Fox Sports looks to avoid traps of US Open golf debut – Chicago Tribune
A prediction on Fox Sports’ coverage of its first U.S. Open:
It won’t matter if Fox produces the best Open ever. Golf fans still will complain about a lack of quality. They always complain.
This isn’t to say that Fox’s debut on major championship golf will be a disaster, although it could be. Rather, it is about the realities of a very finicky golf audience that typically isn’t receptive to change.
“Anytime something is new, some people will like it and some people won’t,” said Mark Loomis, Fox Sports’ producer for golf.
After 20 years of the U.S. Open on NBC, there will be an adjustment period to a new lineup of voices. Joe Buck and Greg Norman will be the focal points as the lead announce team. Other analysts include Tom Weiskopf, Corey Pavin, Brad Faxon and Juli Inkster.
Buck will have to prove he can navigate through a golf tournament like long-time standards Jim Nantz and Dan Hicks. If he can’t capture a cadence and tone that is much different than a baseball and football game, he will feel the wrath of golf viewers. Just ask Chris Berman, who was vilified for being out-of-place with his work for the U.S. Open on ESPN.
“Believe me, with play-by-play here, I’m going with a less-is-more approach,” Buck said.
Norman, meanwhile, will be compared to the blunt Johnny Miller, who sees no sacred cows on the course. Even though Norman often was on the receiving end of a Miller critique, he says he is a fan of the NBC analyst.
“When you are in the seat of lead analyst, you have to give your opinion,” Norman said. “It can’t be sugar-coated. It irks me when I watch TV and every player hits the perfect shot and every player is the greatest short game player in the world and every player is just so good. When you look at it in totality, these players are the best in the world, but when they do do something wrong, it’s got to be pointed out.”
Fox also plans to bring a new look to golf with splashy graphics displaying yardages, different camera perspectives and it even will use drones. Fox is known for pushing the envelope with its gizmos on sports telecasts. Many have worked, changing the course of sports on TV: Think score box in corners of screens. However, others haven’t: Think infamous glowing puck.
Golf viewers tend to be very traditional, dating back to the relatively simple days when Jim McKay and ABC did the U.S. Open. Buck, though, insists Fox’s fresh perspective will be good for the game.
“What a boring world it would be if changing things up was so frowned upon that they were scared to do it,” Buck said. “In 1994, everyone freaked out about Fox putting the score in the corner of the screen. If we are going to go into this event worrying what the traditional golf fan thinks, we’re dead. Fresh eyes, a fresh perspective, a little energy and looking at the same format from a different angle are good things.”
Fox is chartering into the great unknown this week. As Miller once said, “You don’t fall out of a tree and do a U.S. Open.”
Fox could fall on its head. At the very least, all involved should have thick skin for when announcers and other elements get skewered on social media and elsewhere. Such is the nature of golf.
Nevertheless, Fox is optimistic.
“If we get a great event that we document well, it is a success,” said Loomis of Fox’s potential scorecard. “Beyond that, did we do what we said we would do? I think we can’t help but bring a different perspective to golf.”
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