Miller’s Comeback Is Overshadowed by TV Expertise

There are two things wrong with this week’s Nissan L.A. Open: (1) Johnny Miller is announcing rather than playing, and (2) there’s no cable coverage of the first two rounds.

Miller’s candor makes him the best golf commentator on television, but after his improbable victory at Pebble Beach last weekend, it would be better if he were playing again this week.

The victory gave Miller an automatic two-year qualifying exemption for all PGA tournaments, but he told NBC Monday that he had made a number of commitments this week, including one to announce the L.A. Open, and he planned to honor them.

Miller had played competitively only five times in four years before Pebble Beach.

He isn’t playing in the L.A. Open, but he says he will play in the Masters. And how does he expect to do at Augusta?

“Those greens will kick my butt,” he said.

You’ve got to like that candor.

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Golf fans have come to expect seeing the first two rounds of golf tournaments on either ESPN or the USA network.

About half of the 36 televised PGA Tour events get early-round cable coverage--including all of the big ones. USA did nine last year, ESPN seven.

The USA network televised the early rounds of the L.A. Open in 1993, but passed this year because of the February sweeps rating period. Entertainment programming generally gets higher ratings than golf.

A deal for ESPN to carry this year’s early rounds fizzled when a sponsor package couldn’t be put together to defray production costs, said John Evenson, the PGA’s vice president of broadcasting.

The L.A. Open is on NBC instead of CBS this year because of the Winter Olympics. But CBS--and USA--will be back in the fold next year, Evenson said.

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Miller and partner Jim Lampley will be joined by on-course reporters Roger Maltbie, Bob Trumpy and Dan Hicks for NBC’s weekend coverage of the L.A. Open.

Mike Ditka will also be on hand to offer tips on golf etiquette. Now there’s a twist.

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Radio talk: It started out as just another call to a sports-talk show. Nancy of Malibu was calling KMPC’s Joe McDonnell to talk about Rick Neuheisel, UCLA’s receivers coach who got passed over in favor of Bob Toledo for the offensive coordinator job.

Nancy said she thought Neuheisel got a raw deal, but then explained she might be a little biased because her last name was also Neuheisel. Turns out she was Rick’s sister.

“Rick feels as if he has been kicked in the stomach,” Nancy said. “He thought he would be at UCLA forever, and this is how he is treated.

“Today is Rick’s birthday, and how is he spending it? He’s teaching the offense to Bob Toledo.”

Nancy Neuheisel, a cheerleader at Arizona when Rick was a quarterback at UCLA in the early 1980s, went on to tear into Coach Terry Donahue, speculating that he didn’t promote her brother because he was afraid of him.

McDonnell had earlier said it was a no-win situation for Donahue. If he promoted Neuheisel and the Bruins won, then Neuheisel would get the credit. If they lost, then fans would want Neuheisel to replace Donahue.

Nancy Neuheisel agreed with McDonnell’s theory.

Did Rick know she was calling?

“No,” she said, “and he might not be too happy about it, either.”

That would seem to be a safe bet.