San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
Nantz, Faldo recall pall over ’20 Farmers
Nothing can prepare a person for the jarring flip of a switch, when the normal rhythms of life — or the comfortable cadence of sports events — are rocked to the absolute core. There is no playbook, no blueprint when shocking news unsettles so thoroughly that eyes glaze with disbelief.
As the final round of the Farmers Insurance Open gained its legs last Jan. 26, a thunderbolt spread like prairie fire across our ever-connected world.
A helicopter crash 140 miles north of Torrey Pines Golf Course, amid the same type of fog hugging the San Diego coastline that morning, had claimed NBA and Lakers legend Kobe Bryant. A rattled nation, along with millions upon millions across the globe, recoiled at the unspeakable loss of Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others.
When a national television audience tuned into the San Diego golf tournament, emotions and tangled thoughts met everyone at the first tee.
CBS golf voice Jim Nantz found out just moments
before the broadcast aired from longtime editorial consultant Tommy Spencer. There was little time to strategize or shape what would happen next. The moment required tapping into head and heart.
“We made a decision probably at 2:59 Eastern Time, one minute before we were going on the air, we need to isolate the opening of the broadcast from the golf tournament,” Nantz said this week as he prepared to call the Farmers nearly a year later. “We need to open up the broadcast by addressing this.”
Whispers rippled along rope lines as players navigating rounds remained oblivious to the enormity of the situation unfolding around them. The Farmers, just one stop among many on the PGA Tour, was about to become an unforgettable “where were you when you heard” for those walking the
course or riding a golfwatching couch.
Jaws slacked. Hearts sank.
“You didn’t know if the players inside the ropes had any idea how the whole nation was mourning,” Nantz recalled. “Marc Leishman won the tournament. I can barely remember that. I feel bad saying that about Mark. … As the broadcast went on, I think our voices reflected what the nation was feeling.”
The moment contemporary icon Tiger Woods learned that his friend was gone while walking off the South Course’s No. 18 green became an indelible moment.
Caddie Joe Lacava shelved the information until the round was complete, rather than obliterate the focus of Woods. The most famous player of his generation and perhaps any generation blurted “Excuse me?” as the news was delivered, failing to process it all.
“I didn’t really understand why people in the gallery were saying, ‘Do it for Mamba,’ ” said Woods, who finished in a tie for ninth. “It’s a shocker to everyone. Unbelievably sad.”
Suddenly, Torrey Pines found itself under an unexpected spotlight.
“We were stunned,” said
Nick Faldo, the CBS analyst who won the Masters and British Open three times each. “We were in shock.”
Golf became the vehicle to discuss and dissect true greatness without the aid or need of a script. Bryant, the 18-time All-star, piled up a staggering 33,643 points,
including the final 60 recorded in his last game. He epitomized brash, unapologetic confidence and winning.
Bryant transcended basketball, as the somber golf course reminded.
“Even to this day now, coming up on a year later, doesn’t feel real,” Nantz said.
Not only was Bryant gone, but gone at just 41. Photos and videos of the legend shedding the weight of international superstardom, interacting with Gianna as simply a dad and daughter tore at hearts. The megawatt smiles the pair shared made it all the more heartbreaking.
Torrey Pines reeled, along with the rest of America.
“For us to think, OK golf, let’s get real,” Faldo said. “Life is far more important than a golf tournament, but we’ve still got to present the golf tournament. To lose a legendary sportsman … yeah, a very difficult show for us.”
The 2020 tournament was one of the last golf events with fans before COVID-19 handcuffed daily lives. Walking the grounds from the clubhouse to concession stands, it was as if no other conversation existed. At every turn, golf talk yielded to the unthinkable.
Even Leishman, who won the tournament and $1.35 million, described one of his career highlights as “a very sad day.”
When CBS and the players return to San Diego for the tournament that begins Thursday, there will be no fans to infuse energy and provide the human soundtrack. It’s likely Nantz and the broadcast, though, will briefly mark the anniversary of a Farmers day unlike any other.
Golf grieved. Now, it remembers.
“A legend of legends,” Faldo said.
The game grinds on, with Torrey Pines in its sights. The perspective still lingers.