CBS Rides Tiger’s Tale to Huge Ratings

The Tiger watch continues.

Tiger Woods has single-handedly made golf the No. 1 sport on television these days.

Golf made CBS a winner last Sunday with an 8.0 national rating for the final round of the Buick Invitational. The NBA All-Star game on NBC got a 6.9, its lowest ever.

In Los Angeles, where the Lakers rule, the All-Star game beat the golf, 9.2 to 8.5, but the national numbers are what count.

The women’s finals of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships on ABC Saturday night got a 7.7 national rating.

The 8.0 is the highest rating for golf other than the PGA Championship and the Masters since the final round of the Bob Hope Classic got an 8.3 in 1985.

CBS doesn’t expect the interest in golf to drop off much now that Woods’ winning streak is over at six.

“The momentum Tiger has built is still there,” said Lance Barrow, CBS’ coordinating producer of golf. “Now everyone wants to see if Tiger can start a new streak, like Byron Nelson did.”

LAKERS VS. GOLF

NBC counters the final round of the Nissan Open on CBS with an NBA doubleheader Sunday, featuring the Lakers at Philadelphia in the second game at 2:30 p.m.

What makes this matchup particularly interesting is that viewers get a chance to check out the new 76er tandem of Allen Iverson and Toni Kukoc.

A plus for L.A. viewers is that the game is live. Four of the six games on the current Laker trip are being shown delayed by Channel 9.

During halftime of NBC’s first game on Sunday, Portland at Sacramento, Hannah Storm’s taped interview with the widow of Bobby Phills will be shown.

Storm said: “It’s hard to imagine what she is going through. She met Bobby when she was 14. Her children, a 3-year-son and 1-year-old daughter, have given her strength.”

On Saturday, Rasheed Wallace is Storm’s interview subject, and viewers will see a different side to the rough-and-tough Trail Blazer.

“He’s an interesting, devoted family man whose idol is Andre Agassi and who is into Egyptian culture,” Storm said.

THE EARL OF GOLF

Earl Woods, father of Tiger, has been keeping a low profile, mainly because of health problems. He has had two open-heart surgeries and battled prostate cancer for a year.

He resurfaces on tonight’s edition of “Extra” on Channel 4 at 7. Reporter Rick Schwartz went to Woods’ home in Cypress, the home where Tiger was reared, to interview Earl.

Of his battle with cancer, Woods says, “I came through it with flying colors. I’m back.”

Earl says he would like to turn his home into a Tiger Woods museum. Viewers will see the garage where a young Tiger learned to play golf, with a driving net still up, and Tiger’s old bedroom.

Of his son, Earl says, “He is nowhere near his peak. You’ve seen only the tip of the iceberg.”

THE LIGHTER SIDE

David Feherty and Gary McCord aren’t exactly David Letterman and Craig Kilborn, but their 15-minute golf highlight shows that run at 12:35 a.m., after Letterman and before Kilborn on Thursday and Friday nights during CBS golf tournaments, have a good mix of humor and serious golf.

The opening skits are sometimes a bit much, such as last week when Feherty and McCord dressed up as California Highway Patrol officers--they called themselves “DRIPS,” a takeoff on “CHiPS.” But nothing wrong with mixing in humor with highlights at that time of night. Yet there are serious moments too, such as a tribute to Payne Stewart from Pebble Beach.

Woods has been a regular on the show, even taking part in some of the gags, and that certainly helps the ratings.

CBS SAYS FAREWELL

CBS, which has televised the Daytona 500 since 1979 and helped turn it into one of the nation’s major sporting events with such innovations as in-car cameras, says goodbye to the race on Sunday. Fox and NBC begin alternating coverage next year, with Fox doing the 2001 race.

