While the World’s Best Are Golfing, ABC Goes Rolfing

Imagine an announcer going into the huddle to give advice to Troy Aikman during the Super Bowl, or talking with Michael Jordan during a timeout at an NBA championship game.

Well, ABC’s Mark Rolfing did something like that during the final round of last year’s U.S. Open.

Rolfing’s job is to walk with the leader, or the hottest golfer among the leaders. Going into the final round at Pebble Beach last year, Tom Kite was one stroke behind Gil Morgan, who was fading, and Rolfing and producer Terry Jastrow figured that Kite, golf’s leading money winner, was due to win a major tournament.

So Rolfing followed Kite and his partner, Mark Brooks, who were playing ahead of Morgan and Ian Woosnam.

Some people might think that Kite, who shot a 72 that day, won the Open when he chipped in from the rough for a birdie on the 107-yard par-three seventh hole.

But Rolfing said from Baltusrol, site of this week’s U.S. Open, that the turning point occurred two holes earlier, on No. 5, when Kite sank a 15-foot par putt.

Kite had watched as Brooks four-putted from 18 feet on the third hole, then had his own troubles on the fourth.

Only 100 yards away after his tee shot, Kite hit over the green into a bunker. He blasted out, then watched as his ball rolled away from the pin, all the way down to the front of the green. He three-putted on the dry, firm green for a double bogey.

At that point Kite, usually as gentlemanly and cool as they come, was very much upset. Rolfing said Kite complained about the greens, first to Paul Spengler, the Open’s general chairman, then to U.S. Golf Assn. officials, then to Rolfing.

According to Rolfing, Kite said: “If you don’t tell the American public about what the USGA has done to these greens, you’re not doing your job.”

Added Rolfing: “He was right on the edge. He was about to lose it. I told him, ‘Hey, settle down. You’ve got a lot of holes to play.’ ”

Kite hit a bad tee shot on No. 5, but after saving par, he got two consecutive birdies, and nothing but good things happened after that.

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Rolfing has one of the more enviable jobs in broadcasting, walking golf courses with the biggest names in the game.

Not bad for a guy who, after trying twice in the mid-1970s, never qualified for the PGA Tour.

Rolfing, 44, played college golf at DePauw in Greencastle, Ind., where he was a teammate and roommate of Dan Quayle.

Rolfing ended up in Hawaii, where he became a club pro at the Kapalua resort in Maui. He now has several business interests there, where he lives with his wife, Debi, although the couple also has a summer home in Montana.

Rolfing has been a golf announcer since 1985, when he was hired by producer Don Ohlmeyer, who then had ties to ESPN. Rolfing was with ESPN until 1988, when he went to NBC. This is his second season with ABC.

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Rolfing is on the announcing team at the Open with Brent Musburger, Jim McKay, Peter Alliss, Steve Melnyk, Jerry Pate, Bob Rosburg, Judy Rankin, essayist Jack Whitaker and, if available, Jack Nicklaus and Peter Jacobsen. Both Nicklaus and Jacobsen are playing in the tournament.

The leader of this group is producer Jastrow, who is working his 26th U.S. Open.

Jastrow, 44, worked his first as a scorer for announcer Bud Palmer in 1968, when Lee Trevino won at Oak Hill in Rochester, N.Y. He began directing golf in 1975 and has been ABC’s senior golf producer since 1988.

Jastrow, from Midland, Tex., competed against Kite when both were kids. Kite, also 44, is from Austin. Jastrow, a Texas state junior golf champion, went to the University of Houston on a golf scholarship.

But he ended up concentrating more on television production and acting than golf, and his interest in the entertainment business brought him to Southern California in the mid-1970s.

He met his wife, actress Anne Archer, in an acting class in 1977, and they now live in Brentwood.

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Czar he goes: The Cleveland Cavaliers’ gain is NBC’s loss.

Mike Fratello, “the czar of the Telestrator,” as Marv Albert has dubbed him, has decided to go back to coaching, which is too bad for viewers. Fratello is a broadcasting natural. He also played a key role in the development of Magic Johnson as a broadcaster.

Now there is a possibility that Johnson will replace Fratello as Marv Albert’s partner at NBC.

