ESPN, CBS give us ‘last’ing impression of Tiger

IT HAS come to this: In order to milk Tiger Woods completely dry — he finished last among those making the cut — ESPN and CBS combined to destroy this year’s Masters by design.

Even the standard Tiger Woods excesses were exceeded, last week, as Woods, just making the cut, surpassed and superseded all else.

But as reader David Distefano noted, Vijay Singh , at 61 — 13 years older than Woods — made the cut but was never seen.

Given that Woods had no shot after 36 holes, live coverage was still fully devoted to him. The leader, Scottie Scheffler, was often shown on tape so that Woods, as much as 16 back and finally finishing 24 back, could be seen live.

The obnoxious insults to those who had planned or at least wanted to watch the Masters — the fools! — hit them coming and going. Saturday, with Woods tied for 60th, CBS’s website declared,“Tiger Begins Third Round at Masters.”

A quick cut to SiriusXM’s golf channel to learn who was leading brought a screenshot of reader Bill Maroney’s dashboard that read only, “60th, Tiger Woods.” Maroney: “Who cares who’s winning? I need to know who’s in 60th place!”

Naturally, Sunday, as Woods was finishing 27 shots back, Pastor Jim Nantz conducted another maudlin on-course memorial service to the heroic rounds played by Tiger Woods, who withstood hardships — some, physical impairments that were self-inflicted but never, ever mentioned — such as wind, water, bad lies and tough greens.

But TV doesn’t care if it embarrasses itself or betrays its promise to televise a major. And Nantz apparently doesn’t care if his relentlessly obsequious and selective Tiger Woods pandering is a lasting stain on his credibility and legacy.