Major reasons to watch PGA
Many possibilities, even without Woods
The continued absence of Tiger Woods from the PGA Tour because of knee surgery will again open up the possibilities of subplots galore for golf's final major of the season, this weekend's PGA Championship.
Given Greg Norman's inspiring performance at last month's British Open, those at CBS are prepared for whatever takes place at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Township, Mich.
"As much as people want to say that Tiger is not there, and we're going to heavily emphasize that story, you just never know what's going to unfold," said CBS golf anchor Jim Nantz, who will be paired with analyst Nick Faldo from 2-7 p.m. tomorrow and Sunday.
"It would have been interesting if Greg [Norman] had won [the British Open]. Historians would have viewed the win by Greg vs. the win by Tiger at Torrey Pines [in the US Open]. Which one would be the bigger story in history? So, we have no idea what's going to happen here. Everyone knows we're absent the No. 1 player of his time, his generation, maybe of all time. But I'm not going to hang an asterisk on this championship. Somebody is going to win on Sunday and they're going to get the deserved recognition for having a major title. We love telling the story, we just don't know what it's going to be."
With no Woods, Nantz said the most compelling story could come from an unexpected source, given Rocco Mediate's performance at the US Open and Norman's at the British.
"As a team, we pride ourselves on being able to tell that story," said Nantz.
"With all the players who are here, I could sit down and draw up a list of 100 incredible stories if any one of them were about to unfold here. You never know if it's going to be Fred Couples, at 48 years old, comes out of nowhere and wins a major in the twilight of his career or if we're going to have the same kind of intense competitive [finish] like we had down the stretch [last week] at Firestone."
CBS will broadcast second-round highlights with Nantz and analyst David Feherty tonight following "The Late Show with David Letterman" from 12:35-1:07 a.m. TNT will broadcast tournament coverage from 1-7 p.m. today and 11 a.m.-2 p.m. tomorrow and Sunday.
Time is on their side
Ambitious is the best way to describe NBC's coverage of tonight's Olympic opening ceremonies in Beijing. Bob Costas will host the festivities beginning at 7:30 with co-host Matt Lauer of "The Today Show." The network is mixing its news talent - chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel and correspondent Peter Alexander - with sports reporters Andrea Joyce and Bob Neumeier. Dick Ebersol, the chairman of NBC Universal Sports and Olympics, said it's the type of event that brings the world together, if only for a short time. "In a world that has as many tensions as our world today, there is a moment of hope that comes from seeing all the world's best, young athletes gather peacefully together," said Ebersol. "When the record 205 nations, many of whom are in conflict with one another, come together, it will represent a greater sense of cooperation than we get from any political body, including the UN. The fact that the three most powerful men in the world will all be in one place watching the Olympic opening ceremony is testament to how very curious the world is about China and how China deals with these Olympics." NBC Universal will air 3,600 hours of coverage, with nearly 2,900 of it live, the most in Summer Olympics history . . . Former Boston College and NFL quarterback Tim Hasselbeck has joined ESPN as a studio analyst and will make his debut Monday on "NFL Live." He will also appear on "SportsCenter" and contribute to ESPN Radio. Hasselbeck had worked as an analyst for SportsNet New York and Sirius NFL Radio . . .
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report; Nancy Marrapese-Burrell can be reached at marrapese@globe.com.
