There is surely some person on this Earth who would rather see old pictures of William C. Fownes instead of watching the best players in the world compete against each other on Oakmont’s unforgiving terrain. There must be a small faction that needs to have a two-shot of announcers with nary a whiff of actual action in the frame inform them that the course is difficult while they reset the table with stunning frequency. And of course you could find someone who prefers to have their hand held through each chapter of this weekend’s story than to use their own imagination.
Then there’s everyone else, myself included, who wonders why the NBC family of networks chooses to present the U.S. Open this way. To be clear, that’s not exactly the value judgment it may appear. It’s not that the first 10½ hours spent from this major’s tasting menu on USA weren’t enjoyable. This crew presents a show that has a Big Game feel. The scorebug is crisp and stately. It’s robust in scope if lacking in breadth. Most importantly, a workday spent monitoring golf’s grittiest test can never be bad.
It’s just that choices are perplexing. It’s not breaking new ground, nor does it even seem particularly fair, to beat the old hobby horse about the commercial load. There’s not much to say except it was impossible to get any type of rhythm going before lunch with the stops and starts in and out of advertisements. Anyone who has been watching this sport with any type of regularity over the years—heck even if only four times per season—should know that it’s just going to be the deal, Masters excepted.
But why compound a long-running point of contention for fans by spending so much time away from the course and the developing narrative to show stuff … that is not that? Golf is slow and its audience is wide enough to include those who want to doze off on a nearby couch. Yet the broadcast could—if it wanted to—sidestep some of the pressure points other sports present. With dozens of competitors on the course at any time, there’s the ability to whip around so every shot dominos into the other and the pace of play gets the heart rate up. Instead the option on display is one that basically interjects the delay of a replay review of video challenge into the mix and grinds everything to a halt.
It would be more understandable if there were a crowded field of memorable personalities to spice things up a bit. If the people calling and analyzing the action were a sliver of the draw that Scottie Scheffler hacking away at 5.5-inch rough presents. This is not the case, though. Despite employing more line changes than the Edmonton Oilers in overtime, no voice emerges as a star player. The closest is probably Paul McGinley because he provides a bit of a changeup.
At this point, pleading for this brand of coverage to show more shots feels like shouting into the void. They've obviously heard the complaints and whatever small steps they've employed are virtually unnoticeable. And as the tournament continues, that style becomes less of a problem. Yet it just doesn't work on Thursday, nor does it make sense.
With 156 players in the field, it sure would be nice to see as many of them as possible. Instead the telecast always opts to tell, not show. The irony is that this method actually makes it harder to understand and appreciate the total picture. To feel locked in and confident about where everyone stands on the leaderboard and what's going on out there between church pew bunkers and punishing par-3s.
These are all, admittedly first-world complaints. Golf's magic is that the stories always take shape and knowing that everyone out there is one errant tee shot and one bad decision away from tanking their chance at immortality is exciting. Major champions enter Friday lurking behind those who have put themselves in position to become household names.
Far too often viewers will be forced to stand on the tee box, waiting around for the action, their minds and eyes wandering to anything but the group in front of them and what they're doing. Perhaps there's some charm in that.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as NBC’s U.S. Open Broadcast From Oakmont Has a Pace of Play Problem.