With Few Very Notable Exceptions, ESPN Excelled In Its First Full Open

Like they are in many areas, ESPN blazed a new trail this week from Scotland.  By airing four full rounds of the Open Championship from St. Andrews, it became the first cable outlet to carry full coverage of a men's major golf championship.  The Worldwide Leader already broadcasts portions of the Masters and US Open, but this was a new undertaking.  Not only was ESPN going to have the pre-cut rounds, they were going to get the live shot of the championship putt.

The network gave the Open Championship the full court press.  Per usual, the flagship SportsCenter program aired from the Old Course.  Of course, other platforms like ESPN Radio diverted people to the Open as best they could. The network even took the step of offering the BBC's coverage of the Open on their ESPN3.com platform.  The typical knock on ESPN's coverage of singular events is that they inundate potentially hostile audiences with overkill coverage of their vested interest.  ESPN did so again for the Open Championship, but fortunately for golf fans, it was not only done for a sport often neglected but well-executed.

It became clear that Paul Azinger had some kind of influence upon the proceedings.  ESPN created a pod system with broadcaster-analyst teams that were designed to have particular chemisty and rapport.  The lead team of Mike Tirico and the aforementioned Azinger harkened back to the former all star ABC Sports trio of these two and CBS talent Nick Faldo.  Scott Van Pelt sat with his normal major compadre, two-time US Open champion Andy North.  The other multiple US Open winner, Curtis Strange, as well as '73 British Open champion Tom Weiskopf split disembodied time between the teams.  Over the weekend, Terry Gannon was stationed with Tom Watson, who has made a nice addition to the team when he isn't busy trying to rewrite history books.

By and large, the strategy worked.  Tirico has evolved over the years from SportsCenter anchor into a top notch live announcer.  Tirico fully understands the pacing of the game and is thoroughly organized.  He is a consummate professional who is adept at keeping the full cast of characters - in booth and on course - involved in the conversation.  Simultaneously, he is able to corral Paul Azinger, who sometimes needs guidance and just a tinge of extra professionalism.  Zinger is only in the booth once per year now for an extended period, so the rust was evident.  At the same time, it was that raw nature of his broadcast style that made him appealing in the first place.  Tirico knows that and kept the right balance.

Van Pelt and North have been paired together for years for a resaon.  They have a natural chemistry.  SVP is a natural golf fan and enthusiast, coming from his Golf Channel roots.  He gives the proper respect and tone for these types of events, but can quickly become the tier one SportsCenter voice when in the right setting.  Van Pelt has a curiosity about the sport.  At the same time, he is enough a personality of force that he can inject humor and candor in the same moment, almost Alliss-esque in that way.  

The conversational style that Van Pelt has with North maximizes what the former Open winner brings to the telecast.  Not an Open expert, or really in touch with today's PGA Tour players, North does still offer a fundamental understanding of the rigors of major championship golf.  He communicates it almost in a colloquial way, bordering on folksy at times but in a good way.

Strange and Weiskopf - the men on Analyst Island - struggled.  Like Azinger, these men are rarely involved in calling golf.  Strange is brought in for other ESPN engagements, but has been panned for years in his capacity as analyst.  Strange simply makes too many mistakes, too many broad statements that do not further the conversation, and holds back the rest of the team.  In almost any other setting, Weiskopf would not be a fit.  He is far too quiet for a man of his experience and seems to say just enough for anyone to remember that he is on the team.  What he says, though, is amusing and interesting.  His laissez faire attitude on the mic really does jive well with the whimsy of the Open Championship.  Having him on the call of Miguel Angel Jimenez's ricochet at the Road Hole just made sense.

On course, Rocco Mediate - fresh off of breaking up with Callaway Golf - provided analysis.  Judy Rankin did the same in her mercurial style.  The commentary was helpful, not too instrusive.  Much of the golf spoke for itself and both knew when to keep quiet while allowing the boom mics to pick up the real action of the tournament.  

Tom Rinaldi and Wendy Nix did a suitable job in their role of interviewers.  They split time well across the many on-air hours for the network.  Rinaldi is the harder-hitting of the two, with clear force and a feeling of confidence in talking with any player.  It seems like ESPN hopes Nix can do the same thing, but across many sports.  She shows the potential to get there in time and watching some tape of Rinaldi's largely acclaimed five minute rush interview with Woods pre-Masters could expedite the process.

