Capelle On Golf

I suppose the Golf Channel (GC) does not have a duty to provide fair and balanced coverage of Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus, golf’s two greatest players. In their view, Woods is the engine that drives golf and Nicklaus is yesterday’s news. As a result, the GC bombards the air with endless coverage of all things Tiger.

Still, there should be a limit to the favoritism, but apparently not. Exhibit A is last night’s show featuring the 10 best shots of all time. As the GC counted down the greatest shots, I anxiously awaited the appearance of Nicklaus and Woods, knowing that no top 10 list could exclude them.

Ben Hogan’s 1-iron to the home hole at Merion at the 1950 US Open took sixth place. Bobby Jones was awarded the number five spot for the impossible 12-foot putt he holed at Winged Foot at the 1929 US Open that earned him a spot in a playoff. Four spots to go so something had to give.

Up comes Nicklaus in the fourth slot. The GC showed a gallery of eight of his best shots. We were treated to a his glorious long iron shots at the 1967 US Open and the 1986 Masters and a few of his major winning putts. The GC selected Nicklaus’ his 1-iron shot that hit the flag on the seventeenth at Pebble Beach at the 1972 US Open as the fourth best of all time. The coverage of this shot was superb.

Next up was Tiger Woods. The shots rolled on, the commentators expressed their amazement, and the audience was treated to a dozen of his best, a couple complete with replays. Since his best must surely be better than Nicklaus’ best, the GC decided one was not enough. So the chose a package of three: the 90-degree chip shot at #16 at the 2005 Masters, the 6-iron from the fairway bunker on #18 at the 2000 Canadian Open, and the 12 foot putt he holed at Torrey Pines that sent the 2008 US Open into a playoff.

The stats don’t lie. Nicklaus prime lasted 19-25 years and was comprised of 18 major titles. Woods’ career has spanned a dozen seasons with 14 majors. By the sheer weight of these numbers you would think that Nicklaus’ segment would feature more shots and more air time. No way. The editors at the GC gave the Nicklaus’s segment 1:47 while Woods’ ran for 3:15. That’s 92% longer for a player who has played half as much. Woods’ gallery of shots was also 50% larger.

The GC is out to promote Woods 24/7/365, even if it means shortchanging Nicklaus. Their logic is obvious: he’s their money maker and he’s who a larger part of the audience wants to see. Still, on a documentary like this they should suspend the hype and favoritism for a moment and treat both equally – maybe in this instance give Nicklaus additional air time considering that he earned it over 25 years.

The decision of who is the best ever is going to be decided both on the course and by the votes of the public. Already the polls held by sites like AOL are leaning towards Woods due in part to the recency bias. And every day the Nicklaus campaign weakens and the Woods campaign grows in strength because the GC is clearly 100% behind their candidate.