Kelly Tilghman's Getting the Tiger Rub
by Ryan Ballengee on Mar 23, 2010 8:00 AM EDT
in Golfiness
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PrintKelly Tilghman. What's your first thought about her? In the last 36 hours or so, it probably is that Tilghman is one of two people that has interviewed Tiger Woods since his morning after Thanksgiving crash. Not much about anything else, huh?
(Even if you have your preconceived notion of Tilghman, run through this with me.)
In the day since the interview, seemingly no one has capitalized more on the Woods interviews than Tilghman. She spoke with Devil Ball Golf, was on the Dan Patrick radio show today, was covered extensively by her own network after the interview, and will surely appear other places.
The interview with Woods is giving her the Tiger Rub. Similar to the Colbert Bump, Tiger Woods has quickly catapulted Tilghman's reputation positively in a way that Mediaite might even want to consider rating her. Could this be the reason that Golf Channel selected her to do the interview with Woods?
Surely, Tilghman's friendship with Woods was a factor. How could it not have been? Above every other on-air talent that was on the bench, Woods only has a relatively real relationship with her. She narrated a rather creepy Gatorade commercial of his. His video game has play-by-play by her. They've met. Out of anyone that could talk to him, she was the most likely to elicit significant and potentially revealing responses. Sure, Tiger didn't let any cats out of the bag, but she was able to extract more information from Woods - again, relatively speaking to a Bobby at Buckingham Palace - than ESPN's Tom Rinaldi did in places.
Tilghman's role as interviewer increased her profile. Quietly, Tilghman's on-air role has been changing at Golf Channel. She has shifted back into the role as Orlando anchor that earned her the job as lead announcer on the network's PGA Tour coverage. From the start, she was trounced by critics of her style and handling of the job of quintessential moderator.
Golf Channel indicated to me last year that Tilghman would be spending more time in the studio. Now she is. While she may not be the best interviewer in the world to some, that is a skill that can be honed. Not too often will Tilghman be given five minutes under any circumstance to talk to any golfer. In a less tense situation, she would perform better. The thing now for Golf Channel is to provide her that opportunity. After the public reaction to how she handled the Tiger quickie, Golf Channel & Kelly Tilghman could be working together to ensure their biggest investment successfully emerges into a new phase in her career.
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Wow – I think you are VASTLY overestimating the reaction to this “interview”. It’s natural that she would get a number of requests for other interviews since there were only two “interviews” done…and frankly, the ESPN “interview” was pitiful at best.
Tilghman is known as a Tiger Woods bud…sort of. She isn’t a member of the Woods inner circle, but she’s a half step above even Dougie, who resides firmly up Tiger’s rectum.
She knew the questions she was going to ask – so she was basically Barrack Obama reading off of a teleprompter. (sorry Kelly – I know even you don’t deserve that comparison – it wasn’t intended as an insult – just an illustration). What she did and ESPN did was prove that anybody could have been sent to talk to Tiger that day…and Rinaldi should NEVER be allowed to do another interview of any importance. If there has ever been an example of gender switching – Tilghman was definitely more composed (talking to her “friend”) and masculine sounding – and Rinaldi sounded like a cross between Dr Phil and Oprah. How embarrassing for ESPN.
Sending Tilghman back to the studio wasn’t a promotion. It was FINALLY an admission by xxx Golf Channel that she is HORRIBLE at live TV…which makes her equally as HORRIBLE at doing interviews. She used to do conversation shows like the 19th Hole…and they were awful. (Craig Kann and Todd Lewis have continued to prove that it’s just a bad show idea)
Tilghman has one good position at xxx Golf Channel – as a talking head reading the news on Golf Central. She has a nice face, a bright smile, and she can read. Past that, she adds nothing to the network.
xxx Golf Channel management needs to figure out what these people are good at and shuffle things around to get them doing what they do best to improve the broadcasts. If you want interviews – call Steve Sands or Stephanie Sparks – NOT Tilghman. They are much more conversational than Tilghman.
