Tom Watson Added To ABC's British Open Coverage
Monday, July 14, 2008
There's been a run on Golf analysts who were former players as of late on all broadcasts for some reason and new ones seem to pop up for each Tourney. During the US Open ESPN/ABC brought on Curtis Strange, who was far from impressive, and now they're tabbing Tom Watson for their British Open telecast starting on July 19th....
ESPN’s production of The Open Championship from Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Lankanshire, England, will be broadcasted on ABC including live weekend coverage on Saturday, July 19 (9 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. ET) and Sunday, July 20 (8 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. ET). Additionally, on ABC, SportsCenter at the Open Championship late-night highlight shows will air following the Thursday and Friday rounds from 1:05-1:35 a.m. (both ET and PT) and Saturday and Sunday from 5-6 p.m. (2-3 p.m. PT).The amount of ex-player analysts in Golf is just staggering. It's coming close to rivaling Football these days and the funny thing about this hire is that Tom Watson even admitted to ABC that he's bad at on-air TV work. Via USA Today....
Mike Tirico will anchor the telecast alongside 2008 Ryder Cup captain Paul Azinger and Tom Watson, who has won the Open Championship five times (1975, 1977, 1980, 1982 and 1983). Peter Alliss and Terry Gannon will serve as hole announcers with on-course reporters Andy North, Judy Rankin and Bill Kratzert. Tom Rinaldi will provide essays and interviews and ESPN The Magazine’s Rick Reilly will contribute commentary.
Watson says ABC/ESPN, which no longer covers much golf, went to him about working a few events. "I said no. I'm not good at it," says Watson, who's had "no more than a handful" of TV jobs. "I have a difficult time talking over somebody talking in my ear. It concerns me. I could start stuttering."He also goes on to say that Golf needs more humor in its broadcasts because it's such a "cruel game". I couldn't agree more which is why I'm wondering where Chris Berman is. He's ESPN/ABC's go to guy for humor right?
But he says he couldn't resist working the British Open: "There's no better venue to give this a try."
(Via ESPN PR)
10 Comments:
Strange was paired with Tirico in the booth for a number years from late 90's to 2004 when ESPN/ABC had a bigger footprint in golf. The team also included North, Baker-Finch, Faldo and Azinger. The were funny and entertaining...by far better than the mis-fits NBC puts out there.
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British Open video here:
http://exclusive-videos.net/videos/British_Open
enjoy!
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Get Watson out of the booth...what a negative character...
I'm watching less of british open due to that snobby, snotty condescending tom watson.
I don't mind Tom Watson, but how about they SHOW SOME F'ING GOLF SHOTS!!! They show 2 or 3 shots, then yap, yap, yap, and time for a commercial. Give me a break. I remember when golf coverage was boring due to them showing shot after shot after shot... just the way I like it.
Tom Watson,
Shut the hell up, your so negative towards Norman, cant you hear yourself bashing him? Or are you that much of an idiot !
Craig Mims
How about some accurate reporting and could we see where the ball lands. Many times the players were hitting their third shot and the boys in the booth would say his second shot. I can't remember a worse announcing job.
Watson was very bad. Zinger was even worse. They clearly don't like Norman and let that influence their commentary. They wouldn't envy his success would they?
Tom Watson was just fine for first time effort.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, I want to kill Tom Rinaldi...smarmy bitch.