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Sports Watch

By Bill Kwon

Friday, February 11, 2000

GOLF WATCH

KGMB made Tiger’s big
comeback its late-late show

OH, no. CBS is televising the Buick Invitational this weekend as Tiger Woods tries to make it an incredible seven victories in a row.

I sure hope that Sunday's round isn't postponed until Monday. Then we'll never see another possible miracle finish by Tiger live and direct on KGMB-TV.

That station was among half the CBS affiliates across the nation who chose not to show the final round live last Monday, when Woods came from seven strokes back with seven holes to go to win the AT&T National Pro-Am at Pebble Beach for his sixth straight victory on the PGA Tour.

That little piece of golf history was ignored so that KGMB could show the more important stuff, like soap operas.

When the station finally aired the final 90 minutes, starting after Woods' amazing eagle-2 at the 15th hole, it was really close-your-eyes time - 11:40 at night.

How much interest was there in Tiger and last Monday's final round from Pebble Beach?

Well, more than 16 million hits were recorded on PGATour.com during a five-hour stretch that day, quadruple the usual amount, according to the Associated Press.

Among the cities that carried the coverage live were Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Kansas City, Memphis, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Salt Lake City.

Los Angeles and San Francisco televised the round on tape delay. As did Honolulu.

So let's hope the weather will be great in San Diego this weekend. Another tape-delayed showing of the final round on Monday just won't do.

GRAND SLAM FOR ONE?

What if they held the PGA Grand Slam of Golf at Poipu Bay Resort this November and nobody came but Tiger Woods?

Don't laugh. Woods is a 5-2 favorite to win the Masters and a 3-1 choice to win the U.S. Open, British Open and the PGA Championship. And a London bookie cut the odds from 200-1 to a mere 80-1 for Woods to win all four of golf's major championships this year.

Nobody has won those four majors in a single year. But if anyone can do it, Tiger would be the guy. The way he's going, who's to say he can't?

Anyway, to answer my own question, the PGA of America would have to come up with three alternates if Woods swept all four of the majors.

Since the PGA Grand Slam involving the four major winners began in 1990, there has been a need for an alternate only three times.

BUYOUT.COM.

United Airlines shouldn't feel so bad getting deleted from the 2000 PGA Tour media guide considering the Hawaiian Open's 34-year history was completely erased.

When Nike ended its title sponsorship of the developmental tour, the PGA Tour also didn't waste any time booting out Nike, either. Swoosh.

The same media guide points out that Carl Paulson, who played the entire 1999 season on the Nike Tour and topped the money list, is the Buy.com Tour player of the year even though the new sponsor just took over this year.

And how could Matt Gogel and Sean Murphy have won a record six Buy.com Tour tournaments in 1999. when that company only took over as sponsor this year?

Nike, and probably United, might not be offended by the instant oversight. But golf historians have every right to be upset by such a pandering disregard of a tournament's, or a tour's, past history.