A Thomas Guide to the U.S. Open golf coverage

(Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press)
Tiger Woods, left, gets ready for his close-up by applying lip balm while talking with Jim Furyk during their practice session for the 107th U.S. Open Golf Championship at the Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pa., on Wednesday.

Coverage of the U.S. Open may be the first televised golf event to require a GPS system on top of the flatscreen for those at home trying to navigate through proceedings.
NBC, which has up to 16 hours of planned coverage from the Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania has put up an interesting “Roadblock” to start the festivities this morning.
Before KNBC Channel 4 comes on with first-round coverage from noon to 2 p.m. Thursday, NBC’s five other cable properties – USA, CNBC, MSNBC, Bravo, SciFi, plus Universal HD – will cut away to join NBC’s “Today” show at 8 a.m. EDT/5 a.m. PDT to simulcast the group assigned to tee off first -- defending champion Geoff Oglivy, ’06 British Open champ Tiger Woods and current U.S. amateur champ Richie Ramsay.
KNBC Channel 4, which starts its early-morning news programming at 5 a.m., will carry it live from 5:01 to 5:10 a.m. before returning to the newscsast. Three hours later, when the Pacific Time Zone is carrying the "Today" show in tape delay (7-to-10 a.m.), the event will be replayed in the 8 a.m. hour on KNBC Channel 4 as well.
"I think it's a neat concept to let the world know the tournament is starting through all the different platforms and the USGA website," said Tom Roy, NBC Sports' golf producer. "To have a marquee group -- not just Woods but having the reigning U.S. Amateur champion and the defending U.S. Open champion hit their shots at a time of day when you may not have sports fans watching but it's a general worldwide audience really is worth tuning in to."
“Today” show host Matt Lauer will co-host the event with NBC golf broadcasters Dan Hicks and Johnny Miller, giving Hicks a chance to say: “It’s the first time I’m competing with my wife (Hannah Storm) over at CBS (on the “Early Show”). But I'll just tell her that we've got Tiger Woods and she’s got nothing on her show.”
(How true. The program guide for Thursday's "Early Show" shows nothing more than a segment on "everything you need to know about kindergarten," what's the best sun screen to use and an interview with "Nancy Drew" star Emma Roberts during its 7-to-9 a.m. window. Even TiVo rejected that one when we requested a recording).
NBC also has the noon-to-2 p.m. window Friday. On Saturday and Sunday, NBC has six hours scheduled (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.). NBCSports.com has a live simulcast of NBC’s broadcast Thursday and Friday.
ESPN will supersize everything with more than 30 hours of coverage across its channels and websites. ESPN airs coverage Thursday and Friday with a 7 a.m.-to-noon block (beware: hosted by Chris Berman), followed by 2-to-4 p.m. (hosted by Mike Tirico), and a taped highlights package from 5-to-8 p.m.
While ESPN doesn’t have live coverage on the weekend, it will reair NBC’s third- and final-round coverage late Saturday (midnight-to-2:30 a.m., Sunday morning) and late Sunday (11:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. Monday).
The coolest aspect is what DirecTV and Dish Network will offer an interactive service of ESPN’s coverage Thursday and Friday. DirecTV’s four channel mosaic, which will look like "NFL Sunday Ticket" or the recent French Open, will allow viewers to watch four different feeds – a) ESPN’s live coverage, b) Tiger Woods’ group (Thursday) or Phil Mickelson’s group (Friday), plus feature specific holes when those two aren’t playing, c) press-room interviews and driving-range footage; and d) best shots of the day from the leaderboard. Dish Network will have those four, plus a screen for the day’s highlights and one of historical footage from past U.S. Opens. Viewers can watch and click onto whatever channel they like from the interactive moasic.
“This is the most indepth golf coverage in TV history,” said Eric Shanks, DirecTV’s executive vice president. “Just by watching it, you will take at least two strokes off your game.”
On radio, XM Satellite has play-by-play live each day on Channel 146 from 9 am. To 4 p.m.
The U.S. Open official website also has a webcast starting today.
Note: If an 18-hole playoff is necessary Monday, ESPN will do it from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., and NBC will have it from 11 a.m. until its conclusion.