Throughout the week, a less constant group of contributors played roles in the telecast.  As has become tradition, BBC stalwart Peter Alliss joined the telecast for a can't miss hour when not being heard on the Interweb.  Alliss is the Vin Scully of golf brodcasting.  The man could air the entire Open by himself and no one would have complained.  (Also, this column would be much shorter.)  Because of his legend, it is a tease to have him for a mere hour of the show.  Considering that ESPN had 41 hours of coverage of the championship, less than 10% of it with Alliss is like having just the foam of a Boddington's.

Current European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie stopped by with delightful insights.  Monty has typically been the butt of many foot-in-mouth jokes over the course of his career, but he was thoughtful, honest, and engaging wearing the headset.  When his playing days are through - and his Open finish may indicate that is near - he could become a fantastic analyst.  Sure, he might enter Ben Wright territory, but that would not be the draw for the Scotsman.

Having Tom Watson in the booth was mild.  His lime green Sunday shirt was loud, but his role was not nearly prominent enough.  The runner-up of last year's Open and five time champion should have a bigger place at the table.  Instead, he seemed relegated to the Magic Wall that ESPN bought to presumably show the outline of the course and allow Watson to play meteorologist with wind direction.  Watson has so much more to offer and, in future engagements, hopefully he has the right space to share his stories.  Watson needs to be encouraged to speak up more, like he has about Tiger Woods in public, but without the edge.  Honesty works for Watson.  The humble routine has him buried among TV voices who are just begging him to shout a little.

The talent low of the week - again - was Rick Reilly.  Since signing with ESPN, Reilly has struggled to find his place.  Is he a print guy anymore?  Kind of, but the phenomenon replaced by Bill Simmons, then Will Leitch, has devolved into a shadow of his former self.  Reilly has been asked to convert the prime rib version of his writing into essayist work in golf, probably because the average golf viewer still recalls his glory days.  Reilly quickly dismissed Oosthuizen's chances going into the weekend.  He said he was rooting hard for John Daly. (Who isn't?)  The essays were contrived and seemed to lack a real emotional connection with the topic and the audience.  The Open has such a depth of history that there is no need for easy jokes, and golf has such a niche audience that it is almost insulting to offer such cursory analysis.  Jack Whittaker, Reilly is not.  Rich Lerner, Reilly is not.  As though Bristol was beaming Nielsen Portable People Meter results to Scotland in real time, Reilly was mercilessly moved to the tail end of the weekend telecasts or extricated altogether.  He was the only reason the clicker came out all weekend. 

ESPN avoided a potential disaster by keeping Chris Berman far, far away from St. Andrews.  He has never been a part of the ABC coverage of the Open, so it was not surprising to see him absent.  With MLB all-star festivities so close, Berman was unlikely to go to California for the Home Run Derby only to turn around and fly to Scotland just a week later.  It appears that the network is committed to his role in the US Open, but have left him off of coverage of the other golf majors.

If the network wants to bring a writer into the booth, bring in Jason Sobel.  He is not often in front of the camera, but the guy knows his stuff and, frankly, could be one of those guys that has real crossover potential in the game.

The people aside, ESPN employed some clever tactics to make the vagaries of links golf come alive for the less educated (read: geeky) golf viewer.  A live camera with technology to track the flight of the golf ball at the Road Hole showed the legendary shot over the Old Course Hotel in a whole new way.  Viewers could quickly gather if the strategy paid off for a player on the lengthened hole.  Constant wind maps of the course, along with the aforementioned Watson-guided Magic Wall, oriented viewers to the course and the lay of the property relative to the sea.  With how frequent the wind changed at the Old Course, the production communicated the changes well.  

The golf action was frequent.  It was a good mix of studio analysis and the Open itself.  When long delays inherent to links golf chopped up play, the network went to other storylines.  The breadth of players showed by the network was a delightful change.  Yes, Woods got his time, but Jin Jeong did too.  The comebacks of Fowler and McIlroy from disatrous rounds were a highlight.  Tom Lehman was not forgotten.  The network used the full complement of stories to make best use of a lot of dead air from the final groups on Sunday.  When Oosthuizen was running away with the championship, the players that were also-rans to the South African's celebration had their proper due.

Grading the championship for the Worldwide Leader, the full package earns a solid B+, if not an A-.  There is a reason that the R&A was sold on ESPN.  Initially, it may have been the multiplatform distribution network and the incessant attention paid to Bristol's vested interests.  When the cameras rolled, though, the network largely broadcast the championship with the right mix of talent, technology, and theater.  The team could clearly benefit from being leaner in several places, but the end result was an admirable first attempt at sharing the World's Open with the globe.