As The Masters Begins, It's (Correctly) Just Golf

When Tiger Woods tees off at 1:42 p.m. Thursday, ESPN will have the shot live.

Then, at 4 p.m., as the all-sports network begins its first-round coverage of The Masters and the world's best and most-talked-about golfer completes his round, almost all his other shots will be show live as well.

Judging by the comments of on-air talent and behind-the-scenes folks for both ESPN, which carries the tournament's first and second rounds Thursday and Friday, and CBS Sports, which carries the third and fourth rounds on Saturday and Sunday, it will be golf on TV and nothing more with Woods this weekend.

While ESPN gets the first opportunity at the story of Woods' return to competition (and it could be the only opportunity of he were to somehow miss the cut and miss weekend action, although that's unlikely), there's no sense of urgency to share that story. They certainly will not dwell on the infidelity, stint in sex rahab or much else.

In a teleconference earlier this week, ESPN host said "no one's bigger than The Masters" and ESPN executive vice president John Wildhack said the tournament is "THE story line, and we're here to cover The Masters tournament."

Likewise, in an separate teleconference earlier this week, Jim Nantz said nearly a half dozen times in the span of a half-hour phone call with CBS Sports talent and production staff that they would be in Augusta, Ga., to cover a golf tournament, not conduct a "studio show."

Both Nantz and Tirico are correct. At this point, the Woods story should move to his performance on the golf course. While some critics want background, context or perspective about Woods' off-course life and what happened last fall that cost him millions of dollars in sponsorship and possibly his marriage, to dwell on those aspects would be irresponsible and wrong.

Sure, they need mentioned, probably when we viewers first meet Woods again on a telecast. After that, though, it would be overkill. Most viewers no longer care about the specifics -- they either know they'll never know or have finally come to the realization that there's no need for him to know.

Still, Woods will be front and center Thursday and Friday -- as least as much as ESPN can put him front and center in a responsible manner -- because he remains golf's overriding personality and story. His news conference from Augusta National on Monday drew higher TV ratings than all the tournaments on the Golf Channel last year.

People -- that's patrons if you're watching The Masters -- want the golf story, though. And both ESPN and CBS Sports seem more than happy to oblige.