Curtis Strange. For a two-time U.S. Open champion, he really has nothing interesting to say about the U.S. Open. I love The Golf Channel, but the best part of its PGA Tour deal is not that tournaments are on TGC but that they aren’t on ABC/ESPN.
Thankfully Hal Sutton (like Strange, a disastrous U.S. Ryder Cup captain) had long since been fired by then, but the change allowed ABC’s best (Nick Faldo) to get on with TGC and CBS (which in turn meant Lanny Wadkins wasn’t renewed, another huge blessing) and ABC’s worst (Strange and Paul Azinger) to end up without jobs. I know a lot of folks like Azinger, but he always struck me as, well, an asshole, and one with a fairly significant chip on his shoulder at that.
And then there’s Mike Tirico, who of course is still employed at ABC/ESPN doing a bunch of other sports, including some rather high-profile stuff. I’ve never cared for him in any sport, but his smarm and superiority are even more heightened when he does golf. But he is at least twice as smart as Strange, who had the following to say during the half-hour (of a brutal eight total) while I wrote another blog post:
It’s just a thrill to be here, much less play well. That’s just icing on the cake.
There’s different ways to skin a cat, different ways to make birdie.
When I was Ryder Cup captain [ouch, can't believe he brought this up voluntarily---ed.], I desperately wanted to try to pick him, just because he enjoys the atmosphere so much.
My favorite, though, was when Strange would spout one of his “insights,” only to have Judy Rankin (one of the best in the business), who was walking with the Woods-Mickelson-Scott group, immediately tell him how wrong he was. (Of course, it’s Rankin, so it was subtle and gentle, but still.) Like when Strange says, “He better be careful, with this wind it could sail over the green,” and Judy responds, “The wind has died down quite a bit, so it’s probably not a big concern right now.” This seriously happened at least a half-dozen times.
Thankfully, this weekend, we’ll get the all-star crew of Jimmy Roberts (who has been excellent while working with ESPN’s goons), Dan Hicks (seriously, a Bob Costas in waiting), Dottie Pepper (it’s no slight to Rankin when I say she’s the best woman golf announcer), Gary Koch (understated but quite good), Johnny Miller (nobody else is half as insightful, or as incisive), and Bob Costas (no explanation necessary). Roger Maltbie is pretty obnoxious, but he hardly ruins that crew for me.
