I've been trying to satisfy my televised golf withdrawal syndrome by watching Australian and Thailand tourneys, among other things. I even DVR'd the Shark Shootout this weekend.

Today, I click on the recorded yet still in progress final round of the Shark Shootout, and I'm shocked to hear a loud and unsettling Joe Buck doing the intro of the telecast, then realizing it's on Fox. I thought the US Open would be their first broadcast, but I guess I'm wrong.

It's early, but as of now I'm not sure this is going to work. The good and the bad, so far:

Good:

- In Joe Buck's opening monologue he credits CBS, Frank Chirkainian, and all of those before who made televised golf great.

- Buck says Fox will above all "respect the game", they are honored to televise it and that right now they "aren't worthy" but will try their best to be respected some day.

- Greg Norman as an analyst / color guy has potential.


Bad:

- Using standard Fox Sports / NFL bumper music for intro and to transition into commercials. Are you kidding me? This is golf, not wrestling. Better get with Yanni, Kenny G or whomever to get some new stuff. In June if they replace the US Open theme with this crap I might throw a wedge into the TV.

- Joe Buck needs to tap the brakes. No need to whisper or walk on eggshells but dial it the **** down. Geeze this is annoying.


Anyone else watching this? And is Fox also doing Tour events....if so, how many?

When I've watched, I've mostly heard Faxon and Flesch, who are pretty good.

Joe Buck is terrible. Always liked Norman though. I can see him being good.

Didn't get to watch much but it's a given Buck will suck the life out of the broadcast. He's a baseball guy. As bad as he is at football you just had to know he couldn't do golf.