Strange Mulls Full-Time Play

Curtis Strange has a cool job, if you don’t mind working weekends.

On Tuesday, he left the snow behind in his hometown of Williamsburg, Va., for the sunshine of Las Vegas, where he worked on his golf game for a few days.

Today, he’ll make the short flight to Los Angeles.

Saturday and Sunday he’ll be at Riviera Country Club to talk a little golf.

For this, he’ll get a nice paycheck from ABC, which is televising the Nissan Open for the first time since 1978, when it was known as the Glen Campbell L.A. Open.

Strange, working alongside Mike Tirico, is in his seventh year as ABC’s lead golf commentator. He still plays in a dozen or so tournaments a year. He considered entering the Nissan until he saw that 26 of golf’s top 30 players were in the field.

Strange won 17 PGA Tour events in his prime. He won the U.S. Open in 1988 and ’89. But the ’89 U.S. Open was his last victory. He fell out of the top 40 on the money list in 1990 and never reclaimed his spot among the elite.

These days, if he doesn’t fare well, and he usually doesn’t, it’s no big deal. He still ends on up television on the weekend if it’s an ABC tournament. It’s a good life, with little stress.

So what does Strange want to do? He is considering giving up his cushy television job and going back to the stress of serious full-time professional golf.

Strange, always the competitive type, wants to see if once again he can be one of the best among his peers.

Strange, who was the captain of the U.S. Ryder Cup team last year, will turn 50 on Jan. 30, 2005, making him eligible for the Champions Tour, formerly the Senior PGA Tour. He had elbow surgery in November and is feeling pretty good. He plans to join the tour, possibly on a full-time basis.

“If I can stay healthy for the next two years, I’m looking forward to it,” he said by phone from Las Vegas, just before going out to hit a few buckets of balls at Butch Harmon’s golf school. “The thought of it gets me excited.”

Strange talked about “giving it my all” and devoting 100% of his time to golf once he turns 50. But he also knows there may be another option, that he could continue working in television and still compete on the Champions Tour, although on a lesser scale.

That has worked for CBS’ Gary McCord.

“My contract with ABC is up next year, and maybe something can be worked out where I could play golf part-time and still do television,” Strange said. “We’ll just have to see.”

Full Circle

When Jack Graham was a junior at USC in 1977, he was a business major and not sure what he wanted to do with his life. Then he got a job as a runner for ABC at the Glen Campbell L.A. Open, and his life was set on a new course, so to speak. Graham continued to work as a runner at other West Coast golf tournaments ABC televised, then after graduation landed a job at ABC Sports as a production assistant. He worked his way up the ladder and since 1997 has been ABC’s lead golf producer.

With ABC having acquired the Nissan Open from CBS under the PGA’s new television contract, Graham is back at Riviera, where his television career began 26 years ago.

Only this time, instead of running errands, he’s running the show.

Golf Notes

Besides Tirico and Strange, the ABC announcing team working the final two rounds of the Nissan will be hole announcers Ian Baker-Finch and Peter Allis, and on-course commentators Judy Rankin, Steve Melnyk and Bob Rosburg. Baker-Finch, Allis, Rankin and Rosburg are also part of the USA Network early round coverage, which is being hosted by Bill Macatee and Peter Kostis.... ABC will also televise the Accenture Match Play Championships at La Costa next week, with ESPN handling the early rounds.

The USA Network’s new weekly “pregame” show, “PGA Tour Sunday,” this week will explore Hollywood’s fascination with golf movies, such as “Caddyshack” and “Tin Cup.” Also featured will be Grammy winner Kenny G, playing golf at TPC Sawgrass with host Fran Charles, and Esteban Toledo, who has a foundation that benefits kids. The show airs every Sunday at 11 a.m. (8 a.m. on DirecTV).... Jim Nantz and the entire CBS golf announcing team, along with producer Lance Barrow, were in Los Angeles Monday and Tuesday. No, they hadn’t forgotten that ABC had taken over the Nissan. They were in town to film some CBS golf promos.

Who Needs Shaq?

TNT added Tuesday night’s game between the Lakers and Houston Rockets to its schedule in order to show Yao Ming going up against Shaquille O’Neal for a second time. Even though Shaq didn’t play, it was a good move. TNT got a 2.3 cable rating (a 1.8 for all households), which is the network’s highest regular-season NBA rating since it got a 3.1 for the Rockets at the Lakers Feb. 5, 1999.

In Los Angeles, TNT got a 3.5 rating for all households, and that came close to matching the 3.7 the game got on Fox Sports Net.

Short Waves

Michael Jordan makes his first appearance on ABC Sunday at 9:30 a.m. when the Washington Wizards play host to the Dallas Mavericks.... Channel 9 basketball analyst James Worthy will turn 42 Thursday. To commemorate his birthday, Channel 9 will pass out fans featuring Worthy’s face to everyone attending that night’s Laker game against Detroit at Staples Center.... The NBA TV channel is now being carried by only DirecTV and the Dish Network. Media Week reported it was taken off digital cable this month because, with live game coverage and high-definition telecasts being added, the league wants to renegotiate its subscriber fee with cable companies.

College Sports Television (CSTV), a new channel devoted exclusively to college sports, signs on Sunday with coverage of a women’s basketball game between Notre Dame and Connecticut. But the channel, which officially launches April 7, is not yet available in Los Angeles. So far it is available in only seven cities.... Kareem Abdul-Jabbar makes his debut as a CBS commentator Saturday on Mississippi State at Kentucky, but that game is not being shown on the West Coast.... SLAMBALL will return to TNN this year and a regional tryout will be held Tuesday, beginning at 9 a.m., at the North Weddington Recreation Center in North Hollywood. A final national tryout will be held two days later. Details: (818) 972-0987 or www.slamball.net.

More Joe and Doug

The “McDonnell Douglas Show” on KSPN (710) is now starting at 3 p.m. instead of 4, meaning listeners get four hours of Joe McDonnell and Doug Krikorian. It’s not that the public was clamoring for more of those two but rather an earlier start time was needed because soon Angel broadcasts will be preempting the latter part of their show.

The show with Todd Donoho and Dave Stone that precedes “McDonnell Douglas” is now on from 1-3 p.m. It also has a new name, “ESPN Gameday with Todd and Dave.”

Boosting Soccer

Steven Cohen and Nick Geber, co-hosts of “World Soccer Weekly,” now heard Mondays, 8-11 p.m., on KMPC “The Ticket” (1540), are doing their part to generate interest in international soccer in the U.S. They have partnered with the English champion Arsenal Football Club to bring the Premier League and Football Assn. (FA Cup) trophies to Southern California. They’ll be on display at the Fox and Hounds Pub in Studio City March 8 at 7 p.m. and the Ross Snyder Recreation Center in Los Angeles March 9 at 11 a.m. Details: www.worldsoccerweekly.com.