Tilghman will not be hired to ESPN or any other major or larger network to replace anybody….ever. She is too manly sounding…she is not good at conversation and interviews. What she has going for her is longevity at xxx Golf Channel. That’s about it…and that pretty smile…and she helps keep the government and ERA people off the back of xxx Golf Channel.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
I thought Rinaldi did a great job. I mean, 5 minutes is a TOUGH interview. Really tough. You might get to ask 7 questions in 5 minutes. They rattled off some dozen each.
Find me! Email: ryan@thegolfnewsnet.com, Twitter: http://twitter.com/waggleroomryan, or Facebook: http://facebook.com/waggleroom.
by Ryan Ballengee on Mar 23, 2010 10:22 AM EDT up reply actions
Be serious. A 13 question interview should last at least 20 minutes with conversation and follow ups. Five minutes with 13 questions could be done with a multiple choice test put in front of him. The questions were not off the top of their heads. Five minutes just reading questions off a sheet isn’t difficult.
It’s not the number of questions that made Rinaldi’s interview so bad – it was the attitude and voice he did it in.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
You mean like...
…the deferential near-apology he spewed out before asking the last (or nearly last) question?
by Double Eagle on Mar 23, 2010 10:52 AM EDT up reply actions
Yes ! And how about the Roy Firestone, near whisper the next to last and last questions ? “why did you get married ?”, and “how do you reconcile what you’ve done with that love ?” I almost fell off my chair laughing at those.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
Ridiculous questions in that forum, but I can’t help wondering about the marriage question myself. I can’t count how many people I’ve spoken to that could care less that he was sleeping with every woman with a pulse, but their reaction is, “why did he bother getting married?”
Regardless of my personal curiosity, those interviews were nothing but fluff and were just about a total waste of my time. Tiger did OK, but after the playing field was rigged sufficiently, that wasn’t hard.
by Double Eagle on Mar 23, 2010 11:02 AM EDT up reply actions
The playing field has been set since shortly after this started. The man said “this is between Elin and me – it’s private – I will not answer questions about it.” At that point – any reporter who asks a question about it is an idiot, knowing how tight lipped Tiger has been about his private life.
You’re dead on – the “interviews” were a waste of time.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
I thought that those were totally valid questions. I know I uttered that one to myself a few times.
Find me! Email: ryan@thegolfnewsnet.com, Twitter: http://twitter.com/waggleroomryan, or Facebook: http://facebook.com/waggleroom.
by Ryan Ballengee on Mar 23, 2010 11:11 AM EDT up reply actions
In a longer format, I can see those things coming up. But if the interviews are going to center around the controversy (as opposed to solely on his game or the Masters or whatever), and with only 5 minutes allotted, then I want to see him pressed on stuff like exactly how he crashed his car, was he impaired, were payoffs made, etc.
Like CG said, just about everything he said was predictable ahead of time. The one thing for me was his admission that he’s a little concerned about what his reception will be at Augusta. We all know that anyone would be concerned, but I’m surprised that he actually said it.
Beyond that, there was just nothing of substance. I don’t have a problem if he doesn’t want to discuss the private life stuff. I totally get that. But I would have had more respect for the interviews if he just told them up front that he wanted to talk golf because he’s got nothing to add to the personal stuff. Allowing any questions under the guise of a somewhat candid, though brief, interview is sort of a joke.
by Double Eagle on Mar 23, 2010 11:28 AM EDT up reply actions
He WAS asked – and he deflected to the police report – the rest was “private”. More questions would be wasting time.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
I know, but in a more adversarial interview, he would have been pressed with follow-ups. Crashing a car or being impaired while driving are not private matters, so he doesn’t get a pass. I know he has legal issues to worry about with respect to that and can’t really say anything, but he deserves to be pressed on those things. Even if it’s probably going to be a fruitless endeavor.
The rest of the stuff, OK, private is private. Still, a skilled interviewer would come from different angles to try and dig a little and maybe get some information.
by Double Eagle on Mar 23, 2010 11:41 AM EDT up reply actions
Ok – one question – what would be the point of an adversarial interview ? The only law he broke was a traffic law – the rest of this is personal. If you pick a fight with Tiger, you’re only going to get cut off or face a string of “that’s between Elin and myself” answers.
