Woods-free Sunday not bad at Masters

Sanctuary!

All we want to do is watch and listen to what we tuned in to watch and listen to. Why has that become such an iffy deal? We wouldn’t mind the punishment if we only knew the charges.

The Masters: Coverage and the number of players covered, of course, hinged on how well Tiger Woods performed. Saturday’s CBS telecast of a 12-man rise/fall/rise session was good for the wrong reason: No Woods to dog; he finished early, out of it.

Friday, CBS (produced by ESPN) focused on him as he decided what club to hit. As he was making up his mind, CBS cut to a graphic giving conditions. Jim Nantz concluded the improving weather would be beneficial — not for all still on the course, but “for Tiger.” CBS wasted 1:15 of live coverage waiting for Woods to hit.

Friday, Nick Faldo slapped at Woods for his brattish behavior. Good. For years we thought we’d been imagining things.

But where had Faldo been in his previous 20 opportunities? He’d been as inclined to enable, excuse, ignore, rationalize and even admire (as evidence of his perfectionism and superior determination) Woods’ tantrums, as were the rest of TV’s Tiger Choir.

Most fascinating about coverage from Days 1 and 2, when Augusta National played soggy, notes reader Pat Gavin, was that “only Tiger had to deal with mud on his ball.”

And among the four who finished at plus-five, 15 back, CBS still listed Woods first.

At least the tacit rules of TV coverage of the Masters made for rich, if unintended, humor. Tee boxes became “teeing grounds,” bleachers became “patron observation platforms.” Oy.

And reader David Murray asks if we noticed it seemed the commercial interruptions — once kept to a minimum — this year didn’t appear as minimal.

We did, David, but that’s because the Masters folks want to apply that added revenue to building a women’s locker room.

But credit the Masters for this: It allowed no crawls along the bottom of ESPN’s screen — for those needing to know, 15-to-20 times per half-hour, what NFL Insider Adam Schefter “reports” and Senior NFL Insider Chris Mortensen “confirms,” a pity.

Yesterday, Louis Oosthuizen won the day before he stepped to the, er, teeing ground on No. 3 with an historic, off-the-wall, saw-it-all-the-way double eagle.

After Oosthuizen flipped the ball into the gallery — er, toward the patrons — David Feherty cracked, “Just imagine if this were baseball.” Great moments.

Yesterday’s final round grew to be even more sensational. Wonder how many tens of thousands were conditioned not to bother with it because Woods was out of it?

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