Johnny Miller does more than just form golf's best announcing team with Dan Hicks on NBC Sports: He interacts with Roger Maltbie (a k a, The Course Whisperer) as though they are at a backyard BBQ, opines on everything from a player's swing to the topography of a course layout and never backs away from a criticism.

Here's the best part: Miller's darts, not always embraced by the PGA Tour players, are usually on target because he thoroughly understands his subject.

Any announcer, golf or otherwise, can have an opinion. But if that opinion is based on a flawed premise, then the opinion is no better than the inaccurate information on which it based. Miller rarely, if ever, goes off on a player or subject of which he knows little or nothing about. His passion for the game, and the way it should be played, comes through every time he is on air, all of which makes his appearances that much more refreshing.

Miller and NBC made their 2008 debut last weekend at the World Golf Championships-Match Play Championship, kicking off a swing in which the network will broadcast the next six PGA Tour events, including the entire Florida swing, leading up to the Masters. But even the best announcers are sometimes prone to baffling comments, and so it was with Miller during coverage Saturday of the semifinal matches.

After Henrik Stenson missed a putt in his match with Tiger Woods, Miller said, "He hit a great putt. He just misread it."

Now, Miller does not need me to tell him the incongruity of what he said, but part of hitting a good putt, much less a great putt, is determining the proper line. Or the proper speed, depending which method of putting a player prefers.

Ben Crenshaw, maybe the greatest pure putter of all time, always believed that speed determined the line. Others choose the line and adjust the speed to fit the putt. In any event, there can be no "great putt" if the line is misread.

Not to be negative.

Former British Open and Masters champion Sandy Lyle is one of five former major champion winners who will join the Champions Tour at some point this season. Who are the others? Answer at end.

At 5-feet-8, 160 pounds, Charles Warren wouldn't appear big enough to hit the ball with the tour's big boppers. But he does, using a simple swing that features an early rotation of the head toward the target and a powerful release of the body.

The move is very similar to the "peek-a-boo" swing used by Annika Sorenstam and David Duval in which the player is actually looking away from the ball at impact. And it has produced powerful yet consistent results for Warren, who led the PGA Tour in total driving last season while ranking ninth in driving distance, averaging 302.8 yards.

"Once you get the golf club swinging at a high level, you don't need to see the ball," said Matt Kluck, a master PGA professional who teaches at Mt. Lebanon Golf Course, when asked to assess the basic fundamentals of the swing. "I don't think they're concentrating on [the ball]. They're looking at something past the ball."

Most top players, such as Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, keep their heads on the ball during the swing, especially as they squat into their downswing. Warren, though, does the opposite, allowing him to easily release his body and produce great distance off the tee, despite his size.

Kluck said he doesn't think the average player should try to swing that way.

"I probably don't think it's something we can teach," Kluck said. "I think it's something someone develops at a very early age. Your clubs are going to seek their own path. At that level, you don't need to have your eyes on the ball, anyway."

Kelly Tilghman was talking about Woods and his dominance again the other day, though not in the manner that would attract Al Sharpton's attention or merit a two-week suspension. Tilghman, lead announcer on The Golf Channel, said Woods' most recent assault on the PGA Tour was reminiscent of his performance in 2000, not just because of the number of consecutive victories but more because of the lopsided margin of victories he is posting.

Woods, who has won his past six starts worldwide and the past four on the PGA Tour, is coming off his latest pasting -- an 8-and-7 victory against Stewart Cink in the Match Play Championship, the largest in the final match of the event. Since he won the BMW Championship (the FedEx Cup finale) in October to start his streak, he has won the Tour Championship by eight shots, the Target World Challenge by seven and the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines by eight.

Compare that to 2000 when, among his nine victories, he won the Bay Hill Invitational by four shots, the Memorial by five, the U.S. Open by a record 15, the British Open by eight and the WGC-NEC Invitational by 11. That's an average victory margin of 8.6 strokes in those events alone.

Woods, who has 63 career PGA Tour victories, could conceivably catch Jack Nicklaus for second place (73) in all-time victories this season, though to do so would mean he would win 12 times in 2008 -- three more than even his monster year in 2000.

• Michael Dixon has been named director of business operations for the 2010 U.S. Women's Open at Oakmont CC. Dixon, who lives in Robinson, has previous experience managing the 1992 U.S. Women's Open and the 1994 U.S. Open at Oakmont, in addition to serving as tournament manager for the former Quicksilver Classic.

• The West Course at Hershey CC will undergo a restoration and renovation project, beginning in the fall, and is scheduled to reopen in the spring of 2010. The restoration will be done by Lester George of George Golf Design in Richmond, Va.

Ian Woosnam (Masters), Hal Sutton (PGA), Larry Mize (Masters) and Steve Jones (U.S. Open) will also join the Champions Tour in 2008.