CBS executive producer Terry Ewert, formerly of NBC said, “When I worked at another network and we first saw the race cams over at CBS, I think every person at other networks were kicking themselves and saying, “My God, this is going to change the face of racing.’ ”

DODGER DAZE

KXTA (1150) plans to delay weekday spring training Dodger broadcasts until 5 p.m. when the games begin March 3. KWKW (1330) will delay Spanish-language weekday broadcasts until 4 p.m. . . . On most spring training telecasts, Vin Scully will be on both radio and television for the first two innings. Delayed broadcasts and simulcasts--gee, is this the Dodgers or the Lakers?

Channel 5 will televise five Dodger spring training games and Fox Sports Net 2 will show two. . . . Jeff Biggs does his first “Dodger Talk” show for KXTA today, 5-6 p.m. The more objective Biggs has replaced Dodger house man Geoff Witcher.

KXTA could use a boost from the Dodgers. In the last ratings book, the Dodger flagship station got a 1.2 share in L.A. in the demographic category of men 25-54. Sister station XTRA (690) of San Diego got a 1.5 share in L.A. in men 25-54, and got a 5.1 share in San Diego. . . . KCTD (1540) has named Nancy Cole general manager. Cole has a background is sales and helped launch KXTA.

SHORT WAVES

Dan Hicks is NBC’s new golf host. He replaces Dick Enberg, now at CBS. Hicks is married to Storm. . . . TNT is devoting 16 hours to the Winter Goodwill Games, which began Thursday and conclude Sunday. The event at Lake Placid, N.Y., is an example of what the Time Warner-AOL merger means to consumers. The Winter Goodwill Games are being cross-promoted all over the place on AOL. . . . Even with America One having been eliminated, ESPN2 will televise the America’s Cup final, beginning with Race 1 between Italy and New Zealand today at 4 p.m.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

What Los Angeles Is Watching

A sampling of L.A. Nielsen ratings for Feb. 12-13.

SATURDAY

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Over-the-air Channel Rating Share Figure skating: U.S. Championships (night) 7 9.8 17 Figure skating: U.S. Championships (afternoon) 7 5.6 13 Golf: PGA, Buick Invitational 2 4.2 13 Boxing: U.S. Olympic trials 4 2.5 8 Hockey: Mighty Ducks at St. Louis 9 1.8 3 Auto racing: Daytona 500 qualifying 2 1.5 4 College basketball: Arizona State at Washington 7 1.2 3

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Cable Network Rating Share Pro basketball: All-Star Saturday TNT 1.9 4 College basketball: Massachusetts at Xavier ESPN 0.4 1 Horse racing: Santa Anita Today FSN2 0.4 1 Pro basketball: NBA Rookie Challenge TNT 0.3 1 Track and field: Tyson Invitational ESPN 0.3 1 College basketball: Oregon State at Stanford FSN 0.3 1 Boxing: Kostya Tszyu vs. Ahmed Santos SHO 0.2 0 Tennis: ATP Sybase Open FSN 0.2 0

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SUNDAY

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Over-the-air Channel Rating Share Pro basketball: NBA All-Star game 4 9.2 18 Golf: PGA, Buick Invitational 2 8.5 20 College basketball: UCLA at Syracuse 2 3.4 9 College basketball: DePaul at Cincinnati 7 2.5 5 Auto racing: Bud Shootout 2 1.9 5 Soccer: Gold Cup, Costa Rica-Canada 52 1.9 4

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Cable Network Rating Share Auto racing: Bud Shootout qualifying ESPN 0.7 2 Horse racing: Santa Maria Handicap FSN 0.6 1 Bowling: Empire State Open ESPN 0.5 1 Auto racing: ARCA Daytona 200 ESPN 0.4 1 Tennis: ATP Sybase Open FSN 0.3 1

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WEEKDAY RATINGS: MONDAY--ESPY Awards, ESPN, 1.4/3. TUESDAY--Lakers at Chicago, Ch. 9, 6.0/11. WEDNESDAY--Lakers at Charlotte, Ch. 9, 6.1/10.

Note: Each rating point represents 51,350 L.A. households. Cable ratings reflect the entire market, even though cable is in only 63% of L.A. households.