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Scratch qualifying for the men's U.S. Open golf championship off the dwindling list of events that haven't gotten extensive TV coverage -- thanks to Michelle Wie.
Wie, 16, will attempt today to become the first woman to get into the Open as she plays 36 holes at a qualifier in Summit, N.J. The Golf Channel plans to provide highlights and on-site updates throughout the day leading in to a three-hour Open qualifying special that TGC spokesman Dan Higgins likens to "election-night coverage."
Well, there are various races and Open candidates because qualifying will take place on 11 courses and entrants include Mark O'Meara.
Says Higgins, "It could be history in the making, but coverage won't be exclusively about her." Still, Wie's sports psychologist, Jim Loehr, will be part of the special.
The show's extensiveness depends on how she does: If she doesn't qualify, Higgins says, the three-hour show will be shrunk to two hours.
On tap: ESPN's SportsCenter on Tuesday will include live coverage of Roger Clemens' first pitch (7:05 p.m. ET) in his first minor league start in his comeback. The show will be expanded to provide updates on the 60-75 pitches Clemens is expected to throw for the Class A Lexington (Ky.) Legends, whose lineup is expected to include Clemens' son Koby, 19. ... OLN adds retired NHL star Mark Messier as a studio analyst for the Edmonton Oilers-Carolina Hurricanes Stanley Cup Finals, which begin today. OLN will also carry Game2, then NBC picks up the rest of the series, whose home markets don't exactly bode well for ratings.
On cue: Fox's Joe Buck asked Dusty Baker tough questions -- about, say, his job security -- as the Chicago Cubs manager was miked and interviewed during the Cubs-St. Louis Cardinals baseball game Saturday.
Then Baker showed NASCAR-like media cooperation after Buck actually asked him, "Could you smile for Tim (McCarver) and I?"
Baker's reply: "You got it!"
Adios, TNT: TNT's NBA marathon ended Saturday with the Dallas Mavericks' Western Conference finals series-ending win against the Phoenix Suns; ABC will have exclusive coverage of the NBA Finals.
Charles Barkley, at halftime, managed to succinctly take a swipe at two of the NBA league office's most-cherished employee groups -- "The officials are doing a terrible job. ... Some fouls you've got to call, but you can't call every little WNBA foul." Magic Johnson offered this clip 'n' save on the Miami Heat-Dallas finals: "The role players will decide the championship." Too bad TNT's team won't be the one to call the Finals.
Bond holders: In TV, putting shows on "hiatus" usually means "euthanized." ESPN makes it official that Bonds on Bonds, on hiatus, is history. ESPN, in a statement, says the end came because Bonds wanted more "creative control." Not mentioned: Bonds' ratings barely kept pace with a pro paintball ESPN2 series.
Weird: En route to beating Paul Henri Mathieu in a French Open tennis match Saturday, defending champ Rafael Nadal had an injury timeout because a banana was stuck in his throat, prompting NBC's Mary Carillo to say the timeout "could seriously hurt Nadal's reputation as a tough guy." Later, Nadal said he stopped so "we don't have a tragedy. If it looked bad, I didn't care."
Also in Paris, ESPN2 continues wall-to-wall French Open coverage this week with Venus Williams the only American remaining. Coordinating producer Bill Bonnell hopes to keep audiences by cutting away from matches that aren't close: "We had a philosophy in the past of showing full matches. But American players stuck around more. And especially on clay, you can tell when a match is over."
Creative: During Sunday's rain delay in Jack Nicklaus' Memorial Tournament on CBS, Jim Nantz interviewed Nicklaus about the money clip he won in a 1963 PGA long-driving contest -- "341 yards, 17 inches," Nicklaus said -- and has carried since. Said Nicklaus, "Can you imagine not losing a money clip!" ... Presenters for ESPN's July16 Espy awards show will include Reggie Bush, LeBron James, Terrell Owens and Carmen Electra. No wonder the show gets big names: Last year's official Espy presenter gift bag included certificates for a teeth-whitening treatment as well as a treatment to temporarily reduce the appearance of one's cellulite.
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