HIS UNIQUE claim to fame is that "nobody has ever done 37 (years) of anything in a row in television, to my knowledge." Not even Gay Byrne, for Godsakes. And at 69, Frank Chirkinian, will be at the helm once again this week as producer of the US Masters telecast for the CBS network.
Unlike other golf coverage from the US, there will be none of those mind blowing station breaks. Neither will there be any of the painfully crass cross promoting of the network's other programmes. Only four minutes of advertising will be permitted each hour, with the bill being shared by two, high profile sponsors Cadillac and Travellers Insurance.
On being asked what was the funniest thing that ever happened to him at the Masters, Chirkinian replied: "Nothing funny ever happens there." He went on to explain that Augusta National's only standing edict was never to mention money, because it is supposed to be irrelevant as motivation to any golfer who might aspire to wearing the coveted green jacket.
But the CBS man also admitted: "There are certain things that you do at Augusta National and certain things that you don't do. If you don't follow rules, you're going to suffer." Among the television people who have come to grief are Jack Whitaker, who was banned from the telecast more than 30 years ago after referring to the Masters gallery as "a mob," and, more recently, Gary McCord.
According to Chirkinian: "Gary said some things that were repugnant to members of the club. I don't think what he said was offensive and I fought like hell to keep him, but when it came to keeping Gary or losing the Masters, I gave in. I'm convinced that if we hadn't agreed to drop Gary (last year), they were ready to walk. We were in a lose lose situation.
McCord's sin was to suggest that the club had applied bikini wax to the apron of the green at the long 15th, so as to punish shots which were not struck with absolute precision. "I was able to bring Whitaker back and I'm sure McCord will be back too," said the producer. "I don't think McCord's banishment is a life sentence."
Among Chirkinian's more notable credits are the Squaw Valley Olympics in 1960 and the 1978 Ali Spinks fight. His ability to balance sport and spectacle has won him four Emmy awards, a Peabody Award and the American PGA's Lifetime Achievement Award. "Football, baseball and basketball games all look alike, no matter where you watch them," he contends. "Only golf tournaments are different on each network."
Reared in Philadelphia but now a resident of Jupiter, Florida, Chirkinian signed a contract last year with CBS that extends his Masters duty until the end of the century. Indeed his position is so powerful that he threatened to walk away from the tournament in 1994 because of what he considered to be a crucial, emotional aspect of his coverage.
"They (Augusta National officials) decided they didn't want us to show the golfers' reaction after they hit a shot," he said. "They felt it meant showing the players in a poor light. Of course when I'm producing, I'm thinking more about the drama a reaction can convey, the total effect, rather than whether I'm offending a particular golfer.
"I told them if they didn't want reaction shots, they'd have to find another producer. And they backed off. So, they're not as dogmatic as people make them out to be."
Maybe so. But their reaction also spoke volumes for the esteem in which Chirkinian is held, as the key link between the network and the club, Then there is his undoubted expertise. For instance, CBS colleagues maintain that he knows exactly how many times Jack Nicklaus will look up before he plays a shot and how long Greg Norman will fidget before striking the ball. As a fellow produce pointed: "If you call those things wrong, you'll inevitably fall behind and sometimes you can never catch up. Frank never falls behind."
Chirkinian's views on golf are no less fascinating. "Golf by its nature is a dull game," he said. "It takes only about three and a half minutes to strike the ball over a whole round. So, we set our own tempo and create our own drama."
On the Saturday, this can involve cutting from one shot to the next, player to player, criss crossing the fairways to achieve synthetic drama, a rhythm that never actually exists on the course. Then, on Sunday, the pace slows. The focus is brought to bear on the leaders and their emotions as the battle for the Masters builds to a climax.
He has televised every Masters since 1959, spanning the Palmer era, then to Nicklaus, Player, Watson and Floyd, before witnessing the remarkable switch to European dominance, spearheaded by Seve Ballesteros in 1980. It is unquestionably the most visually appealing telecast in golf. And as seen through Chirkinian's eyes, it can also be the most dramatic.
. This year's Masters field will be 94 strong, eight more than last April. It will include 12 Europeans - former winners Seve Ballesteros, Bernhard Langer, Sandy Lyle, Nick Faldo and Woosnam, Ryder Cup partners Montgomerie, Torrance, David Gilford and Costantino Rocca, and debutants Mark Roe, Alexander Cejka and British amateur champion Gordon Sherry.
