Courtesy Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

(June 18, 2010) One characteristic of televised sports in recent years has been to take viewers inside more - inside huddles, inside locker rooms and arranging in-game interviews with coaches who answer questions even as their teams are playing.

To gain that kind of access, the television partners have to first get the permission of the lords who rule over their sports, followed by the cooperation of the teams and players.

One would assume sports television producers all think that unfettered access to players during game time is the ideal scenario, what they are all aiming to get.

So it came as a bit of surprise this week to hear Tommy Roy, who has long been the executive producer of NBC Sports' golf telecasts, say that he is not keen on putting microphones on players in competition. But that doesn't mean he's not for more access, just access to something coherent and interesting.

NBC is televising the U.S. Open this week in Pebble Beach, Calif.

"I'm not a fan of 'mic-ing' players," Roy said during a conference call with reporters. "We actually spend a lot of time working on our audio. We listen in on players now with shotgun 'mics,' not only out on the fairway but on the tees."

Roy contends if you mic a player, you can only get one side of the player-caddy conversation, in this case the player's.

"You hear what he says, but not what the caddy says," Roy said. "With our microphones, you pick up the entire conversation, and it's crucial to hear both sides of it."

Roy said shotgun mics are not used on the green when a player and caddy are discussing the read of a putt.

"I just think the conversations that take place on the greens are just not as scintillating or interesting or informational as what we get out in the fairway. So, I'm a fan of the shotgun mics like we use now."

Roy said he would be a fan of interviewing players out in the fairway at a PGA Tour event in a manner similar to what television does at Champions Tour events, where course reporters are allowed to interview players out on the fairways while they are in competition but between shots.

"Especially in the heat of the battle," Roy said. "If it would become something that is not affecting the outcome of the battle. In other words, I don't want it to be something that would affect the players because we have distracted them from their game. But if it can be done in a way that is in between shots and not take them mentally out of it, then I'm all for it."

For any of that to take place, the PGA Tour would have to initiate the change and convince players that, if used judiciously, in-competition interviews would enhance fans' interest in televised golf tournaments.

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