CBS won’t put ‘ heads in sand’ covering LIVers at Masters

How will broadcasters address – or ignore – the elephant in the room that is the ongoing civil war in professional golf with 18 members of LIV Golf competing at the 87th Masters?

It was an obvious question and one CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus knew was going to be asked during its annual pre- Masters conference call.

“We’re not going to cover up or hide anything,” he said Monday. “As I’ve said often, our job is to cover the golf tournament. We’re not going to show any different treatment for the golfers who have played on the LIV Tour than the other golfer. If there is a pertinent point or something that we feel we should bring up in our coverage Saturday or Sunday or on our other coverage throughout the week, we’re not going to put our heads in the sand.”

It was an interesting choice of expressions because when asked on previous calls with journalists, he has been quick to shut down any discussion of the topic. In a January call before the CBS team kicked off its season at the Farmers Insurance Open, CBS lead producer Sellers Shy was asked if there were any guidelines or rules for his broadcast team pertaining to LIV and what they can say? Before Shy could answer, McManus cut him off. “I don’t want to get into discussing any other golf programming. I’d like to keep it to CBS.”

This time, McManus had more to say: “Having said that, unless it really affects the story that’s taking place on the golf course, we’re not going to go out of our way to cover it. I’m not sure there is anything that we could add to this story as it already exists. It’s a factor and we’ll cover it as suitable.”

When Shy was asked if there is a part of him that roots for a LIV player to be in contention going into Sunday because of the interest it would draw, he said, “We’re not cheerleaders here. We just want to cover the golf tournament.”

When the topic resurfaced in a question posed to Trevor Immelman, CBS’ lead analyst said, “The Masters tournament and Augusta National is bigger than any player that has come before, any player that is around now and any player that will come in the years ahead. That’s what we’re focused on.”