I’m trying to think of a skilled interviewer who would actually get anything in 5 minutes…or half an hour…or an hour…or a WEEK if the guy is going to say “that’s personal between Elin and myself”…which is his absolute right. Asking the same question 40 different times isn’t what I call skillful.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
Maybe that's true
And if it is, then why even do the interviews? Those things served no one but him.
by Double Eagle on Mar 23, 2010 1:21 PM EDT up reply actions
To pull that thread further...
As an interviewer, even if you’re not going to get anything, you at least give the impression that you tried, instead of appearing like you’re part of his PR staff.
by Double Eagle on Mar 23, 2010 1:36 PM EDT up reply actions
EXACTLY !!
Which is why CBS screwed up. They tried to pull the old whiny “if we can’t have our way, we’re taking our microphone and going home” ploy.
They missed by that much ! (lol)
What they should have done was say, “he’s not going to give any answers we haven’t already heard, our reporters are better served somewhere else,” and put it back on Tiger’s head. Then again, by taking the blame, maybe Tiger will talk to our people at the Masters ! (curling up into a little ball and rocking back and forth) :-) (just my opinion)
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
I don’t mind that CBS said no, but I don’t know how much kudos they deserve for it. Good for them believing in a standard, but that’s about as far as it goes for me.
Find me! Email: ryan@thegolfnewsnet.com, Twitter: http://twitter.com/waggleroomryan, or Facebook: http://facebook.com/waggleroom.
by Ryan Ballengee on Mar 23, 2010 1:51 PM EDT up reply actions
cudos ? none
That’s what I was saying – they turned it down the wrong way. They weren’t believing in a “standard” – they were whining because they didn’t get what they wanted.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
IF
It was me or you or anyone but Tiger, we would have ended up with a lot more than a 164.00 damage ticket and I’m sure a full investigation of what really happened would have been in order and we would have ended up in court. JMHO
"pain is only weakness leaving the body"
Court, you missed the obvious..
the GC should get her a boob job to go with the smile, than she will fit in with the other 2 hotties they just hired…I don’t mind the deep voice, In fact, I kind of like women with bourbon vocal cords….jist sayin.,…STUB
Stub......
Leave it to you to say “out loud” what everyone else is thinking!!! lol lol
The Saints ARE the SUPER BOWL CHAMPS....WHO DAT!
EM, I have very
short thrift with any of this “politically Correct” B>S> I equate that with people who cannot tell the truth or intentionally want to deceive…re: Politicians usually….When I ran my companies, I spoke PLAIN OL AMERICAN ENGLISH so that everyone heard the same thing, and there was no doubt about what was said… And, because I owned the companies, if the recipient of the speech didn’t like it, “there’s the door don’t let it hit ya in the buttocks on the way out” Over 1200 people, and everyone knew where everyone else stood and more importantly, WHY…One thing I might add, along with the others, the GC might also spring for a decent wardrobe….STUB
You da man!
I’m really looking forward to coming over to Big D and playing a round with you.
The Saints ARE the SUPER BOWL CHAMPS....WHO DAT!
perfect!
your description about Tilghman is spot on. Terrible at live golf coverage and terrible with interviews. Reading a teleprompter, she can do that and she should stick with that.
by Fortune favors the brave(s) on Mar 23, 2010 12:39 PM EDT up reply actions
oh...
…that is one of the best headlines you’ve ever come up with ! TOO funny !! :-)
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
I’m glad you liked it – just seemed so obvious!
Find me! Email: ryan@thegolfnewsnet.com, Twitter: http://twitter.com/waggleroomryan, or Facebook: http://facebook.com/waggleroom.
by Ryan Ballengee on Mar 23, 2010 10:23 AM EDT up reply actions
How exactly was anyone going to get anything in
5 minutes?
Every Journalist knows that you won’t get any in-depth response standing up and in 5 minutes or less
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