ABC Got Its Wish When Woods Made It

Jack Graham, ABC golf producer, is one of the fortunate few whose cable company carries the Golf Channel.

So, while relaxing at his home in Summit, N.J., last weekend, he was able to watch and cheer Tiger Woods as he won the Disney Classic.

Graham’s main concern--as well as ABC’s--was that Woods finish in the top five at the Disney so he would qualify for the Tour Championship. Graham is producing the coverage that will be on ESPN today and Friday and on ABC over the weekend.

“After his 63 on Friday, it was pretty apparent Tiger was going to qualify,” Graham said.

Woods didn’t disappoint, shooting a 69 Saturday and a 66 Sunday on his way to victory.

Having Woods in the Tour Championship is just what ABC needs to compete with NFL football on NBC and Fox.

“If he’s in the last one or two groups on Sunday, I’d say he’s worth a rating point at least,” Graham said. “Bring on the NFL.”

Having Woods also makes Graham’s job a little easier. He doesn’t have to go looking for a story line.

This one is pretty obvious: Woods has won $734,794 in his seven tournaments as a pro.

“And considering where he finished in his first tournament in Milwaukee, he’s won almost all of that in six tournaments,” Graham said.

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The other big story in golf this week is Taylor Smith’s disqualification at the Disney for having an illegal grip on his putter.

Graham didn’t have to go far to get a rules interpretation. His wife, Kendra, is a rules expert for the U.S. Golf Assn.

“She was in Cleveland [on Sunday] for a golf school and when she called she said it’s right there in the rules, in black and white,” Graham said.

Graham empathized with Lennie Clements, Smith’s playing partner who showed the putter to officials.

“He had to report it because if he had attested Smith’s scorecard, knowing there was an infraction, he could have been disqualified too,” Graham said.

That aspect wasn’t reported on the Golf Channel.

Graham said he wasn’t sure how much of the disqualification story would be dealt with during the Tour Championship coverage.

“It didn’t really have an effect on the Tour Championship,” Graham said. “No matter what, Tiger was in and Taylor Smith was not.”

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Brent Musburger will be in the 18th tower at the Southern Hills County Club in Tulsa, probably with Peter Alliss.

Steve Melnyk and Mark Rolfing are the other tower commentators, Bob Rosburg and Judy Rankin the on-course commentators, Frank Hannigan an essayist and Jimmy Roberts a reporter-interviewer.

ABC’s team could use some beefing up. In a survey in the August issue of Golf Digest, ABC was voted the worst golf network, finishing behind, in order, CBS, NBC and ESPN.

In the story accompanying the survey, Golf Digest’s Peter McCleery wrote, “As for ABC, its negative rating is again explained in two words: Brent Musburger. He singularly helped drag down ABC. No other announcer provokes such a negative reaction.”

Graham takes a different view. “I think the criticism of Brent has been unfortunate and unfair,” he said. “He’s shown tremendous improvement. I’ve never met a guy who works harder. . . . At the same time, we’re cognizant that we’re viewed as still struggling by the public.

“One thing I know; the players appreciate Brent. Tom Kite came up to me not too long ago and specifically said how much the players appreciate that Brent is always coming out to the the practice tee, that he’s always around the players talking to them.”

NBC’s Johnny Miller finished first in the “best analyst” category of the Golf Digest survey, getting 35% of the votes.