Text size:

NBC had right mix of prodding and praise

Neil Best

June 17, 2008

It takes a couple of months for the CBS sugar rush to wear off after the Masters, so mid-June is a good time for the acidic Johnny Miller and his NBC pals to enter the lives of casual golf fans.

Sure enough, Miller and Co. had moments during the U.S. Open that might have been frowned upon by the masters of Augusta National.

Take Sunday, when Miller likened Rocco Mediate to Tiger Woods' pool boy, and jokingly suggested guys named Rocco just do not get their name on a U.S. Open trophy.

Or yesterday, when host Dan Hicks followed a shot of Woods giving his daughter, Sam, a pacifier by saying, "Torrey Pines has been Tiger's binkie."

Neil Best Bio | E-mail | Recent columns

But for all their irreverence (at least by golf standards), the past five days moved even the NBC team to unashamedly acknowledge the obvious, with no need for forced sappiness: That this was one of the most dramatic events in recent golf history.

"I tell you, it's one of the great moments," Miller said. "In all the televised golf I've been able to cover, this is right at the very top."

And that was on the 15th hole yesterday, with more excitement to come.

It was so good, even a commercial was a highlight. After Woods and Mediate hit their tee shots on 18, NBC ran a Nike ad that ends with the voice of Woods' late father, Earl, recalling this:

"I'd say, 'Tiger, I promise you that you'll never meet another person as mentally tough as you in your entire life.' And he hasn't. And he never will."

The USGA often has been criticized - usually with justification - for insisting on anticlimactic 18-hole playoffs rather than settling ties Sunday. But the crowds turned out, and the players put on a show.

When the ratings are in, they likely will be huge for a weekday afternoon. (And they will not reflect the many who watched live at work on the Internet.)

The weekend numbers for the first scheduled nighttime Open were impressive. Saturday, the prime-time rating in major markets was 5.9 percent of homes, excellent for the lowest-rated night of the week.

Sunday, the telecast averaged 8.5 percent in major markets, the Open's third-best ever on a Sunday, with a peak of 13.5 between 8:30 and 9 p.m.

The top two markets were San Diego (14.0), the host city, and Orlando (13.0), Woods' home. New York (5.3) limped in 55th among 56 markets measured.

If ESPN (which had the first nine holes yesterday) and NBC were guilty of hyperbole, it was painting the veteran Mediate as an underdog of the magnitude of Francis Ouimet, or at least David vs. Goliath.

Rick Reilly - in a suit too formal for the occasion - said on ESPN yesterday an upset "would be Buster Douglas over Tyson. It'd have to be Titanic over iceberg, Falkland Islands over England."

Over the weekend, Miller was at his first-guessing best.

Sunday, he echoed Bob Murphy in questioning Woods' club selection and approach before his second shot on No. 13. (Bogey.) Then he questioned Woods' strategy before his second shot at 15. (Bogey.)

Early in the playoff, Miller jumped on Mediate's struggles, lamenting a poor shot on the second hole, then saying, "He has to make Tiger realize, 'Hey, I'm here to play, not to joke around."'

Mediate would prove that when he quickly erased a three-shot deficit after 10.

On No. 15 yesterday, Miller warned Woods' tee shot landed right of the fairway 85 percent of the time he has played Torrey Pines. Sure enough, it did.

Miller apologized for a Woods' curse after his tee shot on the 10th, shortly after NBC's coverage began. Later, Woods did it again, and NBC appeared to bleep him.

As Mediate tenaciously held on yesterday, Miller imagined what Woods might be thinking. "What's going on?" he said. "Three strokes better than Rocco, and now the guy is playing like me!"

Mediate did, for 89Â½ holes. After the players' tee shots on No. 18, Hicks said, "You're watching one of the greatest U.S. Opens in history."

Cue the Earl Woods commercial.

Cool.