Network’s sports cameras blinked on Pagunsan

SACRAMENTO, California—Juvic Pagunsan, the Asian Golf Circuit’s top money winner made an auspicious debut on the lucrative PGA Tour last week.

Pagunsan, our top shot maker, finished with a respectable 4-under 284 total—12 shots behind the eventual winner Justin Rose of England in the WGC-Cadillac Championship in Miami, Florida.

But the game’s die-hards in the United States, Filipino fans included hardly noticed.

Cameras of the NBC network never blinked while following the rounds of the top 10 in contention for the title.

One annoying exception: show producers even switched to their eye in the sky aboard a blimp to follow Tiger Woods and his golf cart ride to the parking lot when he withdrew with an injured left foot after 11 holes on the last day of competition.

An inconvenient fact about the NBC coverage is its devotion to Woods and its fetish for focusing only the crown contenders during its weekend broadcast. It was Tiger this, Tiger that even as he made bad shots and bogeys and dropped golf clubs in disgust.

I can’t be the only golf fan pissed by this inadequate TV account of the WGC-Cadillac, a tournament of world magnitude. I’m sure countless more are up in arms for being deprived of the chance to see some of the planet’s emerging golfers in action, including Pagunsan.

The 33-year old former Bacolod City caddie, in his first ever round of professional golf in the mainland USA, carded a 3-under 69 in brutal wind over the demanding Blue Monster at Doral in Miami, Florida on the first day of the GWC-Cadillac.

That feat alone would have earned Asia’s Order of Merit champion his proverbial 15 minutes of fame.  Sorry, Juvic.  For NBC, showing Woods in all his agony and ecstasy—beats clips of Pagunsan and more action from others like Englishman Luke Donald, the European Tour’s money leader and world’s no. 2 player—anytime.

Juvic’s, meltdowns on the back nine, including the dreaded, 18th hole, one of the most difficult in pro golf, took their toll, although he still managed to finish in an eight-man logjam for 35th place, ahead of some of golf’s most famous names among an elite field of 74.

He won the equivalent of 2.6 million pesos for a weekend of work, enough to recoup travel expenses and bank a King’s ransom when he returns to Manila.

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Heads up to wealthy investors seriously eyeing a sports franchise.

Your pocket lint could buy your way into the Sacramento Kings, if your aim is minority ownership, not control of the struggling NBA team.

A 7 percent share of the Kings is about to be offered for sale.

The Sacramento Bee newspaper said Kings minority owner Bob Cook is in bankruptcy protection and his share in the team will likely end up on the auction block.

Cook owes millions he borrowed and plowed into a troubled hotel development near the Sacramento River. He put up his Kings stake as security when he borrowed money. Cook defaulted on the debt that has since ballooned to $15 million.

The sale of Cook’s share as part of the bankruptcy proceeding could open a window in the team’s finances. The team’s true dollar worth is a guarded secret.
But Forbes Magazine reported recently that the franchise is worth around $300 million, putting Cook’s share at roughly $21 million.

The Kings’ existing partners, including the Maloofs, the majority owners, would have first right of refusal to bid on Cook’s share. But it could also be sold to an outsider.