so many.
