LAWRENCE, Kansas – You couldn’t tune in to last weekend’s Masters coverage without incessant reminders that Tiger Woods was playing. Honestly, how could we forget? CBS probably would have run promos mentioning Woods whether he was “within striking distance” or not. It’s understandable. Like Duke and North Carolina in basketball, a tournament with Tiger is sure to get big ratings, especially if he’s threatening the lead.

In this year’s case, however, CBS didn’t need golf’s biggest name to draw in viewers. Americans Kenny Perry and Chad Campbell did plenty to help. Oh, and they didn’t even win. Perry and Campbell led after two rounds at Augusta National and kept it more than interesting for the final two. Neither golfer is entirely unknown, which was a plus. But what really made the tournament was the competition.

Sure, Tiger has put up some wowing scores at the Masters, but he has often won convincingly with no threat on Sunday. This year’s final round had all the makings of a network executive’s dream. The scenery at Augusta is always something to behold, and high definition doesn’t hurt. That much is a given. After some concern of stormy weather earlier in the week, the clouds cleared and the stars on the course shone bright.

There were ups and downs. The pros showed their mortality, but the race tightened with the outcome uncertain as the final pair reached the 18th green. With Campbell looking on from the scoring trailer, Perry and Argentine Angel Cabrera walked up Holly, the name of the final hole. Perry let an opportunity to win in regulation slip through his hands as his putter drove the ball to the lip of the hole. Meanwhile, Cabrera sunk his own putt to hold at -12, creating a three-way tie for the lead and the first three-man playoff since 1987.

The three golfers started 18, the first playoff hole, in rusty fashion: Campbell sent his ball into the right front bunker, Cabrera drove his tee shot into the trees, and Perry’s shot landed at the patrons’ feet to the left of the green. Campbell failed to save par, narrowing the playoff to a two-man race. Perhaps the most memorable shot was CBS’ replay of Cabrera’s reaction to his second shot. After punching an iron shot out of the woods from the base of a tree, Cabrera lost his ball and leapt back, looking to the crowd for an indication of where it went.

In a slightly anticlimactic finish, the pair teed off at the 10th. Perry hit a couple of errant shots, and Cabrera parred the hole to seal his and his country’s first Green Jacket. CBS’ weekend viewership was up seven percent to 35.2 million viewers who watched all or part of the tournament. Ratings peaked during the playoff, but that could have been due in part to viewers tuning in for 60 Minutes. The network’s final-round ratings surpassed all final-round viewership for each of the 2008 majors.

This year, CBS’ Nick Faldo may have been as valuable as ever, having participated in two sudden death playoffs when he won his back-to-back Masters titles in 1989 and 1990. The production crew, led by coordinating producer Lance Barrow, producer David Winner, and directors Steve Milton and Bob Matina, did another stellar job capturing Augusta’s beauty, staying focused on the storylines at hand, and being quick to tie in tournament history with emerging themes in each round.

It was a memorable Masters and another example of how CBS’ golf coverage continues to stand above all others – with or without Tiger.

Filed under: Opinion/Editorial, Sports TV