Golf has a short history of having a large audience fall into its lap only for the product to be far from appealing.
The most recent example was the Farmers Insurance Open. The final round at Torrey Pines was supposed to go off the air at 5:30 p.m. CST, a half-hour before the Grammys on CBS. The round took longer, mainly because of 25 mph Santa Ana wind; C.T. Pan having to go back to the tee twice on the par-3 third hole because of a tee shot into the hazard (he was two shots behind and made 8); and the final threesome hitting it off the map, which required rulings and drops on the 14th hole.
That set the stage for J.B. Holmes, who likely will be remembered more for taking four minutes to make a decision in the 18th fairway than for his four PGA Tour victories or the two winning Ryder Cup teams on which he played. Torn between a 3-wood (too much) and a 5-wood (not enough) to get over the water for a chance at eagle to get into a playoff, viewers tuning in ahead of the Grammys saw Holmes stand at his bag and do nothing. And then he laid up.
It wasn't a good look.
It was reminiscent of the final round of the 2005 U.S. Women's Open, the only compelling sporting event on TV that Sunday with three teens in contention -- Michelle Wie (15), Morgan Pressel (17) and Paula Creamer (18). The rough was so nasty at Cherry Hills that Wie shot 82 and Creamer shot 79. Lorena Ochoa duck-hooked her tee shot into the water on 18. Pressel shot 75 and had to watch from the 18th fairway as Birdie Kim holed a bunker shot to win.
Go back a little further. Ty Votaw, then commissioner of the LPGA Tour, was in the media center an hour before the "Battle at Bighorn" on Monday night in 2000 that featured Tiger Woods and Annika Sorenstam against David Duval and Karrie Webb.
He said -- and he was right -- there would be more eyeballs on the LPGA Tour than ever.
Thirty minutes before it began, a vicious Santa Ana wind arrived without warning and Bighorn turned into a brute. The golf wasn't pretty, and it finished 80 minutes over schedule.
Gambling priests
The Super Bowl matchup between the Patriots and the Eagles is getting so competitive that even religious leaders are casting bets.
Archbishops in Philadelphia and Boston announced Wednesday that the clergyman from the losing team's city will donate $100 to a charity in the winner's hometown.
If the Patriots lose Sunday, Boston Cardinal Seán P. O'Malley says he'll give the money to Saint John's Hospice, a homeless services organization in Philadelphia.
But if they win, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput will donate to Catholic Charities Boston, a social services agency in Massachusetts.
The archbishops say they're longtime friends from their seminary days.
Sports quiz
What was the longest kick return in Super Bowl history?
Sports answer
Jacoby Jones of the Baltimore Ravens vs. the 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII for 108 yards.
Sports on 02/01/2018