Jul 25, 2018 3 min read

I turned on the television Sunday morning and was riveted, as I’m sure many of you also were, by watching the British Open.

Tiger Woods was continuing his comeback story and was in the lead (gasp!) halfway through the final round. The drama of the final nine holes and the fact that he didn’t win were interesting enough, but what struck me was listening to the announcers’ analysis. They didn’t just comment that a shot someone made was good or, oh, that was a bad bounce into the bunker. This was straight out the most detailed, nitpicking scrutiny I had ever heard. “Why does he have an iron in his hand?” “Not sure I would have made that choice to not lay up.” “This is an easy shot here.” “What is he doing – I wouldn’t have chosen that route.” It was blistering criticism of every golfer’s every move that was even more brutal than some of those fashion critiques they give about the evening gowns at the Academy Awards!

The fact that golf legend Johnny Miller was one of those doling out the sharp critiques was fine with me. He absolutely knows his stuff and did it on the course. However, some of the other announcers are not former professional golfers and, though I’m sure they play golf very well, I’d like to see them get out there trying to make some of these shots. They were micro-analyzing so many things I was surprised they didn’t give an opinion on what color shirt a player wore or whether his golf shoes were appropriate for the conditions.

Couple that scrutiny with the huge throngs of people that crowd right up next to the golfers as they make their shots. One guy had to contend with a crying baby two feet behind him, for crying out loud! Watching this unfold made me cringe when I thought about how I would react to such scrutiny about my golf game.

I’m so terrible that I enjoy playing alone because it gives me a chance to practice with no one watching. I get nervous when the next group is waiting to tee off behind me because they can see my swing. A friend joked I should not have stage fright because of my job being on television. But delivering a weathercast is something I know I can do well. Hitting a golf ball? Not so much.

Football announcers aren’t as critical of player skills as these golf announcers are. Sure, we all question play calls or groan when someone drops what looks like an easy pass. But I think football announcers are more in awe of player skills because it’s something most of us can’t do or imagine doing. We all pretend in our minds that we’re Sergio Garcia or Jack Nicklaus putting to win the Masters. I always miss that putt.

Kristin Emery can be reached at kristinemery1@yahoo.com.