Sports Watch

By Bill Kwon

Thursday, July 17, 1997

If you can’t watch
golf live, tape it

GOLFERS will tell you that they'd rather be golfing than doing just about anything else.

That's one of the reasons why golf doesn't come up with those grab-you-by-the-throat TV ratings. Except when it's a major or when Tiger Woods is playing. Then, the ratings are above average -- for golf.

Golfers, you see, would rather be on a golf course and playing than sitting at home in front of a television set -- even when a golf tournament is on the tube.

That's why one of the greatest innovations as far as golfers are concerned isn't a titanium, biggest-of-the-big jumbo drivers. Or a can't-miss putter or sand wedge. Or even a 2-piece ball that promises to go straight.

It's a VCR.

You can play a round of golf, stop at the 19th hole to quaff a few beers with the boys and return home to watch 18 holes of the golf tournament that was on that day.

With a video cassette recorder, it's all this and heaven, too.

It's the closest thing to making time stand still. And when you can manage time, it's like you can control your own destiny.

This weekend, though, my VCR will be put to a different use. I won't be setting any timer. I'll be watching -- and taping -- the British Open simultaneously, X-ing out the commercials, of course.

EXCEPT the clever ones like that Budweiser commercial with the lizards bemoaning the late, great fate of the Budweiser frogs who became alcoholically incorrect because kids found them too visually appealing. Like Joe Camel, they're now a no-no.

Of course, expect the Bud lizards to eventually go the way of the Bud frogs. What next? Bud raptors? But, then, I would imagine Steven Spielberg already has patented the rights to dinosaurs.

But, getting back to golf.

The British Open is a particular favorite of mine among golf's four major tournaments.

I know the Masters has all that tradition. Augusta National, Bobby Jones, dogwoods, azaleas. But spring's a little too early in the year to get excited about golf. The year I was there, 1990, it was even a little too early for the azaleas. They had to bring some potted ones in to spruce up the par-3 12th hole.

Of course, the Masters gets a lot of ink because it knows how to take care of the press. It wasn't by chance. One of Jones' dear friends was the late Grantland Rice, the most renowned sportswriter of his era.

Rice suggested to Jones that the Masters be held in early April so that sportswriters covering spring training in Florida could stop over on their way back up north and cover the event.

THE U.S. Open is America's national championship, so it is a significant major. But it's always in June and played in the hottest climes except when it's at Pebble Beach or the Olympic Club in San Francisco. Then, it's appealing.

But America's national championship? Well, I don't know about that. South African Ernie Els won twice in the last four years.

The last major, the PGA Championship, is also the least. It's almost like an afterthought and being held in the blah month of August doesn't help. It should return to a match-play format to get out of its doldrums.

But, ah, the British Open, especially when it's played in Scotland. After all, the Scots invented the game, which ranks them one-two in coming up with life's pleasures, single malt being the other.

The British Open at St. Andrews is extra special. But the other courses in Scotland -- Muirfield, Turnberry, Carnoustie and Royal Troon -- also evoke great memories of the game of golf.

And the world's best players have gathered at Troon. The 126th British Open will really be worth watching -- even if it's videotaped.