“We’ll sit down with Dick Ebersol (president of NBC sports) in a month or so,” said Lon Rosen, Johnson’s agent. “He really enjoys (broadcasting), I know that.”

That’s pretty obvious, and his upbeat style and perceptive insights have made Johnson a delight to listen to. The positives more than make up for his diction problems, which Johnson is working on.

Rosen said that money is not a factor in determining whether Johnson returns to NBC next season. But he may become a minority owner of a proposed NBA franchise in Toronto, and if he did that, he would have to give up his NBC job.

TV-Radio Notes

Best line of Game 4 of the NBA finals came from Phoenix Coach Paul Westphal. Interviewed by NBC’s Hannah Storm at halftime, Westphal said: “I looked at the stat sheet and (Michael Jordan) has only one assist. I really think if he wants to be recognized as an all-around player he should start passing the ball around.” Jordan finished with four assists, not enough to satisfy Westphal, since he also had 55 points. . . . Generally, NBC is doing a good job televising the NBA finals, but there is too much bouncing around from camera to camera. The close-ups are nice, but please, NBC, keep it simple.

Wimbledon begins Monday, and HBO this year will have live weekday coverage during the first week, beginning at 6 a.m. The second week, HBO will have delayed coverage, beginning weekdays at 5 p.m. . . . John Lloyd, who lives in Pacific Palisades, has been added to HBO’s announcing team, replacing the late Arthur Ashe. Lloyd will join Jim Lampley, Billie Jean King, Barry MacKay, John Lloyd, and reporters Larry Merchant and Cris Collinsworth. Andrea Joyce will serve as host of HBO’s highlight show. . . . Although NBC’s Wimbledon coverage won’t begin until June 26, the network will televise a tribute to Ashe, “Hard Road to Glory,” Saturday at 1 p.m. The show is an edited version of a special carried by PBS two years ago.

Brian Golden and Paola Boivin did their last midday show for KMPC last Friday, and Golden did Monday’s show alone before the time slot was turned over to fast-rising Tony Femino on Tuesday. But Golden and Boivin are still under contract to the station until September and will have fill-in roles at various times. Golden subbed for Joe McDonnell on Thursday and today. . . . Although the station saved money by not hiring any new on-air people to replace morning co-hosts Chris Roberts and Jack Snow, who were working as fill-ins after Lampley left the station, it did give Fred Wallin a raise to make the move from nights to mornings.

KMPC got some good news this week. The latest Arbitron trends show that, in men 18-plus, the station went from a 1.1 share to a 2.1 for April and May. . . . Don Imus’ morning show on New York’s WFAN has gone into syndication, but KMPC General Manager Bill Ward said his station is no longer interested in Imus’ show. “We like our new lineup,” Ward said. “We’re happy with the changes.” . . . One of the high points of the week for KMPC was McDonnell’s interview Monday with Rick Barry, who said he would be interested in coaching the Clippers if he were offered the job.

For the record: National press releases on “NBA Stories,” the NBA-produced feature show on NBC last Friday, said it would be on before Game 2 of the NBA finals. And it was--in the East. In the West, it was on after the game. . . . Prime Ticket, which will televise Angel games Saturday and Sunday, did not televise last Saturday’s Angel game because it was taken off the schedule once the Kings qualified for the Stanley Cup finals.

Comedian Robert Wuhl, who played the fast-talking coach in “Bull Durham,” will be Prime Ticket’s celebrity Angel announcer Saturday. He will work at least the sixth inning. Said Wuhl: “In one inning, I can solve all the problems ailing baseball, (including) why the hell Century Cable isn’t carrying (Prime Ticket’s) Angel games.”

Ratings game: The U.S.-Germany soccer game on ABC last Sunday got a respectable 2.0 national rating--the L.A. rating was 1.8--but the triple-overtime NBA game on NBC got a 17.0. . . . Game 4 of the NBA finals Wednesday night got a 19.8 national rating, second-highest behind a 21.2 for Game 7 of the 1988 finals between the Detroit Pistons and the Lakers. The four-game average this year is 17.1, on pace for an all-time high. The record average is 15.9 for the six-game series between the Lakers and Boston Celtics in 1987.