ESPN announced Thursday that part of its coverage for next week’s British Open will include an exclusive Tiger Woods broadcast.

The network says the feed will follow Woods for each round as he makes his first major championship start of the year at Royal Liverpool. The broadcast will be available as a feed on ESPN3. Should Woods miss the cut, ESPN will follow other players over the weekend. Trey Wingo will host the channel, along with commentary from Tom Weiskopf and David Duval, who Woods supplanted as the No.1 player in the world in 1999.

(USA TODAY Sports Images)

This is one of those ideas you read about and think — wow, I can’t believe no one thought of this sooner. Like it or not, Tiger is the main draw for a majority of sports fans. Ratings for the Masters and U.S. Open plummeted without his presence. Offering viewers the all-Tiger experience makes perfect sense.

Of course, networks usually give viewers the all-Tiger experience anyway. If Tiger is on the course during a major, chances are you’re seeing most of his shots live, no matter whether he’s lurking around the lead or way off the pace. The benefit of the whip-around coverage is that networks can cut to other players when Tiger isn’t playing. With the all-Tiger coverage, you’re stuck watching him walk to shots, talking with caddie Joe LaCava, lining up putts or waiting to tee off on a drive-able par-4. As anyone who’s ever watched televised one-on-one match play, there’s a lot of down time during a round of golf.

No matter. This is a great idea that’s an easy call when a network has the capabilities of ESPN. If they have nine ESPN3 stations showing play from nine different courts at Wimbledon, one dedicated Tiger Woods broadcast is a no-brainer.