Vousden on the demise of a legend (not Tiger).

Thought for the Day
When the only tool you own is a hammer, every problem begins to look like a nail

So long Frank, and thank you
The chances are that you have never heard of Frank Chirkinian, who died just over a week ago, but his work will have left an indelible mark on the way in which you view golf. And his impact on the game is such that on May 9 he will be posthumously inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame which is not something that happens to too many people who have never competed in, never mind won, a professional tournament.

The reason for the honour is that Frank was a long-time television producer for CBS in America and it is not hyperbole to suggest that he established the templates that still dominate TV coverage to this day and that before his influence was brought to bear, watching a televised golf event was as stimulating as a date with a nun who had taken vows of chastity and silence. Most of things you now take for granted were pioneered by Frank, especially at the Masters, where he oversaw 38 green jacket presentations. Jim Nantz, who has been the front man for CBS golf for over 20 years, said: Frank is universally regarded as the father of golf television. He invented it. He has touched every golf production we watch today. Frank is a genius. He helped popularise the sport as much as anyone. He took a sport that no one knew how to televise and made it interesting. He brought the Masters Tournament to life.

Among his many innovations were putting microphones all over the course, so that viewers could not only see but hear what was happening, whether it be the sound of golf club hitting ball, or the reactions of the gallery to a particular shot previously tournaments were played out in apparently reverential silence. He said: Golf was like watching silent movies, it drove me crazy.

But that was just the start. Chirkinian also introduced roving reporters who followed a particular group, had the cups painted white so they could be seen on TV, added high-angle camera positions, from cranes, trees and even blimps flying overhead and most importantly, started the business of telling us a golfers score in relation to par, rather than as a cumulative number. Before this, difficult though it is to imagine, you might be informed, for example, that Arnold Palmer had just birdied the last to finish at 280, rather than eight-under par and you needed to be a mathematician to figure out where that put him in relation to the rest of the field. It was also Frank who persuaded the US Tour to move the Players Championship from March to May, so that each of five consecutive months had this event, or a major, as its centrepiece.

You dont become as influential as Chirkinian did without being strong-minded to the point of pig-headedness and Frank, who was the first to admit that he liked to remind everybody around him who was boss, took no prisoners in his determination to produce the best golf broadcasts he could. With the vocabulary of an illiterate dockyard worker and a fierce temper he could intimidate anyone and he revelled in his nickname of Ayatollah. Yet almost all those who worked with came to admire and respect his professionalism and appreciate that, behind the sometimes forbidding exterior, he was a big softie. He once said: In rehearsals I was profane as could be. I ripped everybody. We had seven announcers all wanting air time, and it was important they remember I was the boss. I treated my crew almost like children, and lets face it, sometimes children need to be spanked. It was a form of tough love.

And love was what they came to feel for a man who will be sorely missed, but whose influence lives on.

Mikes the man
Also in America, The United States Golf Association (USGA) has announced that Mike Davis is the governing bodys new executive director, succeeding David Fay, who retired in December after 21 years at the helm. Davis has been senior director of rules and competitions for the last six years and in that capacity has overseen the course set-up for the US Open, bringing just a little humanity and common sense to the role. The US Open is still played over tough layouts where little is given away but Davis has eliminated some of the more extreme and bizarre elements of the calendars second major, such as greens on which it is impossible to stop a golf ball, no matter what sort of shot is played. Let us hope he brings the same sort of common sense to his new job.

One final thought on the man he replaces, David Fay, who should be remembered and thanked for taking Americas national championship to a genuinely public course, Beth Page Black, in preference to the elite, country club venues at which it was traditionally held. For that I could forgive him a lot even his penchant for wearing bow ties.

PS
Tiger Woods shot 66 on Sunday in the final round of the WGC-Cadillac Championship to ignite all sorts of excited speculation in advance of next months Masters. But those who are tipping him to win the years first major should remember that the 66 followed rounds of 70, 74, 70 which left him tied 10th, and that he still can’t find a fairway. Augusta is more forgiving of errant driving than most major courses but one good putting round does not resurrect a career.

Quote of the week
[In 1983, after lightning postponed the start of the Masters] We dont want to get anybody killed. Of course, if we could pick which ones, it might be a different story.
Hord Hardin, Augusta chairman