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CBS'
Masters Crew Speaks Out By George Stahl Some of the items discussed by CBS announcers Jim Nantz and Ken Venturi and by Lance Barrow, CBS' coordinating producer of golf, in their half-hour conference call Tuesday.
(Lance Burrow) "The biggest thing for this tournament this year is the second cut [rough]. It defines the golf course, where maybe in years past it didn’t have the definition because they didn’t have the second cut. (Ken Venturi) "The rough, as we would call it rough, is 1 3/8 inches. You go over to the PGA Tour, and they try to go to four inches. The U.S. Open tries to go to five. .... It’s not a hindrance as much as it is defining the fairways of Augusta National." (Jim Nantz) "I think it’s fascinating for the golf fan out there who feels like, even though they have never been to this course before, they know every hole by heart. [The holes] will look a little bit different because, for the first time ever, they have defined the boundaries of the fairway here. So it will be interesting for a lot of golf fans and purists to see exactly how wide the fairway is at Augusta. In the past, there was no definition - everything was cut at the same level. "The changes on 15, where they’ve trimmed the mounds and planted trees, have added something to our broadcast. They have injected - if it’s possible - even more drama into the tournament. “That’s wonderful to have it back again. We’ll have guys in that 225 to 240 [yard] range, who again are going to be standing there - paralyzed by fear - trying to decide whether or not they want to risk it and try to knock it over the water and put it onto the green." "It won’t be easy for many players to clear the Eisenhower tree, and the tee shot must be precise. So 17 has been lengthened and strengthened considerably, and it becomes now a much, much harder and sterner test. "Most of them seem to think that the lead score will be about one shot higher. So in the end, we’re probably talking maybe four shots for the tournament. ... We might be seeing a champion’s score in the 280s aggregate range.” (Ken Venturi) "This is not the same course that [Tiger Woods] shot 270 on ... I don’t ever see 270 ever coming into approach again with what they are doing." (Jim Nantz) "For anyone who wants to suggest that these were all put into effect to try to prevent a Tiger Woods from winning here again or from anybody shooting Tiger-type numbers again, let me dispel that for just a moment. "These are not changes that make it harder for Tiger to win this golf tournament. As a matter of fact, I think it makes it easier for Tiger to win this golf tournament now because the changes actually favor the player who hits it longer. What it does, in effect, is it separates Tiger maybe even a little bit more from the field. "And, by the way, David Duval doesn’t have to apologize for his length either."
(Ken Venturi) “He’s in that position where he’s winning when he’s playing well and then last week he won when three players could not finish. So they know he’s there, and he’s presence will be seen. "I do like the way he conducts himself. They say he doesn’t have a personality, well they said that about Ben Hogan, but you can’t be both things. I like very much where he doesn’t show peaks and valleys, but once he has the victory, you see another side of David Duval. "I think he’s very good for the game."
(Lance Burrow) "We’re on the air at 3:30 [p.m. ET] on Saturday and 4 [p.m. ET] on Sunday. Depending on where they are playing golf, that’s where we start covering it. If we get a long rain delay, and they are on the first hole, we’ll be on the first hole covering it. It’s just the amount of time that we’re on the air, that’s what we cover. (Jim Nantz) "It’s get really tiresome, I know, for a lot of people who come here to broadcast this event, that question - or that idea - that we don’t show coverage on the front nine. I even saw it reported this week in Sports Illustrated. "It is so misrepresented to the public - this is not a tournament where we only show the back nine. We show whatever is available to us when we come on the air at four o’clock. Ever since I’ve been here - and this is my 14th Masters overall - we’ve had 14-hole coverage, if you will. Because we picked up play virtually every year wherever the last group is, and that’s normally on the fifth fairway. "The idea that we don’t do 18-hole coverage really is not accurate, and it kind of cheapens what we really do do. Because what we do here is we cover everything that’s available to us in the window that we’re given - and it’s often a lot closer to 18-hole coverage than it is nine-hole coverage." (Ken Venturi) “We do give 18-hole coverage because we show the highlights of how the players got to the positions. We don’t show all the players, but we show you how he got into that position where we start showing him." (Jim Nantz) It’s something that gives us all something to talk about or write about, and it especially sounds like it’s really a story when again it is portrayed inaccurately that we are only doing nine holes of coverage here. We are showing coverage of the fifth hole in, so what are we missing? Holes one through four? I mean, how many people out there are really losing sleep over the fact we don’t have coverage on one, two, three or four? "If there was rain delay, and say tee times got backed up by an hour and the lead group was on the first tee. Guess what? We’re going to have 18-hole coverage here. So it’s more a matter of the window than it is the holes."
(Lance Burrow) “That’ll be a question to talk to Augusta National about - that’s not really our decision.”
“Golf, over the last couple years, since Tiger [Woods] has come along, has blossomed to unbelievable heights. ... Now, you think of Davis Love III and Fred Couples as old guys." (Jim Nantz) "Boy, they’re going to be disappointed when they hear you said that.” (Lance Burrow) "I don’t think you ever adjust your coverage because of one certain player. You obviously hope that you have the best possible tournament and the best possible competition, not only in golf but in every sport you do on television. And you’re hoping the stars are there when it comes time to finish this day." (Jim Nantz) "We all know the ratings are an awful fickle thing to deal with. In the end, after it’s all washed out, this will be the most-watched golf tournament of the year. I don’t think that we’ll ever see numbers in the stratosphere of 1997, [Tiger’s win], but it’ll certainly do a fine number."
(Ken Venturi) "It’s the only major played on the same golf course every year. I think they have the tradition here that Bobby Jones still lives on. You know what to expect, they made a few changes ... but they don’t have any surprises here. Everybody knows what to look for. They have the great practice facility, the wonderful accommodations here and the golf course is always in excellent shape." (Jim Nantz) "I think the baseball purist would understand the same kind of thinking. For the golf enthusiast, golf, like baseball, pays such great respect to the tradition of its sport. I don’t believe there is any place other than St. Andrew’s Scotland that pays more homage to the rich tradition and history and heritage of the game than Augusta National." "For those of us who live in this country, I think it’s always been a goal, if you’re a passionate golfer, to somehow make your way to August National, either so that you see it in person as a spectator or to play it. To somehow get here, for the golfer, it’s the ultimate excursion." "I heard [Jack Nicklaus] say yesterday that whether it was 1959 or 1998, every time he has ridden in a car up Magnolia Lane, entering the grounds of Augusta National, it’s been just as exciting for him that feeling that overcomes any player when they arrive here. He’s had it every year. I think that’s part of what makes it special."
(Ken Venturi) “I thought it was great because he is a much better player than people give him credit for.” (Jim Nantz) "[After tracking him down through his wife,] we had a really, really great conversation about how much this meant to him. ... In his whole life he had really sought this kind of validation - that it was all worthwhile." "My reaction to Gary when he won it was I hope you enjoy it and savor it, but at the same time I hope you don’t enjoy it too much so that you don’t ever want to come back [to the broadcast booth] again. The fear is Gary has a game to win a whole lot of times out there." “Somehow I hope he can keep the balance to where we still have him on our team, but my fear is he’s going to win so many times that it’s going to be hard for him to stay away from competition." (Lance Burrow on McCord returning to The Masters) "In my mind, when I took over as coordinating producer of golf, we had a certain team in place and that’s what we have maintained over the last two years. We add Verne Lundquist this year, and [we’re] just going to keep it that way." Back
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