T wo amazing stories played out at the U.S. Open yesterday – stories of hope, skill and redemption.

But they weren't the two stories NBC decided to feature.

The real stories were those involving Ricky Barnes and David Duval, the former a career plodder ranked 519th in the world; the latter a faded star ranked just ahead of the assistant pro at Don Valley.

Barnes was threatening to run away with the tournament early and Duval was doggedly hanging in with the top groups. As analyst Johnny Miller said several times, ``This is quite a story."

Indeed it was. So why did NBC give us the same old, same old: Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson?

Oh, Barnes and Duval got some camera time, but most of the oohs and aahs and all the loving cameos were reserved for Woods and Mickelson.

When Mickelson teed off and landed on the fairway yesterday morning, NBC's Peter Jacobsen set the tone for the day.

"Phil wants to make an early statement here," Jacobsen gushed. At the time, Mickelson was seven strokes off the lead.

And though Woods was even further behind, viewers got to see his every move, even when he wasn't moving.

The other golfers were pretty much afterthoughts.

At one point, announcer Dan Hicks asked, ``Where is Mike Weir?" when cameras showed him in deep rough. How he got there was a mystery. At the time, Weir was in third place.

While Barnes and Duval eventually got their share of coverage, they couldn't match Woods and Mickelson in the fawning department.

When Woods finished his third round, 10 strokes behind Barnes, Jacobsen apparently decided that he, too, had sent a message.

"He's within shouting distance," Jacobsen said.

When Hicks mentioned Woods has never won a major after trailing heading into the final round, Jacobsen refused to back down.

"There's always a first time," he said.

The fawning continued after Mickelson finished the third round.

"What would it mean to you to come back now from this far, like you were, to win this championship?" reporter Mark Rolfing asked him.

Mickelson, seven strokes behind at that point, looked flabbergasted.

"We're jumping way ahead," he said. But not far enough for NBC, apparently.

Poor Barnes didn't get centre stage until the NBC-anointed favourites finished, even though he had the second-lowest 54-hole total in U.S. Open history.

There's no denying fans want to see Woods and Mickelson.

But there's also no denying fans want to see good golf, and good golf stories, too.