Matchplay coverage could do with some streamlining

Philip Reid/TV View: Sometimes, you can't win. Some people accuse you of writing too much about Tiger Woods, others that you don't write enough about the great one. Yet, without fail, people are drawn to him; whether it is to see him win (as he so often does), or to see him lose.

Certainly, on Saturday afternoon and on into the evening, you can rest assured many golfers settled into snug armchairs hoping to witness our own Celtic Tiger defeat the world number one in the Accenture Matchplay - exclusively live, as so many golf tournaments are - on Sky Sports.

On this occasion, though, Woods won (in the quarter-final of the megabucks competition). For a change, however, we got to see quite a bit of Padraig Harrington too. For the previous days, we'd had to make do with snippets of Harrington's - and Darren Clarke's, for that matter - movement through the championship. To be fair to Sky, they have to make do with the host broadcaster's images and, invariably, much of that time is focused on Woods.

For good reason, too. The evidence from past championships shows that when Woods is in contention viewing figures peak. For instance, the final round of the 1998 US Masters attracted a 33 per cent lower figure than the previous year when Woods won his historic first major.

But there's more. Viewing figures in the US for the 2001 US PGA showed a 36 per cent decrease on the previous year when Woods won, while last year's championship - won by Shaun Micheel - had a 41 per cent lower rating than the 2002 championship when Woods made a futile if entertaining attempt to charge down eventual champion Rich Beem.

Every sponsor wants Woods in the field: it is estimated there is a 65 per cent higher viewing figure when he plays compared to when he doesn't. And when the US Tour renegotiated their television rights, the agreed package (2003-2006, but excluding the majors) came to $850 million, almost 50 per cent up on the old deal. Thank you very much, Mr Woods!

Yet, for all the hours of viewing on Saturday, the coverage didn't do justice to the event, one of four WGCs. Ronan Rafferty in the studio has become a fine analyst, and David Livingstone is an extremely competent anchor - but the trouble came from the other side of the Atlantic, where the lack of an on-course reporter was the main blip in the coverage.

Okay, you have to appreciate that the main commentators, Ewen Murray and Bruce Critchley (joined on this occasion by former American tour player Billy Kratzert), have long days in the studio booth . . . but how you'd wish for the quick wit of someone like David Feherty out on the course, or a razor-sharp comment from a Gary McCord.

Everyone remembers McCord. Back in 1994, McCord, one of the best and most irreverent announcers in the business, was banned from working the US Masters after watching ball after ball roll off the 16th green and declaring, "Man, they must have slicked these (greens) down with bikini wax."

The result was that McCord was barred from future US Masters commentaries and even provoked a song from US Tour player Peter Jacobsen that went along the lines of: "I want to hear Gary McCord/ Whenever he's on I'm never bored/ I like Gary McCord/ Masters officials, we're begging you please/ We wish you wouldn't take yourselves so seriously.

"Bring back Gary McCord/ We want him back/ Let's send him a fax/ No more bikini wax/ Or body bags/ This whole thing's been such a drag."

McCord is the same dude who, when commenting on Retief Goosen's, Mark Brooks's and Stewart Cink's three-putt performances on the 72nd hole of the 2001 US Open in Tulsa, said, "I was watching a golf tournament and a ping-pong match broke out."

If there wasn't much humour in the broadcast, at least Murray and Critchley and Kratzert - who described Harrington thus: "(he's) always there, like a gnat you can't get rid of" - were thoroughly professional, particularly (as always) in the finer, technical aspects of a player's swing.

However (as always), Sky's propensity to go off on ad breaks at the weirdest moments was demonstrated on a number of occasions, but most notably late on Saturday night when Clarke was involved in a titanic struggle with Davis Love.

"We'll be back in a couple of minutes," observed Livingstone and, when they did return, it was not to the men on-the-spot but rather to Livingstone and Rafferty in studio talking us through what was happening (after the event, we presume).

Still, for anyone seriously interested in golf, a subscription to Sky is a must. Now, if only they could get some bikini wax into the end product!