One More Masters Hour Is Good Enough for Me
by Ryan Ballengee on Sep 22, 2010 9:36 AM EDT
in Pro Golf
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PrintThe folks down at Augusta National - i.e., Billy Payne - have decided there will be another hour of Masters coverage on Thursday and Friday next year. Instead of going from 4-7:30pm ET, ESPN will broadcast from 3-7:30pm ET.
Some complaints have been raised since the tablets came down from Mt. Sinai, but an extra hour at the Masters is a) progress by their standards and b) just enough to keep the Masters from getting boring.
In the age of day long coverage of the Opens and nearly endless coverage of the PGA Championship, the Masters remains shrouded in some degree of secrecy. On one hand, that's disappointing. The Masters is hyper-conservative compared to the other bodies that present majors, which leads to viewers who are spoiled with a full day of golf on their tele.
But, let me invite you to think for just one minute how brutal it is to watch too much golf. The happy hour with Chris Berman at the US Open is unwatchable. There are times during the Open Championship when it is just too much, not because of the golf, but because the announcers just need a break. (Announcer-lite hour, anyone?) The forced sense of heightened awareness that comes from the booths pitched around Augusta National can be a little much sometimes.
Maybe it's ok to not have to watch bad golf. At a minimum, a quarter of every major field has absolutely no chance to win. But with a bigger TV window to fill, either those guys get camera time, or we see way too much of fan favorite types who might be dogging it as part of that quarter-with-no-prayer. It doesn't often work out that an emerging yet unknown leader makes their way into long-term TV coverage unless they get into contention for the weekend.
In other words, watching the majors on a weekday is a chance to see superstars of present and past, regardless of how well they do. Of course that's an exaggeration - I love watching the majors.
I love watching the majors for their history, the course, and seeing what the field at large is doing. The Masters packages those three things well in the window they already have. Pique my interest for the weekend and then I can watch the real tournament unfold.
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I can't really make an honest/TV watch comment on the topic of the Masters
But if I had to guess, I’d probably welcome it because I feel the more equal time ALL the guys get on TV the better things will be for the, “:real golf fans” and especially the players.
"pain is only weakness leaving the body"
One More Hour For That Masters Music To Get Stuck In My Head
And one more hour a day for the announcers to slobber up the Green Jackets, the wonder of the place and all that.
Don’t get me wrong, I love it and I will watch every minute. I just get a little tired of the way the club needs to be adored and fawned over. It gets to the point where you think the members have a real problem with insecurity.
After all, Augusta National is probably the second best course that Alistair McKenzie designed. The best one is a club so exclusive they told the PGA they didn’t need to be on television if the Tour wanted to dictate membership to them. That club is Cypress Point.
After all these years and the Masters theme doesn’t stream through your mind 12 months out of the year ? :-)
Hey – I’ll take an extra hour – why not ?
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
I'll watch too...
I’m just saying I wish that the Men of the Masters could stand a little intellectual honesty.
by Charles Boyer on Sep 22, 2010 10:44 AM EDT up reply actions
Well said OMP, well said...
Having played both, I go with the Point….It all boils down to dollars folks….Augusta National runs the Masters….Not the tour, PGA or USGA….The TV and everything else belong to the Club..That’s how they can tell TV how many and just how long and by whom the commercials are..The majority of the income, stays right there at the Club….Have any of you ever wondered why there are no published figures of income from the event…and it’s like pulling teeth to find out exactly what’s being paid out….Will I watch more time….sure, the scenery alone is good…Where else can the Stage Master go out, wave his wand, say Bloom and Vola…color…Just use the MUTE button on the control, pour another libation, slice more cheese and sausage and sit back and enjoy….STUB
I'll watch!
One more hour, two more hours…..it’s all good!
The Saints ARE the SUPER BOWL CHAMPS....WHO DAT!
OMP, aren't there teams of commentators?
We are always told when one of the 3 (usually) commentators goes for a comfort/coffee/lunch break, and someone else takes their place (rotates). Sorry, I know this is not the main point of your blog, but it just caught my eye. Another hour of The Masters is absolutely fine by me.
Wendy, Ryan wrote this piece, but yes, there are generally teams of presenters in the coverage. Sometimes they formally hand off, other times not.
Can’t remember if they have been doing that in the Masters here, however.
by Charles Boyer on Sep 22, 2010 3:16 PM EDT up reply actions
Ryan, One Thing...
The winner of the tournament lately hasn’t led wire to wire, and often appears to be another backmarker the first day or day and a half. That said, the winner might well be hidden in your quarter of the field you don’t think counts much.
Also, in the first round especially, the field is pretty scattered, so there is always someone interesting on the course at most every given moment.
All in all, I would rather have the option of watching it than having to stream it onto my computer, something I have been doing the last few years. Then again, with DirecTV, I can watch those same streams in the 700s and switch amongst four feeds anyway.
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