No Tiger, no big deal

Open still offers reasons to watch

Although the absence of Tiger Woods was on everyone's mind heading into the British Open at Royal Birkdale, the challenging weather was the big story during yesterday's opening round.

This morning, TNT continues coverage from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. TNT will be on from 7-9 a.m. for tomorrow's third round and from 6-8 for Sunday's final round, with ABC (Channel 5) taking over after those hours on each of those days. TNT's Jim Huber said the rain and high winds favored the more experienced players.

"First of all, the wind was a constant 35-40 miles an hour in the morning, starting at 5 o'clock," said Huber, reached by telephone yesterday at the course. "And the rain was constant as well. The rain blows into your face, it feels like little pellets, and it's cold. It never got out of the mid-50s. So, that combination of rain and wind and cold just made for miserable times.

"I can't imagine playing in it. You're trying to keep your hands warm and your clubs dry, all the things you've got to do, plus think your way around what is a brutal course. It's just a tough task. The guys who did it well deserve all the credit in the world. The guys who didn't, you can sort of understand what they were going through.

"The surprises of the day were the older guys, the guys who are 40 and 45 and 50 and almost 60," added Huber. "Rocco Mediate [who is tied for the lead]. They have been here, done that, they know how to handle the conditions. They know how to handle pressure and concentrate for 18 holes. They know how to handle all of those conditions much better than the kids do. That experience comes in so handy. The senior wing of Royal Birkdale was pretty loud on [the first] day."

Woods being sidelined by season-ending knee surgery has some feeling that more players are now capable of capturing the claret jug.

"There is a different feel to it," said Huber. "Normally, it's Tiger and then the rest of the field, and everybody in the field sort of looks over their shoulders and says, 'Where is he now?' and keeps looking at the leaderboard. They're always conscious of that and so they almost subconsciously play themselves into a second-place position before the tournament even begins. This really widens the field to probably 45 or 50 legitimate candidates, whereas before there was maybe 15 or 20. It's a mental thing more than anything else."

Hours to go

XM Satellite Radio will cover the British Open live today beginning at 3 a.m., with highlights from 3-9 p.m. Tomorrow and Sunday, XM will begin its live broadcasts at 4 a.m., with highlights from 2-8 p.m. . . . NBC Universal announced it will have a record number of commentators (106) who will handle 3,600 hours of coverage of the Olympic Games in Beijing, which begin Aug. 8. Heading the impressive lineup is 19-time Emmy Award winner Bob Costas, who will be working his seventh Olympics as prime-time host. One change is that Costas will be in the field. The network tried out the new approach during the swimming and gymnastics trials. "Having your signature Olympics voice at the big events makes a lot of sense," said NBC Sports spokesman Brian Walker. Jim Lampley, who is slotted to anchor the afternoon telecasts, will be working his 14th Olympics. The other on-air talent have 42 Olympic medals among them . . . The NFL Network announced that Bob Papa will be the play-by-play announcer for the eight-game Thursday night package beginning in November. Papa, who replaces Bryant Gumbel, will join Cris Collinsworth. Papa will continue his radio play-by-play duties for the Giants. "We tried and experimented with Bryant, and I think we had some successes there," said NFL Network president Steve Bornstein. "He's a class broadcaster and he elected not to come back this season. That allowed us an opportunity to explore different options. We think Bob's profile in New York was always a successful one. And the fact that the Giants did have that incredible postseason run, were in the Super Bowl, certainly contributed to broader exposure for him, and we're pleased to have him." . . . CBS (Channel 4) will air the Grand Slam of Grass Virginia Derby tomorrow from 5-6 p.m. Laffit Pincay, Caton Bredar, Jay Privman, and Millie Ball will handle coverage.

Nancy Marrapese-Burrell can be reached at marrapese@globe.com.