The Golf Channel once again dispatched Johnson Wagner out to a harrowing course to sink or swim with his short game after Friday’s action at the PGA Championship. Live From struck gold with the bit last summer when the player/analyst recreated Bryson DeChambeau’s decisive bunker save under the watchful guise of the People's Champion himself in a bit of television magic. Whoever came up with the idea has hopefully long since been rewarded with a raise. Because no matter how many times they trot the segment out, it always delivers.
Live sporting coverage thrives and compels because, despite the cuts, action is the most showy of all the clubs in a director's bag. There is no second chance at it. Whatever happens ... happens. There’s a loose script and blocking yet it’s beholden to the immutable fact that there are countless permutations of possibility once Wagner’s wedge strikes the ball.
In this edition he provided context for various shots at the short par-4 14th, which proved pivotal in shaping the leaderboard entering the weekend and figures to have a say in who ultimately hoists the trophy on Sunday. Wagner attempted the same challenges faced by Jhonattan Vegas, Matthew Fitzpatrick and Scottie Scheffler while Rich Lerner, Brandel Chamblee and Paul McGinley monitored from the comfort of their desk.
Unlike the perfection at Pinehurst, none of Wagner’s three attempts were anything to write home about and two would have guaranteed par or worse. But here’s the thing: that’s entertaining too.
Consider some of the more high-profile moments through the first two days of action at Quail Hollow. There was the top three players in the world all posting double-bogey Thursday at No. 16. Shane Lowry completely losing it over being forced to play a fairway approach from a divot. Tyrrell Hatton doing what Tyrrell Hatton does and berating his driver with profanity after it sailed a tee shot into water.
There’s something innate in the human fabric that delights at rubbernecking. Some people watch auto racing solely for the crashes. A non-significant portion of golf fans tune in to root for the course and chaos. And on its face that may seem like a bad thing. Yet consider the scenes of the last major contested when Rory McIlroy’s Grand Slam ascendence was framed by failure spanning from Thursday to the 72nd hole.
It takes a special type of courage to tackle the hardest sport on full public view. It takes resilience to stay patient through error and embarrassment when the immediate situation is crumbling and the scorecard is getting awfully boxy.
Talk to anyone in golf media and they invariably bring up one of its differentiators. An overwhelming majority of fans stop playing the game they love as they age. Memories of Little League or Pop Warner grow increasinlgly fuzzy. It’s difficult to wrap one's head and hands around hitting a 95 mph fastball or going across the middle on a crossing route.
Golf, though, is a lifetime activity. Conditions may vary but PGA Championship viewers can draw upon immediate memories of similar shots and situations encountered at the local muni or work scramble last weekend. Obviously few have stood over an up-and-down opportunity with a championship on the line but everyone can understand the stakes of pride or petty gambling between friends.
Wagner exists in a sweet spot because he is a professional yet an audience avatar. There is nothing truly at stake when he engages a backswing but content. No one, save for a few true sickos, is keeping score or keeping track of his success rate on these live television displays. And yet it feels like it matters somehow because it’s a bridge to those at home criticizing to imagining themselves as the person in the arena. He feels like one of us, even if deep down he’s better than all of us.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Striking TV Gold on Golf Channel, Johnson Wagner’s Going to Do It Live.
