Sizing up the TV coverage from the Sony Open ... and away we go.
There are times when a 60 minutes-style grilling is warranted. Unfortunately for Golf Channel anchor Kelly Tilghman, that time wasn't during a post-round interview with Matt Every.
To get you up to speed if you don't know Every's story, he was charged with possession of marijuana back in late 2010, was suspended from the tour for three months, and subsequently missed out on retaining his tour card when he returned to play in the final event of the season.
Needless to say, his first shot on tour didn't go as planned. But like a lot of college kids, Every have since grown up and learned from his mistakes.
Leading the Sony Open after three rounds, you expected Tilghman to lob him a couple softballs about his round; making a return to the PGA Tour; and maybe highlight a few interests from his tour bio. Simple stuff, really.
It certainly seemed like the interview was going that way ... until Tilgman tried weave an interesting segue into the next question by likening the scene in Hawaii to Every's favorite TV series, "Lost": "But then, the word 'lost' might also be a fitting word to describe the state of your mind two years ago when you were arrested on drugs charges and suspended from the PGA Tour," Tilghman said. "Take us back and tell us what it was like?"
And suddenly the interview got interesting. Out of nowhere, Tilghman decided to change things up, digging into Every's past and catching him completely off guard -- during a post-round interview at the Sony Open.
Much to Tilghman's chagrin, Every didn't shirk from the question and apologize for his mistake: "It was all right," said Every. "I just got three months off. It was just golf. I didn't think I did anything wrong. I'm the same person, I have the same friends. I don't think it's that big a deal, what I got in trouble for."
If you follow the PGA Tour on a weekly basis, you know there's a lot of "golfspeak" going on at every tournament. With the exception of a couple guys, most aren't willing to show their cards in front of the media. But here was Every, being honest and open with Tilghman when, quite frankly, he could have just said it was a private matter and moved on.
"There's a lot worse stuff that goes on out here," he later said in the interview, in a moment that almost certainly had Tim Finchem squirming in his seat.
Look, I understand there are times when digging into an athlete's past is warranted. But this wasn't one of those times. If anything, Tilghman should have passed on the question -- she's done this countless times before with high-profile names -- and let sleeping dogs lie.
But because Every's a relative nobody on the PGA Tour, she figured his past was fair game. I rarely blast the Golf Channel for poor interview questions because, most of the time, I really like what they do.
However, this time they were in the wrong. Tilghman tried to offer a mea culpa near the end of the interview to smooth things over, but the damage had already been done.
It's a shame Every's past had to be put on display in what could be one of the most awkward interviews in the network's history.
The Segway has a future on the PGA Tour
When the Segway was first introduced, people figured it would change our lives forever. That never happened. While the two-wheeled contraption hasn't exactly lived up to the hype, the Golf Channel may have found a use for it in their golf coverage.
Dubbed the "Segway cam," the network started putting cameramen on the machines, giving them the ability to wheel up and down the fairways and produce 360-degree views from the course that you normally don't see during a broadcast.
It also allows cameramen to get rid of the cords, go wireless and follow the players as they walk each hole. While that might not seem like that big of a deal, having a roving camera on the course that can move from one hole to the next, if need be, could be a home run for the network.
The Golf Channel first rolled out the camera last year at the McGladrey Classic, and so far, it appears the new view from the course is a nice addition to the weekly coverage.
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